Kate Nash - Foundations | Single & Video Review

I want to hate Kate Nash, I really do. She’s being feted by so many publications and music journos as the next big thing, that I don’t want to join that throng of bandwagon jumpers. But I can’t help myself. I came on ready to slate her, piss on her chips and generally say she’s a Lily Allen wannabee, but while that may be true to a degree, I can’t help but like this single.

Kate Nash is currently sitting at number 2 in the charts behind Ri “yes it’s raining dear, and you have an umbrella, so do you want a medal?” Hanna, and I’m willing her on for the 2nd week in a row to overtake her and be the new number 1. This track called ‘Foundations is a grower, it chips away at your unconscious between listens, until you are also in Kate Nash’s corner willing her on to overcome the ‘Fake Lily Allen’ jibes she’s being labelled with.

This song shows the best and worst of Kate Nash, and so if you like it, you can be pretty sure you’ll like her other stuff. If on the other hand, this song makes you want to chop both of your ears off, I’d lay off buying the album when it’s released on August 6th. She’s a bit more of an acquired taste than Lily Allen, even though they share a lot of similarities in both their style of singing and lyrical take on the world.

Kate’s accent is a weird one, being a sort of cross between Cockney London chav and home counties Estuary English. Sort of like a posh but more chavvy version of Lily, if that’s possible. The way she says some of the words seems strange even to me, someone from that part of the world. But it works in a bizarre way, being both endearing and cool at the same time.

This song is lyrically very strong, telling the story quite clearly of a failing relationship, and why it’s coming to an end. Except it isn’t because Kate can’t quite bring herself to let go, despite knowing it’s an unhealthy coupling. Kate is definitely in the school of telling it like it is, with no innuendo or subtle hints at what’s she talking about. Unlike Maximo Park’s Paul Smith’s style of song writing, she tells a vivid story with lots of detail.

I love the chorus of “My fingertips are holding on to the cracks in our foundation, and I know that I should let go, but I can’t. And every time we fight I know it’s not right, every time that you’re upset and I smile. I know I should forget, but I can’t.” The rest of the lyrics are very British, and very good at telling a story. I’m not keen on the parts where Kate basically speaks the lyrics rather than sings them, and think that could get very boring very quickly.

The video for this song is superb. Directed by Kinga Burza, it follows the plot of the song enough to give you a sense of the song, without spelling everything out, leaving the lyrics to do that.

To compare Kate Nash to Lily Allen seems lazy but I’ve felt it right to do so all the way through this review. With so many similarities, it would be foolish not to refer to Lily while discussing Kate’s official debut single. I’m hoping the hype will die down, and the album called ‘Made Of Bricks’ will prove Kate Nash has more to her than simply Lily Allen Mk 2, but only time will tell.

http://katenash.co.uk/
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