If songs from 3 years ago can chart like they were recently released, I can consider an EP from former Pussycat Dolls member Melody Thornton and ALBUM of the Year, deal.
In this series, I'll be going op-ed on anyone bothering to read this about a release in 2020 that could be considered an Album of the Year to the Grammys, American music publications and online music communities but for some reason aren't looked at through "Lioness Eyes" (Though some take "pride" in bad taste.) This entry is dedicated to the debut EP of Melody Thornton, the former Pussycat Doll who had it in her to release a full project. What makes this EP an Album of the Year? Get to know the songs and it'll make sense.
The tracklist for Lioness Eyes is as follows:
1. "Pray For Me"
2. "Goodbye To Happiness"
3. "Love Will Return"
4. "Sing About You"
5. "I Will Wait"
6. "Lioness Eyes"
7. "Phoenix Rise"
Thornton has been an independent artist since 2011, when her first solo single "Sweet Vendetta" was released and then eventually the 2012 mixtape P.O.Y.B.L [which stands for "Piss On Your Black List"] was released. The mixtape itself isn't available for streaming although "Sweet Vendetta" is. Thornton's streaming availability was largely limited to one off collaborative efforts with recording act Bobby Newberry and a 2019 remake of "Freak Like Me" with Harrison.
But November 15th, 2019 would yield the first solo single Thornton would release in 8 years and after slogging through the dredges of UK reality TV shows, "Love Will Return". The song would be indicative of the 1960s/1970s style of music she has said in multiple interviews that she grew up on [and it also helps that she was in a 70s themed musical in the UK called Rip It Up the Show in 2019.] Despite a 2019 release, the video for "Love Will Return" wouldn't see release until August 19, 2020 [nine months after single release.] The video committed to the "lady in red" character she had created which wouldn't really get an exploration until the video for the fourth collective video [and in a way second video single] "Goodbye to Happiness".
The second single and video released was "Phoenix Rise" which upon release took special context at the time of its release [the single being released on July 24th and the video being released on July 29th, 2020] coinciding with an upswing in social justice advocacy. The single art for the song proves the old saying true, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
The fourth and last collective video and second and last video single was released on October 27th, 2020 for the song "Goodbye to Happiness". Utilizing the most out of the album's brief of "cinematic 60s/70s pop but for today", the video for "Goodbye to Happiness" is the most blatantly 1960s of the entire era. From the video concept of embracing feminism no matter how uncomfortable it made the mainstream (And leave it to someone who was a member of the Pussycat Dolls to know what sexism in action looks like), to the set design both being part of Thornton's character in the video confronting the journalist over their conduct to even the wardrobe and hairstyle featured at large. Minute details mixed in with the overall message spelled out in the beginning, "Feminism is the future" and with even less subtext at the end, "Feminism is a practice".
With all four of the songs released either as single or video single in some capacity, here's what makes this project a contender for one of the best releases of the year: it ends up spelling out all of Melody Thornton's trials and tribulations to even get to a point of releasing an EP as a solo artist when previously, it was a mixtape or loose singles with another artist. Even with Thornton at her most realized, Lioness Eyes shows that there's still contentious directions taken throughout the era just to get her name back out there ("Isn't that just a convoluted way of saying there's push and pull throughout?" Yes, and I'm getting there.)
The good side of Lioness Eyes is that this is Thornton making a case as to why she deserves attention for music, especially when as an independent artist since 2011 or nearly a decade come 2021, she's displayed immense talent in creating immersive work [the commitment to visual direction for all four music videos/singles or video singles being the most notable.]
The bad side of Lioness Eyes is the fact that there's some cracks in the definitive vintage aesthetic she created. Make no mistake, the cracks are in no way enough to detract from the fact that a seven song EP from a former member of the Pussycat Dolls is one of the best releases in 2020. It's that each crack represents part of the contentious or conflicting elements in the name of...well getting her name back out there.
The first crack is a vocal one: at the beginning of the EP on "Pray For Me", some of the vocal stylings sound a bit off but there is a justifiable reason for this. Back in 2011, Thornton competed on the second and final season of the UK reality show Popstar to Operastar, where she ultimately came in 6th place (And for the record, Kimberly Wyatt is the only member of PCD that would go on to win the competition show she competed on, snatching the crown for Celebrity Masterchef in 2015.) Thornton's vocals might not be the track to recommend first to anyone unfamiliar with her [which is the only reason this is considered a crack] but the track does showcase that she maintained the opera technique she learned in the two weeks she competed [which between 8 or 9 years is remarkable].
The second crack is the song "Sing About You", which mind you is a very good song, but has a contemporary sound to it which works against the cinematic vintage sheen that Thornton coats for six other tracks [let's be real, cohesion can't even be a minor thing to look at on the average EP regardless of tracklisting]. However, even if one track sandwiched in the middle of the project goes against the brief, it's not enough to detract from how well made it is.
The third crack can come watching the choreography in "Goodbye to Happiness", which itself is odd considering that towards the beginning of 2019 and Thornton giving multiple interviews saying she wasn't going to reunite with the Pussycat Dolls and even releasing "Love Will Return" a mere two or so weeks before PCD took the X Factor UK stage and debuted "React". Thornton has stated in multiple interviews that lo and behold she wasn't in the group to dance and going back to that wasn't conducive to her mental well being [if you read between the lines enough.] What makes the dancing all the more odd is that it reads as intense choreography on a song that doesn't call for choreography even in a video that's decidedly camp or enveloped in the vintage sheen that coats the project [to be fair, the choreography could be in reference to gogo style pop acts in the 60s such as Nancy Sinatra in the video for "Boots Were Made for Walkin'"].
In essence, all three cracks are bittersweet signs of the progress Thornton took to even get to releasing new music. She improved her vocal technique even if she inherited the weird "opera singer can't do most pop notes but is able to sing" a la Malena Ernman. She proved to be more than capable of making contemporary sounding music at her discretion, even if it wasn't indicative of the project in question. She proved that even with dancing not being her strong suit, she could hit choreographed dance moves in a music video even if the song kind of maybe doesn't call for it.
Overall, Lioness Eyes is a heartfelt project from someone who bided their time or said "I Will Wait" and had at least some people hear her out.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: [honestly the whole damn EP but pay special attention to] "Lioness Eyes", "Love Will Return" and "Sing About You".
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