Jannah Fahiz single review by Vince Leigh
Jannah Fahiz’s debut release, The Best Day, comes after many years of working in the music industry as an event organiser, artist manager and promoter. The new track is post-punk-pop revivalist in nature, quite raw and exuberant with an edge of vulnerability, fragility, and, I guess, an enthused, almost breathless cathartic spirit running through it.
Jannah has given herself entirely to the song’s combustive core, and this commitment is reflected back at us. The opening lyric reveals the theme on show here: ‘Can’t shake this feeling and I gotta know / What is like to just let go? / Why don’t we paint the town and run away / Just be free’. Ah, yes, freedom, escape. These idealistic ambitions are always there inside us, but it is the venturesome, the relative neonates that remind us of their persuasive power. The track’s guitar-guiding pulse mirrors this, as does the rhythm section’s backgrounded verve and, of course, Jannah’s vocal, delivered in a matching unprocessed and rebellious kind of brightness.
One might attribute this narrative to a youthful hedonist streak, but I’d consider it a more developmental urge. After all, the pre- chorus reveals this: ‘Take it slow / Don’t let go / Break away / Find your day’. The ‘day’ here is amplified, symbolic of more than just a fleeting fun-filled night out. Your day is the day, hence, the best day. Lyric interpretation aside, The Best Day also highlights Jannah’s melodic sensibilities, with all the sections—verses, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge—highlighting a levelled attention to detail that assesses what can make certain lines memorable, what can provoke unspecified emotion, and what might induce a sense of defiance and explorative resolve. The chorus, for example, is decently structured, containing within its centre, a counterpointing melodic variation that acts as a release valve, taming the urgency of the preceding lines and encouraging us to consider the lyric (‘stay a while / won’t you stay the year’) in a different light: the best day has been extended. The narrative suddenly becomes imbued, elevated with a suggestion of essentiality. Add Jannah’s expressive rendering of this more substantial take, and The Best Day becomes a double-barrelled, appealing post-punk pop track.
You can stream The Best Day online via Spotify and Apple Music.
