Music Review // PureGrand "Pictures"

 

As a child of the 1980's, I tend to think of a lot of the pop music which was around in that time as by the 1990's I think more of going into 1993 and then we went into grunge.  Even before that time I was listening to rock like Guns N Roses, so I think during most of the 1990's I was out of the pop scene and into rock music.  However, this does largely omit a great deal of music (which I have since gone back and listened to, trust me) and when I think of pop music from before the year 2000 it almost always ends up being from the 1980's or is an artist like NKOTB which goes from the 1980's into the 1990's.

PureGrand captures a sound of pop music which can be found within the 1990's and rather than being on a cassette I would definitely think of this song as being a CD single, which was also a thing not as many people want to talk about.  For almost instant comparisons with the song "Pictures" I think of artists like Savage Garden who have managed to- at least for me- break the time barrier and still remain relevant in this the year 2021 though it would be argued they first really found their success in the pop scene of the 1990's.

The one glaring factor which makes this song more obvious as modern despite the nostalgic sound is that there is a line repeated: "I get lost when your name appears on my timeline" which would likely refer to social media in some way.   Other than that, this does feel like it was released in a time when Madonna was at her best, music videos were still on MTV and just all around it felt like music was really doing some of its best and broadest work.  Seeing a video for "Pictures" on rotation in between Michael Jackson and Radiohead would feel like common place for teenage me, back in the '90's.

The closer we get to the end of this song, the more it becomes layered in the vocals and sounds.  Perhaps what I like most about "Pictures" though is that PureGrand creates this sound which is cool, smooth and easy on the ears- something which you could hear in a mall without people complaining about it or feeling threatened, which reminds me nowadays of an artist such as The Weeknd.   This sound, though, is created in a way which is not prominent on a guitar or keyboard.  You don't hear those keys right away or a guitar solo- you just hear the music blending with the vocals to create the sounds of bliss.