Music Review // Anika Louise "Thorns"

  Anika Louise has an interesting way of explaining how someone shows their true colors on this song "Thorns".  It begins with the idea that someone has those thorns (which is the bad part of them) but they are covered in flowers (so you look past that bad part and just see the pretty flowers) but then the flowers die and all that's left is who the person really is (the thorns).  This is a gentle reminder on how sometimes we have that obscured opinion on someone and see them through the blinders, like flowers, but then ultimately remember what they're like.

I also like to think of this song as being about someone stuck in that relationship they should have left years ago but the person doing them wrong just keeps apologizing and comes home with gifts like jewelry or flowers.  You have that momentary lapse of judgment where you forgive and temporarily forget, but eventually that feeling wears off and you remember the thing that person did and was trying to cover up with the gifts.  Sometimes we need that reminder someone just isn't right for you and this song helps with that.

As "Thorns" begins with delicate acoustics, it kicks in to a moderate pop rock sound.  I'm reminded of artists such as That Dog and maybe even some of the solo artists of the early 2000's.  There is a piano sound that comes in and then eventually what sounds like a banjo as well.  A quiet breakdown and then back into the rocking sound of it all just shows the range throughout this song musically.

When you're trying to send a message to someone, such as the lyrics say "Now your thorns are covered in my blood" a lot of it can be in the delivery.  The way that this song sounds is to the point that it can be taken seriously, but also that if someone is going to break the bad news to you, the way in which Anika Louise does it will really make you listen and take the advice to heart.  As important as it can feel to make this all be known, it feels just as important that it is in a way that people who need to hear it will listen.  I believe everyone will listen to this one.