HARPER O'NEILL

                                                                "When You Love Me" 

                                                                Independent Release

Though she’s been making very precise moves all year long which have continually elevated her career, rising sensation Harper O’Neill was thrust into the public eye in BIG ways when her single “Guilty”  earned high praise from the iconic Rolling Stone and impacted SiriusXM’s The Highway.

She now returns with her highly anticipated follow-up, “When You Love Me.”

Written solely by Harper, she instantly leans into a 1960’s soulful drive through the groove heavy intro, before the built-in rasp of her raw, natural vocal strikes the lyrics as she walks a truly unique line by balancing between country sensibilities and an unmistakably Motown flavor.

Descriptively painting the head over heels feeling of being in love, she uses the first verse to compare it to the feel of a summer breeze, the company of dear old friend, and the sweet taste of birthday cake, before then flipping the script to speak directly to her heartbreak as she laments, “For me, that just ain’t been the case.” 

Through a love let-down tonality in her voice, she injects an extreme amount of depth into the emotional punch of the chorus as she transparently tells of how love has treated her:

“It doesn’t sparkle, no it doesn’t shine

It falls apart and it wrecked me this time

I don’t want it if this is how it works

Stay gone and leave me lonely

Cause it only hurts when you love me

When you love me, love me, love me it hurts”

Continuing with clever, comparative lyrics in the second verse, this time coming from the lost love perspective, she encompasses the brokenness through poetic lines that tell of how it burns like the cheapest cigarette and stings like the tears in her eyes.

Harper O’Neill’s keen abilities to craft sonic styles that walk the gamut of several difference influences aptly allows her to create an intriguing style to call her own, while smartly sticking close to her roots branded sound to stay attractive to the casual country listener who is just catching on to her and her music.

With songs like “When You Love Me” continuing to spotlight her aura and vibe, combined with a second run of tour dates opening for Morgan Wade later this summer, there’s a rumbling of buzz surrounding her that tells us we are just starting to see the rise of the artist who could very well be the next breakout star from underneath the country music umbrella.   

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

• Prev
• Next