HANNAH NOEL - The Big Break - Independent Release

With her second single of 2024, following the nostalgic “Old Record New Groove,”  singer-songwriter Hannah Noel dissects the ins and outs of chasing after a big dream with a very gripping and poignant look at the toll that it takes on your psyche through the inevitable ups and downs.

Written by Hannah, Gloria Anderson, and SJ McDonald, the melodic output drapes its softness in an Appalachian vibed Americana essence that allows space for the emotional innocence of her uniquely grafted vocal to trail the pieces of her fracturing heart as she pushes toward her goals one step at a time.

Examining the troubled  juxtaposition between public persona and personal strain, she taps for guidance into the aura of the Golden Era of entertainment – both Hollywood and Country Music.

She first looks at the fame that elevated Marilyn Monroe to a high pedestal but broke the real-life Norma Jean, while then challenging in the second verse that it wasn’t just the dissension with Tammy Wynette that broke George Jones, but the whiskey that arose with the weight of the hit songs and the spotlight at the top.

Unapologetically outlining the hidden definitions of this type of fame, she tackles the loneliness (“It’s a world that knows you, but barely knows you at all”) and the tug-of war struggles (“It’s a dream that toes the line between heaven and hell”) while sitting in a contemplative wonder of if they call it “The Big Break” not because you’ve made it, but because it breaks you along the way.

“I can almost feel the stars burning right beside me

Every song from this guitar is creeping closer to catching lightning

If it’s worth having it’s gonna be hard

It’s gonna take time and a whole lotta heart

They say you gotta want it and damn I do

But do they call it the big break cause it might break you”

With this chorus transparently seeing her face her own mirror, Hannah adds an ultra-personal touch that speaks directly to the heart of the dreamers who feel jaded, torn, and anxious, battling the internal dialog that keeps them locked on the teeter-toter that lands somewhere between “I’ll lose my mind if that’s what it takes, I’ll lose my mind if I walk away.”

Reaching through the speakers with a sheer honesty that holds the broken-hearted who are fighting hard toward their next step while trying not to give up, Hannah Noel not only intriguingly opens her own diary, but she offers an understanding shoulder to lean on.  

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)