Lissy Taylor – Fierce Review

Drawing from the 150 poems that inspired the title, Fierce marks an important step for the uplifting fires Lissy Taylor provides. Everything is an act, a build-up to those distant dreams and ambitious hopes. That momentum is struck through with a keen authority and likeable energy on Fierce, an upbeat and powerful pairing that hopes to fuel a fire for the future. Every artist, music or not, should be doing just that. Taylor takes the knockbacks and inspirations of those who found themselves in similar positions to craft the pop-ready powerhouse of Fierce, a well-mixed piece that feels defiant and nostalgic in equal measure. 

Those tones of highs and lows acting as waves instead of constants are clearly brought to the helm of this track by Taylor. Upbeat sincerity drives through Taylor’s work, a constant, well-worked vocal display that draws out the best of lyrics that correctly decipher what to do when knocked down. It is, as Chumbawamba once said, the act of getting up again. Taylor provides that with clarity in her lyrics and a fulfilling performance that moves her music way beyond that of Tubthumping spectacle. But some of the best and brightest have struggled to move their positivity with real belief in it. Taylor makes it all too easy on a track that rightly plants her at the centre of it all, appealing to the senses with a desire to bounce back from setbacks. With charm and consistency like that, it is hard not to listen in and push through. 

Optimism like that is easy to turn over as insincere when every other lyricist out there is mulling over some ill-concluded trouble. Taylor’s biting pop beat marks struggle as not the conclusion but the dawn. Fierce minds and flames of self-respect are layered well on a track that lends itself to the stadium-ready closer Fierce clearly is. Refusing to back down with some impressive vocal presence, Taylor marks much of Fierce as the defiant track she hopes it to be. Succeeding with that and depending on the straightforward lyrics make for that shot of ambitious self-belief many are needing. Constantly needing it lends itself to fewer songs, but the appeal of Fierce never quite runs dry. An extremely moving, emotional anthem comes out of this fourth single from Taylor. 

Quieter in places and a lack of focus on the instrumentals come from a place of lyrical consistency. Taylor appears keen as ever to chart her progress from track to track, and Fierce is an important landmark in an already steadily rising career. Blurring those effective guitar and rock-ready qualities that are beginning to dominate the uplifting, introspective tracks of the last few years, Taylor is finding the line between and mixing it nicely. Essential, establishing track Fierce will do well to provide insight into Taylor’s influences, the passing moments of interest that spark an idea in unexpected places. Music like that, and music influenced by those moments, is as important now for creatives young and old as it is for the listener, pushing back and finding some solace in being on the back foot. Fierce makes sure to see that back foot as temporary, a calm before the storm. Fierce is surely a calm before Taylor’s storm of her own, a push for those next, major steps.  

Listen to Taylor’s recent track, Fierce, below.