![let me see beneath your beautiful the voice let me see beneath your beautiful the voice](https://y.yarn.co/e15d820b-ead8-4fd4-8534-4328f54026d9_200_10.gif)
![let me see beneath your beautiful the voice let me see beneath your beautiful the voice](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e9/44/91/e94491421f89bab0f3d1f2775aeb96a2.jpg)
Labrinth clearly does not have a strong singing voice, yet that works to the songs advantage. This year has been a great year for duets, but for me, this is the pinnacle of all of this year’s duets. Typical with a lot of ballads, the track tails off back to the solo piano before resuming the electronic concoction then ending with the same piano chords as was heard in the introduction. This continues throughout until we reach Sandé’s verse, dropping the piano and introducing an electric guitar, a drum beat and a synthesizer track which kicks the song into another gear and adds depth to the song. The music starts of as a piano ballad, soft chords repeating over orchestral strings with the occasional drum cymbal. Symbolic of the ‘you jump, I jump’ mantra both are preparing to leap off, whilst reassuring one another that they have nothing to fear or be frightened of since they are holding each other’s hand, reminding the other that they are there. The second bridge leading into the final rendition of the chorus is the culmination of both Labrinth and Sandé reaching the top of each other’s walls. You would expect Sandé’s vocals to drown out Labrinth’s gruffness but she holds back just enough so that you can hear Labrinth but still does enough to convey the chorus beautifully. We get a repeat of the bridge and the chorus here both artists sing and despite the mismatch in vocal ranges and sounds, the delivery is very good. Here, she notes the males faults of letting every girl that comes his way go by without approaching them due to the fear of rejection and being hurt, despite the fact of putting on a ‘Broadway show’ symbolising an act Labrinth puts on to make himself look strong. It’s meant to be something much deeper, much poetic, much meaningful and delicate.Įnter Emeli Sandé for the second verse. But here, it is much more than that with Labrinth. Change the context to a guy who just wants to get into the girls pants and you have a pretentious song. It does have some sexual connotation admittedly yet, there is a sense of gentleness that lends itself perfectly to this songs context. Here Labrinth pours out raw emotion, asking to see beneath her beautiful, to remove the pretense and see the beauty that lies within her. The lyrics leading into the chorus refers to the typical notion of the girl setting her standards so high that Labrinth wouldn’t stand a chance – building her wall so high that no one can climb it – but he is still determined to succeed. Despite this fact, Labrinth is determined not to let this deter him, despite believing that Sandé is ‘out of his league’. Labrinth kicks things off by noting that the girl he is likes has a history of seemingly rejecting some many boys that it makes her feel proud of herself. Both note the others charade whilst pointing out that on the inside, both wish for the other to release any sort of inhibition and share their love. ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ is a tale of two person’s cautionary approach towards securing a relationship.
![let me see beneath your beautiful the voice let me see beneath your beautiful the voice](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EC5g6refzUA/mqdefault.jpg)
So with an impressive early start to both artists careers, are they able to produce a good collaboration? Emeli Sandé – recently branded the Voice of 2012 (couldn’t agree more) – broke into mainstream radio in 2009 and since then, has had five top ten hits as a featured artist – two of them a number one hit (including this one with Labrinth) – and three top five singles, a top twenty hit and one narrowly missing the top twenty as a solo artist. Most notable collaborations that Labrinth has been a part of have been with Tinie Tempah one of which reached number one. Labrinth’s first three singles achieved top five statuses, whilst his fourth failed to hit the top ten and his fifth failing to reach the top forty. ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ is the sixth official release from his debut album Electronic Earth and his first number one single from this album. Here, the collaboration between R&B and rap artist Labrinth – real name Tim McKenzie – and R&B and Soul artist Emeli Sandé has a lot of promise. There have been a few good collaborations some okay and others have been god-awful.
![let me see beneath your beautiful the voice let me see beneath your beautiful the voice](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ieMzfCGCGJ0/maxresdefault.jpg)
This year, collaborations have been rampant all throughout this year’s charts.