Chloe Slater‘s teenage angst and rock influence is channelled into her latest single ‘Harriet.‘ The song is accompanied by a music video which is an ode to Sally Rooney’s heart wrenching classic ‘Normal People’.
Slater uses her resemblance to Daisy Edgar-Jones, the lead actor in the series, to enhance the song, replicating the memorable scenes of the show throughout the music video. The minor chord progression in “Harriet’s lovely / Harriet’s just a friend of mine” evoke the same longing felt in watching Marianne’s and Connell’s on-and-off on-screen relationship.
Beginning the song with “your past lover is the opposite of me” reveals the doomed destiny of this intense and fated teenage love Slater reminisces about. The feeling of connection is hopelessly overruled by circumstance, again seen in “She’s got a girlfriend / She doesn’t want what’s mine.”
This is a love that turns into a lesson, one you know will not work out but so much of you wishes it would, heard in the repetition of “I know we’ve talked it over a hundred times / But I’m still not fine.” This turmoil is also presented sonically in the electric guitar and drums, heard alongside “Well I’m sick of hearing it.”
The sharpness and grit of Slater’s sound is one fuelled by heartbreak, beginning in guitar strumming and building to a clear pain in added instrumentation. Her sound here draws comparisons to both Wolf Alice and Beabadoobee’s earlier works, akin to the other tracks like ‘Fig Tree‘ and ‘Sucker‘ found throughout Slater’s discography.
All in all, Slater’s latest track captures the grief of a first heartbreak in her raw storytelling and haunting melodies, offering a painful slice of relatability that fans of ‘Normal People’ and Sally Rooney’s storytelling will love.
Words by Louella Venus
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.