Originally from New Zealand, now based in Brisbane, singer-songwriter Hannah May released the single ‘Passenger Seat’ earlier this year and has followed up with the powerful ‘Pretty Girl’, in which May addresses the standards that female artists, in particular, are expected to meet, and that those in turn a reflection of what’s expected of women and girls generally: to be ‘pretty girls’.
May’s singing and songwriting credentials were established early on, in the duo Mae Valley – although, as the lyrics of ‘Pretty Girl’ make clear, they go back further than that. ‘I’ve been working since five years old/Earned the money in my pocket/Got a heart of gold/And that don’t mean that much in this world, I know’ sings May in this personal, affecting track.
‘I am acknowledging that I am a musician. Not a model. Not an influencer or a dancer or a comedian. I am a musician and that is enough,’ says May of the song, who worked with producers Matt Fell in Sydney and Matt Bartlem on the Gold Coast. May has excellent pop sensibilities which mean this song has the hooks to capture the listener’s attention and the structure to keep them listening.
Listen on: