Girl Who Got Away (Dido)

EN "Girl Who Got Away" was released on March 4, 2013 and is the title of Dido's fourth album. The album began to be thought after the release, in 2008, of the previous album of the artist “Safe Trip Home” which turned out to be an album somewhat “obscure” for the singer, due to the loss of her father.

When the artist began to reveal some details about this album, she explained that it would have a more electronic sound, which, for me, would be a bonus, since it is a style that fits perfectly with the soft voice of the artist. But in addition to electronic tracks, we also have tracks with the pop sound, trip hop, to which the singer has already accustomed us, and a good example of it was the first single of the album, “No Freedom”. In this song we have the singer sharing her voice with the fingering of a guitar, with a very subtle beat when the chorus arrives, which reminds us of the song “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley. But from a calmer track we moved on to a second more danceable single, and with the electronic aspect that the artist had warned us about, since the track had been composed by the artist, in collaboration with producer Greg Kurstin, thus emerging “End of Night”. In addition to a captivating instrumental, the song also provides some of the best verses of the album, such as,

“You were ugly when the beat kicked in And ugly when it left And ugly all the way, I didn't see it till the end”

It is noteworthy that most of the album was composed by the singer and her brother, Rollo Armstrong, leading to some of the best tracks on the album, such as “Girl Who Got Away” and “Blackbird”. The first begins with a synthesizer that, in addition to capturing our attention, can relax us, and as the music grows the synthesizer gets louder, followed by some more hectic and intense beats, raising the track to another level, making it one of the highlights of the album. The second one, "Blackbird” has a more elaborate percussion area and a kind of intrinsic warmth, making it an intriguing and striking track, leaving the listener waiting for more tracks of this genre throughout the album. At last, it is important to remember the fantastic collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on “Let Us Move On”, which was the track that served as the promotional single of the album, released in December 2012, and which ends up distinguishing itself from the other tracks of the album due to its sound, showing the versatility of the singer in this new genre.

Ultimately, "Girl Who Got Away" is a magnificent album, with only a few gaps, but which do not detract from the work in its entirety, being a good companion for long, rainy, and melancholic nights but, in opposition, for joyful and celebratory nights, all depending on the mood of the listener. And, although it did not meet the expectations of critics, it showed the artist's ability to reconfigure herself and offer listeners an album with a totally different style from the previous one, bringing back joy to her life.

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