Julia Nascimento – “Love Me Anyway”
Brazilian Julia Nascimento, is a 20 year old independent, singer, songwriter and producer. She began posting covers on YouTube at the age of 16, before finally deciding to create her own music. Her latest single release is “Love Me Anyway”. Relying solely on raw vocals and an earth ukulele, the song is sprawling, slightly meandering, utterly honest, vulnerable, and razor sharp in its grappling with human flaws and emotions.
What’s so interesting about the track, is that it isn’t Julia proverbially throwing up her hands and writing what the masses want to hear. It doesn’t compromise, but instead it takes some of her core songwriting elements, her natural untreated vocals, adds in the strum of the ukulele, and finds a stripped-down production style that offers a raw, delightful look into what makes Julia Nascimento an original singer-songwriter.
Like most original artists who beat their own career paths, Julia Nascimento is a polarizing creative. You either like her music, or you don’t. There are no half measures. All of which does not bother Julia in the least, who concentrates on the positive aspects of her craft and those who follow her vision.
“Love Me Anyway” – which eschews all the production gloss, associated with today’s mainstream releases – infuses her poetic sensibilities with her strummed ukulele, slowly building to a cathartic song.
“Love Me Anyway” catalogues life’s personal emotional intricacies and the inevitable consequences thereof, but with a maturity and thoughtfulness that eschews bitterness and instead embraces growth and a better understanding of one’s self.
The song showcases the strength, vitality and nuance of Julia Nascimento’s voice throughout, unvarnished and without software-aided correction, or rather, the infamous auto tune treatment.
Julia Nascimento is desperately trying to be her normal, natural self, in both the music and the lyrics, of “Love Me Anyway”. There is a clear comfort in her performance, which enhances the sincere lyrical depth of the track. The lyrics are heartfelt, simple and to the point. It offers a glimpse into the soul of the songwriter during tumultuous moments in her life, where self-reflection becomes the cornerstone of her existence.
“Love Me Anyway” is an appropriately titled track because it touches on so many of the fundamental emotions that we experience throughout life, where we need to believe and accept ourselves in order to survive. With every line uttered, Julia Nascimento paints a picture that will overwhelm your senses and immerse you in her music, and in her experiences.
The melody is sung with such irresistible charm and candidness that you might even overlook the raw poetic seduction stemming from her voice. The vocals and ukulele clearly rely on each other throughout “Love Me Anyway”, as the facets trade responsibilities to keep the song sounding fresh and vivid.
Either way, Julia Nascimento manages to get all of her messages across – whether they are delivered through a simple word, a heartfelt chord, or a note from her voice.
