Willie J Healey ft. Jamie T – ‘Thank You’
It’s that instant soul hook; it bates you into its fat rumbling bass stream like a cider-flowing picnic to a famished wasp. Oxfordshire songwriter Willie J Healey has teamed up with Jamie T in style with the slapping new soul single ‘Thank You’ from his forthcoming album, Bunny.
The song brings a visceral new edge to the world of soul, as Healey pairs the old tenets of Gospel singing choruses, prominent bass, string synth soundboards, and sultry vocals with decidedly cutting-edge production and hybridising indie verses to create something far away from an R&B pastiche and invigoratingly fresh.
All the while, the song vitally sways away with butter-cutting ease to remind you that it’s the seamless songwriting oozing the track along your ear canal as opposed to the flourishing innovation that merely adds the zip and interesting modernist twist. “I was tired and flat and didn’t know what to make,” Healey fittingly explains regarding the track. “Then my friend Jamie said, ‘Ay Willie, I’ve got this drum machine, it might inspire you.”
That sense of fresh impetus is palpable. It’s not like Healey is appropriating genres for the sake of its but rather revelling in the joys of the musical spectrum. As Healey explains, it all came together rather easily: “I picked it up and wrote ‘Thank You’ the next day; it was my way of thanking Jamie for being a good friend. I dedicate it to anyone trying to do their own thing.”
In truth, the Philadelphia soul inspiration was already in place before he found the right technological vessel to bring it to the fore in a crisp new way. “Long before making Twin Heavy, I had always listened to funk, soul and R&B, but for some reason, it never translated into my own music,” Healey said. “Really my inspiration was just the feel of things, I really enjoyed playing music that makes you feel really good.”
The groovy new song will feature on Bunny, Healey’s follow-up to 2020’s Twin Heavy, which is due for release on March 24th via Yala Records. It’s certainly off to a good start with this timeless gem.
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