The Forest Through The Trees

Ivy Sole “East”

Ivy Sole’s voice comes off rugged and tough at the start of this track, matching the tone of the track, which is forceful and abrasive from the first seconds. She’s announcing who she is, she’s situating herself in rap, she’s recontextualizing tropes. (She’s right, a trap is basically a startup.) But as she moves along, the front drops a bit, and the defenses come down, and the words get increasingly vulnerable and sincere. Sole is just telling her story here – nothing too dramatic, so she focuses on the details that made her who she is today. The chorus comes out of the song quite naturally, but its soft, sentimental tone is quite a shift from where this song begins. I don’t think either part is more real – it’s just a very honest snapshot of a fully formed person.

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