Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Cat Ridgeway’s “Sweet Like Candy” starts off with a lazy little sway that deceptively sends the audience into a false sense of security before ripping the carpet out from under our feet and inspiring anyone with rhythm to start dancing. Though her voice is reason enough to give any of the material in her discography a listen, I would rank the grooving in this performance as the real reason to hear Ridgeway’s new single and music video this month. She knows how to shake it, and between the strings and the winds defining the harmony here, you’re certain to step away from “Sweet Like Candy” jonesing for a sugar fix.
URL: http://www.catridgeway.com/
As we get deeper into the song, Ridgeway’s singing gets a lot more aggressive, but she’s never jumping the gun – truth be told, her timing is something that I wish a lot of the other indie pop players making their way through the underground would try to emulate in their own work. She’s got a great pace, and she’s able to pick up the steps without sounding anything but urgent. There’s nothing rushed or thrown around in “Sweet Like Candy,” but instead mixed like a summer cocktail you didn’t know you wanted on a late autumn afternoon.
There’s been a lot of love for this singer/songwriter out of the indie circuit she’s ruling over in the past few years, but I think Cat Ridgeway is crossing a pretty major bridge in “Sweet Like Candy” that her peers could only dream of stepping onto. She has a very persuasive attitude in this performance, and save for the elasticity of the drums, I don’t think there’s an instrumental facet to really challenge her for supremacy over the hook. Ridgeway dictates her fate, and here, she’s declaring herself ready for anything the world throws her way and more.
Keith Middlebrooks
