Discover the Slow Burning Soul of Courtney Hadwin!

Courtney Hadwin’s ‘You Only Love Me When I Lie’, featuring guitarist Little Steven, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, has kicked off the month of May with a track that is bursting with soul, and magnetic with seduction. With its slow but swaying beat, Hadwin’s growling vocals, reaping with an intoxicating rasp, are lyrically enticing and complex. The titular lyrics are repeated throughout, later joined by lines such as, “There’s a darker side of me”, we are presented with the idea of putting up a shield during a relationship.

Hadwin’s nuanced take on this provides a guarded mystery that eventually becomes shattered, where as she breaks apart the facade, becoming more confessional, her vocals grow in intensity, and Little Steven’s guitar solo soon erupts with passion. Further enhancing the track's rawness, the solo is extraordinary as beauty pours from guitar strings; what begins as sweet and steady, is placed under a well-deserved spotlight. Despite only being 21 years old, Hadwin’s vocals and talent demonstrate a lifetime of soul, as her likeness to Joplin continues. ‘You Only Love Me When I Lie’ is relaxing, but simultaneously possesses a slow burning tension, a perfect blend of the smooth and the ragged.