SoFree Wisdom: “The Only One” – an accomplished piece of work!
SoFree Wisdom, as a vocalist, is the contemporary embodiment of less is more – embodying the emotive singing that characterized so much of R&B and Soul singing pre-90’s or so. She’s blessed with the ability of not leaning onto her vibrato too much, while she is able to elevate even the most generic material with conviction and the sheer beauty of her voice. But because subtlety has become something that the record-buying public has increasingly not valued much, she has probably been at an unfair disadvantage compared to her screaming peers.
However it’s obvious that SoFree has been trying on a bunch of different sounds during these past few years, releasing and promoting her own projects, designed to eventually make her as popular as any of her contemporaries. Representing Raleigh, North Carolina, by the way of Landsthul, Germany, SoFree may have just found the perfect formula with her latest single, “The Only One”.
Working alongside TracStar Rich, her key producer, as well as the love of her life – husband and number one supporter – this mature, thoughtful, honest and seemingly autobiographical track finds SoFree Wisdom coming into her own.
Here, she gives the public a track that provides a true snapshot of who she is at this moment in her life, without a lot of pretense and posturing. She mixes personal testimony with romantic fantasy that paints a full picture of a woman who has emerged from her passionate grind with an even clearer sense of what she wants.
It helps that the song is beautifully arranged and that TracStar Rich dials back the production enough to let SoFree’s voice take center stage.
This song could have just been another maudlin ode to love, deceit and redemption – and in lesser hands, it very well could have been – but SoFree makes it work because we can feel how important the music is to her and how much she believes in what she’s singing. And then she gives the song a final lighthearted twist, just to prove the point that she is “The Only One”.
There is plenty of swag and attitude, but it is rooted in the strong songwriting and real emotion. And when SoFree sings the words: “Tell me I’m the only one. Show me that it’s okay to give in. Tell me that I’m the only one. Show me that you’ll be here till the end,” you hear a palpable amount of trepidation and insecurity, but not enough to mask the amount of love she is prepared to bring to the table.
And so while the song has a slight melancholy edge, it’s the ray of hopeful, loving light that gives it the weight it wouldn’t otherwise have. Not until the sun finally shines through at the end of the song to uplift any doubting souls.
SoFree Wisdom’s vocalizing is tinged with a rainbow of emotions throughout the song, making it a beautiful all-round performance. “The Only One” is an accomplished piece of work that serves as a succulent teaser for her upcoming album ‘The Best Things In Life Are SoFree’, and should be heralded as a great independent R&B recording. From radio play to certified movie song credits, SoFree Wisdom’s career is getting ready to hit full stride.
This was a great review.