Grey Wiese: “#beyourself” – personal, impactful and perceptive!
With the advent of music platforms and streaming services, music discovery for the fan and reach for the artist is easier than ever. Even still, it doesn’t prevent many artists from flying under the radar, remaining relatively unknown. As a listener, when you find one of those unknown artists, the thought of “why isn’t this more popular?” comes to the forefront. Pop artist Grey Wiese is one such artist. He may not yet have a headlining name, but definitely knows his way around catchy pop music and its mainstay appeal. While that work hasn’t translated to his global popularity just yet, he’s showing that hard work and dedication to the craft will eventually pay off. Wiese is a German artist who started out publishing cover songs on the Internet and in so doing has grown his Instagram profile to nearly half a million followers. He continued his forward momentum by releasing a list of original singles aided by songwriters E. Yakovenko and A. Vasilyev. And now Grey Weise has finally put together an album entitled “#beyourself”.
Grey Wiese chose the title of his debut album appropriately as it takes the listener on a 10-track journey that follow the characteristics of what it means to be yourself. Embracing the power of being you is probably one of the most difficult things to do. We often depend on other people’s opinions for validity, or titles and roles for identity.
This makes us unsure of our values and purpose. When that person is you, it can be confusing and painful. The biggest problems arise when you look outside of yourself for gratification, praise, and identity. The major key to joy is to know yourself at your deepest level of being, and to remember your true multidimensional nature. This gives you strength for all that life has to offer.
The underlying themes on “#beyourself” is undoubtedly personal, impactful and perceptive, as Wiese traverses through the songs with an open heart, using his layered production, pop melodies and powerful voice to deliver the album’s narrative.
This is a chapter of Grey Wiese’s collection of work that begs for listeners to set aside some time, put away the distractions and whatever might draw you away and just listen. Proudly committed to the LGBTQ community, Wiese has put out some heartfelt tracks here, and he’s done wonderful things lyrically that I think are life-changing and inspiring.
The moment “#isetyoufree” kicks in with its piano opening, you’ll feel the warm power of the music engulf you, the soaring melody and Wiese’s far-reaching vocal range. “#weareinlove” is an up-tempo love anthem with a catchy repeating vocal hook, followed by another bouncy pop motif in “#burnitdown” layered with rich harmonies.
Another album highlight makes its appearance with the heartrending “#withheartonhold”. Grey Wiese seems to put in his most captivating performances against epic sounding soundscapes where his voice needs to move further out of its comfort zone to rise above the full instrumentation. It is something he accomplishes beautifully on this track, as well as on the following cut, “#whoareyou”.
“#turnitup” is the perfect EDM arena anthem, with a driving beat, punchy synths and Wiese’s vocal groove taking it to the next level. Sweeping and wistful, “#sickwithadream” is bathed in sprawling strings and a mellifluous pop melody, before we are drawn into a anther high-energy club beat on “#inflammable” which is really hard to resist.
This brings us to the title track “#beyourself”. This is another display of Grey Wiese’s marvelous vocals which jump between melody and harmony embellishing a well-heeled arrangement. The album closes with fully orchestrated instrumental of “#sickwithadream”. There are a few themes woven through these tracks, all tying back into the title, making this project truly next level.
Often Grey Wiese zooms in to himself, the individual, paying attention to both outer and inner struggles. He also pans out to look at humanity as a whole examining the way we present and package ourselves in various situations. And at the end of the day, Grey Wiese’s music is here to bring us together so we don’t have to go through it alone, telling us, we can just be ourselves…
