Christina Martin, singer-songsmith of the East Coast of Canada, returns with latest single Little Princess from her imminent new album. After the robust opening singles Stay With Me and In Control, Little Princess rushes onto the scene as a triumphant third offering. A rousing ode to Martin’s elder brother, it’s a soaring strings-led rocker that boasts a potent blend of headshaking swagger and orchestral class.
“Growing up I admired my older brother, who was a gifted artist, but also a rebel. He died in 2013 of an opioid overdose at the age of 41.This song touches on our relationship, and a memory of writing my first prose and wanting to impress him with it. We were two embryonic artists, intrinsically bound by blood and similarities, and yet with mental illness in the mix, we kept each other at arm’s length.”
Martin has a raw troubadour’s talent for making the personal universal, and Little Princess is no exception. A rockier, rowdier beast than the album’s previous singles, it gallops forward at a relentless pace, lending the piece a desperate and determined tone. Martin’s vocals sit elegantly, coolly, over those roaring guitars, dispensing gems such as “The shelter from Toronto’s winters had to come from a total stranger” with all the confidence of a Captain at the helm, pivoting from tense, bubbling verses to sky-high choruses with regal grace.
If previous singles Stay With Me and In Control were stately, sweeping affairs filled with sprawling synths and dreamy audioscapes, then Little Princess is, at least on the surface, a more straightforward piece. Driven on at a sprint by a snare-heavy marching beat and truck-engine guitar chugs, it’s a rock track at its core that invites toe-tapping and head-nodding. But the addition of a lavish, prominent string section really lifts it into the clouds, above its raggedy guitar-rock cousins into something more elegant, classy, and momentous.
In a tease of what to expect from the full album, Storm, as a whole, the strings really take center stage. They lend the track a cinematic impetus, giving this nostalgia-infused musing on sibling relationships all the gravitas of a well-paced drama. The strings sweep like the winter winds through the icy Toronto streets, dancing toe-to-toe with Martin’s effortless vocal exuberance, which presides over it all like it’s sung from a skyscraper’s zenith.
Little Princess also comes with an accompanying music video directed by Brendan Henry. A riveting riff on the idea of dual narratives, it intercuts scenes of the real life emotional drama of an artist facing hardship, and a zany sci-fi-tinged tale of daring and adventure through deep space. As the two narratives converge, we’re left with a playful, thoughtful, and thoroughly unique musing on how real life can inform art, and how art can provide an outlet for grief.
