Gabrielle Lacerda - “People Talk”

Gabrielle Lacerda arrives on the blog with one of the most emotional tracks we’ve heard all week. Its title is “People Talk” and was written during her move to Belgium after a health scare and some ensuing hurtful comments…

“People Talk” begins with the softest of notes being keyed on a piano, slowly building its soundscape across a background of nature foley. Lacerda’s confident vocal begins, offering the line: “I don’t know what is wrong with me.” While a reasonably common thought, it is delivered in such a way that it feels like you’re hearing it for the first time. Lacerda has such command and control over her voice that we are quite certain any lyrics would sound like gospel, but the message here is one meant to inspire inner strength– in her, in all of us, with everything.

The production is quite sparse, with only the addition of strings to carry the instrumental until it reaches its crescendo. Here, Lacerda uses the power of layered vocal harmonies to bring width to the sonic space and it was only after we had listened back that we realized just how few elements actually exist within the song. The use of reverbs and layering make “People Talk” so thick and robust that a listener may fail to notice its lack of percussion or any other instrumentation. And this can be interpreted as a glorious metaphor for the fact that you don’t need much more in this world than your own voice to have a profound impact on one’s life.

-TM