In the world of Berklee College graduate and immensely talented vocalist LaQuinta Prince, RnB probably stands for Rock and Badassery, not Rhythm and Blues. Better known by her stage name “Bad Ass Beauty”, she continues that hard rock trip that she began with her debut single on her latest effort entitled “4 Horsemen”. After I had the pleasure of discovering LaQuinta through her first single, this new one surprised me with a lot of new elements and an amazing rock n roll drive behind it.
The track begins with thunderous drums and heavily distorted guitars that will thwart the headphones off your head. The vocals join in a gritty and raspy demeanour and the most unapologetic and badass attitude you could think of. I love how the song is arranged into verses followed by a pre-chorus that changes every time; indicating that a new “horseman” or alter ego/personality is announcing itself. You can’t actually tell it’s different iterations or sides of the same person on the first listen but it becomes clearer once we get to the somewhat chill chorus where multiple vocal harmonies are singing together the lines:
“Introducing my 4 horsemen thrive in me. They drive me batshit crazy yet inspire me
My 4 horsemen make me who I am
You’ll never know who you’ll get I don’t really give a damn”
Now let’s talk vocal techniques, cause there are a ton of them here. LaQuinta does some distorted clean chest voice for the verses and a fast pace which may be similar to rapping or scatting during the pre-chorus and the closeness of these two styles makes it an easy and smoother transition than you may think. By the time we reach a chorus, the vocals are layered into higher and lower harmonies but the dark timbre of the voice itself is maintained in both. Such an arrangement made me think like multiple voices are making statements and highlighted how the chorus is sung with some grit and little to no distortion.
There’s no denying that the band members of this project are some of the most talented people in the entire world…and that’s no exaggeration. They master a lot of techniques to transition from one style to the other in a way that keeps the fun and the surprise element. The short guitar solo that plays in the middle of the song and once again at the outro greatly complements LaQuinta’s attitude and her sass- making me highly eager to see what the showmanship of these guys will be like on stage if they were ever to tour near me. You must give this track and the previous Bad Ass Beauty single a listen if you enjoy rock bands that have exciting and unorthodox vocals.
