Not a lot of artists can claim that their music is intentionally hard to sit through. Bad Ass Beauty does, and she says that it serves an artistic purpose. We think she’s exaggerating. Broken is not a song that’s pretty, but it is a song that’s striking and powerful.
Broken is the 3rd single released by the Los Angeles-based LaQuinta Prince. Essentially an R&B vocalist, LaQuinta is branching out to rock music with her latest single. Educated in Berklee and with her influences listing legends like Led Zeppelin and Beyonce, it’s safe to say that Prince has a unique approach to her music, especially so that she aims to bring forward a fusion of rock and soul like nothing that has been heard before.
Broken isn’t necessarily a part of this quest, though. This single is thrashy and jittery. With intense, distorted, start-stop vocals and riffs, Broken is a song about all of Prince’s failed, abusive relationships. In her words, a love letter to what she will never accept or allow in her life again. As such, Broken can be a bit uncomfortable, if not as bad as LaQuinta describes. The metallic nature of the guitar tone holds no beauty, and the harmonies on the vocals are at times jarring. But never once did the song’s production falter or fail to deliver the song’s emotionally hefty punch.
Difficult songs are not bad songs, and the Berklee alumna seems to know this fully well and is brave enough to even attempt it in a bold showcase of her vulnerability as a person, and if for nothing else, Broken is worth checking out for that reason alone.
