Fremantle singer-songwriter Paige Valentine has floored me with her beautiful new single “Pure.” It’s an exercise in restraint, with sparse synths giving her stunning vocals space to shine. Paige co-wrote the song with her friend and current The Voice contestant Matt Gresham.
“I was beginning to witness a number of friends’ long-term relationships being tested and drew a bit on personal experience, when two people who love each other seem to drift apart chasing different dreams, or going through hardships, or just generally changing as people. Matt already had the chords ready to go, I ad-libbed the first verse and chorus while he was playing guitar. We both knew we were onto something really special and something that really hit a nerve, Matt even asked if I wanted to continue writing it – it was intense,” she recalled. “We finished the song half an hour later … vulnerable, personal, challenging songwriting. I went to Sydney and did some pre-production with Billy Otto, before returning to Fremantle and finishing the single with Dylan Ollivierre (The Money War). ‘Pure’ is about trying to remember why you love someone and wanting to get back to that innocence of when you fell in love.”
Paige has been making waves in her native Western Australia. She’s already been nominated for five WAM awards and been a finalist in the Vanda & Young International Song Competition. Something tells me we’ll see big things from her in the years ahead.
Image used with permission from This Much Talent; credit She is Aphrodite