Stirring up dust like a Sergio Leone spaghetti western before settling into a mild frolicsome canter, there is an upbeat approach to the guitar work of British blues rock artist Joanne Shaw Taylor on her new single ‘Bad Boy‘. It implies the thrill of the chase is what it is all about. Barely thirty seconds in, your ears prick up to an accusatory line that could easily have been missed in passing. Let us just hope it is not for real but merely a story told in song. Either way, the dichotomy between the dark words and the sweetened sounds strikes home. The narrator tells of staying behind as a posse of friends fly in, plotting a planned revenge when the lights go out.
Instead of a standard lyric video, one could easily picture Uma Thurman doing her Pulp Fiction dance routine in some sawdust gin joint back in the wild western days. The track takes on a macabre, almost camp feel. It slows down briefly to a funeral procession mode before Joanne Shaw Taylor whips her guitar into a frenzy, leaving you to imagine great shovels of soil being thrown with gleeful abandon over this bad boy’s corpse.
A swaggering and emotionally charged rocker, the song explores the magnetic pull of relationships that are as destructive as they are impossible to resist. It captures the emotional whiplash of a romance you cannot walk away from until one day you finally do.
“Sometimes love is thrilling and destructive at the same time,” Joanne Shaw Taylor explains. “I wrote this song about those intense, complicated relationships.” Rather than dwelling on regret, ‘Bad Boy‘ becomes an anthem of resilience and reclaiming your own power.
The single continues the steady unveiling of The Trouble With Love, her highly anticipated new studio album produced by Kevin Shirley. Due out on October 23 via Journeyman Records, the album blends blues, rock, soul, and Americana.
It follows recent singles including the gospel tinged ‘Hell Or High Water‘, the Orianthi collaboration ‘What Good Is My Love?‘, and the brilliant title track. Between a gentle thrash and a ringing jangle, ‘The Trouble With Love‘ is an absolute earworm. As the artist notes, she wanted to document the push and pull of romance, and the trouble it can undoubtedly cause.
