REVIEW | ‘THE OTHER SONGS’ AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM HONOURED THE TALENT BEHIND OUR FAVOURITE SONGS

By Rishma • On Reviews

Dis­cov­er the hid­den tal­ent behind the lyr­ics of our beloved tracks. How often do we con­sider the ‘Song Writers’ respons­ible for craft­ing the very essence of a song? Per­son­ally, I find that the lyr­ics, hooks, and chor­us are what truly make a track mem­or­able. Just days before the Nov­ello awards, a remark­able event called ‘The Oth­er Songs’ emerged, com­pletely chan­ging the game. Presen­ted by the Ivors Academy and hos­ted by the incred­ible Al Webber, son of the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber, this cel­eb­ra­tion honored the unsung her­oes behind our favor­ite tunes.

The event brought togeth­er real-life music industry her­oes. It com­menced with a mes­mer­iz­ing per­form­ance by Richard Kerr, the mas­ter­mind behind the time­less hit ‘Mandy.’ Fol­low­ing him were a star-stud­ded lineup of song­writers, includ­ing Fraser T Smith, renowned for his con­tri­bu­tions to Stormzy, Dave, Adele, and Avelino, among oth­ers. Smith graced us with his own ori­gin­al mater­i­al, show­cas­ing the undeni­able impact his writ­ing skills have had on recent music­al sensations.

Pam Sheyne, the geni­us behind the ulti­mate 90s pop anthem ‘Genie In A Bottle’ by Christina Aguilera, cap­tiv­ated the audi­ence with a beau­ti­ful acous­tic rendi­tion of her hit. Nos­tal­gia per­meated the night as RuthAnne took the stage, treat­ing us to a med­ley of her own chart-top­pers. From ‘In The Name Of Love’ to hits she penned for Jojo and Brit­ney Spears, it was impossible not to sing along and relive the magic of the 90s.

As a school­girl of the 90s, I could­n’t con­tain my excite­ment when Shaznay Lewis of All Saints per­formed their icon­ic track ‘Pure Shores.’ Al Webber added an extra lay­er of depth through­out the show, shar­ing his know­ledge and pur­pose, remind­ing us how music can beau­ti­fully immor­tal­ize its cre­at­ors, as demon­strated when he intro­duced a fel­low com­poser to play a heart­felt rendi­tion of a song com­posed by his late broth­er, Nick Lloyd Webber.

Wit­ness­ing the con­ver­sa­tion between Al Webber and Andrew Lloyd Webber was truly won­der­ful, as it revealed the pro­found inspir­a­tion Al has drawn from his father­’s music­al influ­ence. One of the show’s major high­lights was Dave Stew­art of the Eurythmics recon­struct­ing ‘Sweet Dreams’ through storytelling and cap­tiv­at­ing sound, cul­min­at­ing in an EPIC per­form­ance of the clas­sic. The pres­ence of music­al roy­alty was palp­able, par­tic­u­larly dur­ing Rick Now­els’ mind-blow­ing performance.

While the event show­cased big names, it also provided a plat­form for emer­ging tal­ent, fea­tur­ing stu­dents from The Brit School. Standout per­form­ances by Suren, Rachel Chin­ouri­ri, and a per­son­ally unfor­get­table moment when a sing­er brought in by Jimmy Napes delivered a stun­ning rendi­tion of Sam Smith’s ‘I Know I’m Not the Only One’ left a last­ing impression.

The audi­ence was buzz­ing with anti­cip­a­tion through­out the night, par­tic­u­larly for the legendary A.R. Rah­man. His fans were treated to an extraordin­ary per­form­ance at the illus­tri­ous Lon­don Pal­la­di­um, as screams of excite­ment echoed every time his name was men­tioned. AR Rah­man con­cluded the night in true Bol­ly­wood style, deliv­er­ing a mes­mer­iz­ing show­case of his biggest hits, even graced by an appear­ance from his tal­en­ted son. The pro­found impact Rah­man has made on the music industry and his invalu­able con­tri­bu­tion to rep­res­ent­ing South Asi­an music glob­ally were undeni­ably evident.

Enter­ing ‘The Oth­er Songs,’ I had no idea what to expect, but I left with a new­found appre­ci­ation and respect for song­writers. I gained valu­able insights into the evol­u­tion of the song­writ­ing pro­cess, dis­covered emer­ging tal­ents, and, most import­antly, had the priv­ilege of wit­ness­ing the ori­gin­al cre­at­ors per­form my favor­ite songs. What an abso­lute treat it was!

 

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.