Marie Naffah’s love songs for Cardiff
Photos: Rebecca Young
Words: Rhys Reviews
★★★★☆
The first of three performers to take to the stage at the iconic Globe Cardiff was the insanely talented Marie Naffah, who decided to strip back on theatrics so that the audience can purely focus on their incredible vocal talents.
Photo: Rebecca Young
What I thought was particularly clever about Marie’s set was the fact that she decided to have the overarching theme of love throughout all of her songs. Instead of simply focusing on romantic interests which many artists tend to gravitate towards, she explored the different types of love such as intense friendships, family relationships and even the journey of getting towards meaningful connections. I thought it was very important for Marie to cover the full spectrum of how love appears in people’s lives as the music industry often focuses on romance and dating but every single person (including those in the audience) will at some point or other in their life experience different iterations of love journeys so everyone can relate to the meaningful messages being shared!
The incredible Marie started her love-filled set with a performance of her hauntingly beautiful original song ‘Run Away with me’ which highlights the impulsive nature of some romantic encounters. As the name suggests, this number documents a (albeit one-sided) conversation between two lovers where one of them talks about wanting to simply escape their normal life and instead explore unpredictable adventures together.
Having recently seen a musical adaptation of the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde, I thoroughly enjoyed the nod to one of the most iconic escapade-filled love stories through the obvious lyric, “we could do the Bonnie and Clyde thing” which hinted at a darker undertone to the things the two lovers could get up to which fit flawlessly with the hauntingly beautiful singing showcased throughout. As this number contained simply the guitarist and Marie, the singer was able to truly showcase her vocal styles and in particular her insane vocal range with every moment being an absolute treat to the ears!
Marie and her team then decided to explore one of the aforementioned different experiences of love but showcasing the titular track of her 2024 album ‘Mother of Pearl’ which talks about the love of a daughter and her mother. One of the things that is not explored as much in the media is the fact that as people mature and begin to navigate traditionally adult-style experiences they naturally build a slight distance between parents and their children. As a child you spend the majority of your time with your parents who (at least should) show unconditional love and kindness but as people begin to age you spend less time together as you begin building your own life. This distance is portrayed beautifully in Marie’s lyric, “I don’t call you as much as I should,” which highlights that there is still immense love between the daughter and her mother but everyday life challenges get in the way. This is something every single person in the audience would and will experience and so sharing this song is particularly relatable and incredibly important!
My favourite performance from Marie’s set however was the currently unreleased ‘I Know You’re Sad’, which discussed the importance of a good cry every so often. The story offers a third-person perspective of a friend who has begun to notice a few changes in one of their peers while reminding them there are people around them but also holding space for their feelings.
As someone who tends to bury themselves in work/events when feeling overwhelmed (which I obviously do not recommend) the idea that this song focusses on someone going to concerts etc, in an attempt to cover over their sadness is not only highly relatable but also very important as it can only help raise awareness and in turn could lead to more people getting the support/help they need. It kind of goes without saying but the idea that as humans we can simply power through these feelings of immense sadness will oftentimes in fact make things worse and we need to find controlled and constructive ways to work through these feelings like a good old-fashioned cry!
To bring an end to her section of the evening, Maria decided to showcase her original song ‘Gloria’, which was a love song dedicated to her best friend to talk about the importance of having a strong network of people especially when you are struggling.
It’s clear that Marie poured everything into this heartfelt and moving performance as, the chorus in particular, was overflowing with pure emotion that left many audience members with tears in their eyes! The closing moments of this number however saw Marie hand over the vocal responsibilities over to the audience as she had everyone singing along as she delivered a series of incredible vocals over the top of the audience’s collective voice which sounded amazing!