โJust Differentโ is the moment in Richard Greenโs trilogy where the camera zooms in on the teenage version of yourselfโthe one who never quite fit, who thought โdifferentโ meant โwrong.โ Splitting his time between Milan and London, Green has been building a reputation as a shape-shifter, writing everything from neoclassical pieces to dance, techno, and chillout.
Here, he leans into his classical roots with a twist, teaming up with Italian pianist Irene Veneziano and the Archimia string quartet to create a piece that feels like chamber music thatโs been out drinking with blues and jazz.
Part of the wider narrative of A Journey, โJust Differentโ dives into that fragile adolescence phase: when you feel off to the side of everyone else, not โenough,โ and havenโt yet realised that being out of step is exactly what makes you human. Itโs the most experimental cut in the project, and you can hear Green deliberately blurring boundariesโclassical rigour on one hand, smoky jazz harmony on the other, as if Erik Satie wandered into a late-night club by mistake and decided to stay.
The song opens with thick, slow, heavy strings and deep tones of piano playing and building. Violins come writhing its tender, high tones amidst the heavy, full-bodied dance of the piano and deep strings. Itโs like a conversation and an argument, almost, before it frolics.
As it unfolds, you can feel how demanding it must have been to play: the piano pushes, the strings pull, sometimes clashing, sometimes moving as one, like the inner tug-of-war between insecurity and self-belief.
By the end, โdifferentโ doesnโt sound like a flaw anymore. It feels like a hard-won badge. โJust Differentโ may be a single piece in a three-part story, but it stands on its own as a bold, bittersweet reminder that the parts of us that never quite blend in are usually the ones worth turning up.
STAY IN TOUCH:
INSTAGRAMย |ย SPOTIFYย |ย FACEBOOKย |ย YOUTUBE
Review by: Naomi Joan