โYou Chose Not To Be Mineโ is one of those slinky, smoky, and utterly self-assured torch songs that knows exactly what itโs doing. Aly Berry, a rising jazz vocalist and songwriter from Northern England, wraps you in the velvet of her grainy mezzo tone with a sensual and unbothered performance. With all that going on, she tells a story as old as time: a man who once walked away now crawling back, only to find her door firmly shut.
Right off the bat, the track sets the mood with a soft bed of steady drums, wistful piano chords, and slow-burning horns that create a late-night ambiance youโd expect in a candlelit jazz lounge. Then Aly steps in, her voice gliding over the melody nonchalantly as she lets him know he made his bed, and sheโs not losing sleep. She sings, โYou canโt ignore the way you felt before, but instead you chose not to be mine,โ letting him know that he had the chance, giving us the foreground of why the ship has sailed.
The song is part of her debut album, Aly Berry, a project that bloomed from a chance meeting in Mayfair with renowned jazz composer Paul Higgs. That collaboration opened the doors to a dream lineup: tenor saxophone legend Scott Hamilton, bassist Dave Green, drummer Neil Bullock, and Higgs himself on trumpet. Can you imagine these top-tier musicians with decades of pedigree, playing alongside a fresh new voice with something to say? Itโs saying a lot.
Berryโs journey hasnโt been all roses, starting out in modeling at 14, moving to London at 18, and grinding through gigs as a live sound engineer. But itโs precisely that hustle and heart that makes her music hit. Listen to โYou Chose Not To Be Mineโ on Spotify.
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Photo Credit: Pedro Antunes
Review by: Naomi Joan