Review: Samanta Tīna’s Second Album – A Journey of Self-Growth and Mixed Reactions

What comes slowly comes well – whether this Latvian proverb is applicable in this particular case is still a debatable question, but the fact remains: Samanta Tīna has released her second album ten years (!) after the publication of her debut album “Tagad esmu cita”. Kaspars Breidaks joked on the air of “Radio SWH” that two albums are twice as much as Ralf Eiland’s – he is absolutely right.

“Letter to You” is said to have developed as a deeply personal story. “The album is about self-growth, about fighting with yourself, about femininity, about ups and downs, about faith. It is a journey of self-acceptance, self-discovery,” says Samantha. “With the title song, which was written during a trip to India, the idea that this album is necessary began because I have something to say, I have a lot to share, I have something to tell. The album “Vēstule Tev” is like a letter to yourself.”

The album includes eight songs, including the previously released “Femme Fatale”, “Vēstule Tev”, “I Gave Everything To You” and “It’s Not Too Late”, which was made in collaboration with Grafoman. On the other hand, four of them are brand new and previously unheard of. One of the songs was made in collaboration with Raimonds Paula, previously only heard as an instrumental accompaniment in the 1991 film “Depression” – work on it started a long time ago, then stopped for incomprehensible reasons, but now finally finished. The singer’s team especially emphasizes the last song included in the album, “Mahā-mantra” – a deep, cleansing, uplifting, meditative mantra composed by Samantha herself, created in collaboration with Rihardus Zaļupi. The producers (or supervisors) of the album are Ingars Viļums and Samanta herself. “I really hope that when the album reaches the listeners, they too will be able to experience a transformative journey through their life situations, take a piece of it to build their own strength and say to themselves – I’m here, I love myself, and I have a huge strength that is my faith in myself,” said Samantha.

PAR. Samantha’s powerful and awe-inspiring vocal talents can be fully appreciated on this album – especially in the songs “Vēstule Tev” (really an excellent piece, with Mārčas Vasilevski’s solo guitar as a bonus!) and “Vēl und vēl”. Evaluating the songs included in the album, the listeners will probably be divided into two camps: some will prefer the more pop songs “I Gave You All” and “Femme Fatale” (the reviewer will also belong to this camp), while others will be excited by such moody songs as “Vēl und vēl”, ” Depression” and/or “Strength Song” by Riharda Zaļupes. I have always admired Samantha’s professional attitude towards absolutely everything she does in music and on stage – in every detail and nuance – and this can also be felt on the album with the naked ear.

AGAINST. Samantha herself is happy that “the songs together really make a story like a book with several chapters – an introduction, an ascent, there are complications, then there is a solution and an ending”, but it is unlikely that the listeners will perceive it either. The previously heard four pieces seem “from another opera”, but the latest four are a completely different story, and not the best. It’s preceded by “Again and Another”, whose beginning resembles “On the Last Page”: the doom-prone “Depression” is Paul’s song, which simply features Samantha, but would have sounded better, for example, performed by Viktor Lapchenok; the folklorized “Strength song” would rather suit “Tautumeitas”, but Samantha sounds like she accidentally got lost in such a repertoire; “Mahā-mantra” with its “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Hare Hare” etc. in general inspires horror and forces you to stop listening to this album in a hurry.

I don’t want to be too harsh – people have tried and worked with their heart and soul – but it will have to be: this album can surely claim the “Golden Microphone” in the category of the most incoherently stuck together album. If you also take into account what Samantha is/would be capable of, how many excellent songs she can/could offer at one time (for example, the superb “Cutting The Wire”, the powerful “Still Breathing”, also “I Got The Power”, the Euro piece ” The Moon Is Rising”, etc.), then also for the “Disappointment of the Year” award – at least in the reviewer’s opinion.

2023-10-20 19:45:22
#Samantha #Tina #Letter