“What You Love” is a dark ballad by singer-songwriter Aura Davis that tells the tale of a twisted love story – her toxic tendencies are actually the things keep her partner crawling back for more.
On this track, Aura is proclaiming to her significant other that they love her for all the wrong, and potentially unhealthy, reasons. She’s well aware of her faults, but she knows that these faults are exactly what keeps her lover wrapped around her finger. She tries to keep her cool during the verses, largely keeping her voice hunched in a seductive whisper before letting loose in the chorus and airing out all of her own dirty laundry: “I’m a real bad girl, gonna get you in trouble you’ll see/I’m a mad, mad woman, yeah that is what you love about me.” She uses the sexiness and subtle sense of danger in her voice to manipulate this person into staying with her. She really knows what she’s doing and it is fascinating to watch.
This song sounds almost as if Aura is casting a spell. Her voice falls somewhere between the youthful brightness of Christina Perri and the mature warmth of Bonnie Raitt; it’s classic and modern all at once. The entire song has only two chords and the melody is very simple, often hanging around just a single note. It’s all very slow and plodding, but that’s what is so captivating and hypnotic about this track. She creates such tension in the chorus that genuinely makes you uncomfortable, and that’s exactly what this relationship feels like.
The simplicity of “What You Love” is what makes this a great song. Aura Davis writes to her own strengths as an artist, and because of that she’s got the potential to be a great creative force.
Written by Tim Clark
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