Song Review: Perfect Crime by Jade Gibson
By Alan Shipston for Country Music News International Magazine
RTC Records is releasing Perfect Crime, the new single by Australian country pop singer Jade Gibson. This tongue in cheek crime drama breakup has a light hearted feel and breezy vocals that take you on a two and half minute summer song. “You didn’t leave a trace, all evidence erased,” sets the tone for an innocent romp at the hand of producer, Ben Horsley. This 23 year old producer is quickly becoming the hit maker to some of Australia’s biggest stars. Jade Gibson has been working tirelessly for many years releasing successful singles, videos and performing on concert stages in her native land.
Strong pop bedtracks lay the musical foundation for Jade to plead her case for love long gone with lyrics like, “You’ll probably plead the fifth, wouldn’t even say you miss, what we had now you ain’t feeling guilty.” Written by Jade Gibson, Ava Suppelsa, Austin Goodloe and Ben Horsley, the melody weaves around the lyric constantly pointing back at the title, Perfect Crime. This isn’t the first time that Jade has written with Nashville writers after spending a year in Music City before returning to NE Victoria in rural Australia. Of her stay in Nashville, Gibson offered this, “There are few places more inspiring for a young artist. You are immersed in music. It’s all you do and it’s all that you want to do.”
Never one to stand by country convention, Gibson draws inspiration from Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac and Maggie Rogers. In the chorus of Perfect Crime you can see her long blonde locks swirling around the harmonized lines, “Had no clue that I was falling for lies, velvet smooth but it was all a disguise.” The positive up tempo energy of the track counters the thread of criminal separation between two lovers.
It’s a fun, rollicking take on a subject near and dear to the hearts of country listeners, but Jade takes Perfect Crime in a definitive pop direction with just a lone banjo riff just before the powerful chorus. Her vocal leans into traditional modern country becoming the perfect foil for arpeggiated keyboards and distorted guitars. It’s the kind of tune that you want to play again because it ends too soon. Just like the Perfect Crime.