Kae Tempest’s ‘Love Harder’ comes a year after their most recent album, The Line is a Curve. Tempest has worked for over a decade within spoken word poetry, hip-hop and writing, focusing intently on political, emotional and mental issues in their characters and, more recently, within their self.
This new song, ‘Love Harder’, doesn’t move much from those themes. The lyrics are delivered with a relaxed, cool flow. Tempest mentions struggles, such as an inability to “open up” but a contrasting pride in achieving what they have as an artist. Tempest’s focus generally is on love and connection, and this is communicated well through their lyricism.
The song’s hook is a little simplistic, but still effective as it talks of the need to fight for what you love, to love yourself and to respect others. Tempest has explored this theme in more detail before, making the brevity of its mention here function even if the listener can’t help but want more depth. The beat is a pleasant backdrop, made more complex by its tinny cymbals and glitch effects. Dan Carey’s bass is overpowering, lessening the impact of the beat’s subtleties.
The focus is clearly on Tempest’s lyrics, and the beat floats into the background quite well. The message expressed here is simplified in its brevity, but the song remains catchy and moving. It’s light on its feet spoken-word poetry, backed by Dan Carey’s detailed production.
Words by Reece Beckett
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