Hope Vista is an up-and-coming rock/pop artist from New Jersey. She recently released an EP featuring the songs, “Down In Wonderland,” “Take the Hit,” “Hearts of Darkness,” and “Stating the Facts.”
The first song is a take on Disney’s Alice and Wonderland. It mentions many aspects of the film including lyrics, “You’re trying to hide in the rabbit hole,” and “your bag of tricks were stole by the mad hatter.” However, Vista puts a modern twist on the song by talking about not having cell phone service in Wonderland. I need to listen to the song a few times to understand the metaphor of not running away from all of your problems. It was hidden in the Alice metaphors.
The next song, “Take A Hit,” had a great start. The melody at the beginning of the song made me want to hear what was next. The song with lyrics such as, “There are five girls,” and “she is bound by love and lies,” depicts a story about a cheater. It might be an anthem for women, but the chorus was very difficult to listen to.
The third song, “Heart of Darkness,” was my favorite on this EP. It wasn’t for the song, but for the meaning behind it. It is talking about someone who died in a drunk-driving accident from Vista’s school. I loved the dark and somber tone at the beginning of the song and the lyric, “There’s a chill in the air that’s taken your beautiful soul away.” It made me feel like I was actually at the school. However, the song took a turn for the TMI, which the lyric “Before we chug all of our vodka and drive.”
The last song, “Stating the Facts,” literally did as the title says. The first line spoke about how Pluto was further than Earth.
At just 20 years old, Hope Vista has written over 500 songs and made it past the first round on XFactor. I see a talented songwriter with a lot of potential.