Sly, Cotton Candy Review

Sly, aka Sylvester Sivertsen is an alt-pop newcomer pushing a new fresh sound. His father is a renowned producer, and drummer Jan Sivertsen and his mother, perhaps his greatest inspiration, is the legendary Danish singer and songwriter Lis Sørensen. The Copenhagen-based artist grew up watching and listening to his parents’ work. He began teaching himself how to produce in Logic. His success soon escalated with cuts like “Side Effects,” which went on to have millions of streams for The Chainsmokers. “When I started making the music I wanted to hear, I hit a vein,” he says. In turn, inspired by his work with major artists and noticing that he was building a catalog of idiosyncratic, compelling, and human pop, Sly really did start making music for himself. Sly is now emerging as an artist with his debut single, “Cotton Candy.”

Bottom Line: “Cotton Candy” features the lovely sounds of Emily Warren (the multi-billion-stream driving force behind hits for Dua Lipa, Khalid, Sigrid, Rita Ora, and Charli XCX) on vocals. Sly’s music is created by combining state-of-the-art pop production, emotion, and humanity. “Emily was going through a breakup, and we were talking about how difficult love can be, and how to know when you should let go or keep fighting. ‘Cotton Candy’ is a song about not being ready to give up, and Emily got back with her boyfriend the next day.” Sly aims to make his music connect with the listener. “Human emotion is what music is about,” declares Sly. “I’m very particular about whether music makes me feel something – in its lyric, its melody, its sound, or all three at once,” he explains. The song builds, pulling in the listener with phat beats, Emily’s emotional singing adds passion as the music grows around her. The different registers that Emily sings in adds to the exciting aspects of the track. The cadence is a beautiful rhythmic tap dance that releases the energy for a satisfying ending. Sly has an ear and heart for the subtle drama that makes a song have an impact. That’s the short of it!