Greyson Chance - Palladium - Single / Athena - Single [Review]

Greyson Chance will soon be following up his Trophies EP with a new album titled Palladium and has so far released two singles from it - the title track and "Athena." "Palladium" is very beautiful, featuring somewhat of an alternative rock Imagine Dragons meets Passion Pit vibe to it. Acoustic guitar and piano dominate the track along with Greyson's mid-register vocals, softly and gently fluttering throughout the track. (I absolutely love his vocals on this track; I would even go as far as to say that this is some of his best vocal work to date.) He also, in the latter half of the track, shows off his range by rising into falsetto in the song's bridge. The song is beautiful not only sonically but also thematically, as it is from the perspective of someone who yearns to be a specific person's protector and guiding light: "I just wanna try to protect you," Chance declares in the song's chorus, "like your skin protects your blood... and if I ever let you go, then my whole kingdom's done." Commenting on the song's meaning, Greyson has stated, "The song is inspired by an ancient Greek myth I had researched when I was in college studying archaeology. When I was writing the lyric, I thought of how the myth relayed back to my own life. Palladium is about protecting the most sacred parts of yourself, which in this case, is my creativity as an artist. Throughout my entire career, I have been told what my music should sound like." This is interesting because that very much makes it a song about self-love (as is his song "Bad to Myself"), but the beautiful thing about music and art in general is that, much of the time, it is open to interpretation and can therefore also be regarded by someone as a love song directed toward someone other than yourself.

In keeping with the theme of Ancient Greece (which will perhaps be the theme of the album overall?), the second single released thus far from Palladium is titled "Athena." "Athena" is a tad more upbeat than "Palladium" and also features electric guitar, but it is still in more or less the same vein, again sounding like a soft rock track reminiscent of Imagine Dragons or The Lumineers. Once again, though, I really love Greyson's vocals here. He seems to be striving to experiment a bit with his tone and his range, and I am here for it. (He almost doesn't even sound like himself in the verses, but he sounds great!) Of the song's meaning, Chance has commented, "'Athena' is all about letting go and surrendering to love... Athena is a God mainly associated with love, but she is also so much more than that. In many myths, Athena appears stubborn and hardheaded. In past relationships I've exhibited those same traits, and even more unfortunate ones too. For me, Athena is about recognizing those faults, and acknowledging that every person needs love... they key is just being open to it." I think that it is also worth mentioning that Athena is also known as the goddess of wisdom, so, in the song's chorus, when Chance pleads, "...Where is Athena? God damn it, I need her," he is very likely also asking for the wisdom needed to open himself up to love. The theme of the song reminds me of a line from his song "Low" in which he sings that "I think I'm ready to hear 'I love you.'" As previously mentioned, "Athena" features electric guitar, and that aspect of it reminds me so much of Jack's Mannequin, especially their song "Spinning" which even got stuck in my head after listening to this. I adore both of these songs, and if they are harbingers of what's to come on Palladium, then this is likely going to be Greyson's best album yet.