K C Q strikes defiant yet vulnerable tones on the single “If You Can Make It” from her Former Teen Model EP (released on March 5, 2024). The song has an emotional urgency in both word and music. An echoing tone over syncopated rhythms as the vocalist drops alternately rhyming couplets and free verse statements of observation and intent. K C Q’s portraits of striving for a good and vital life are not mere bravado. Not with lines like “daily struggle comes with daily pain.” The song has a dreaminess and heavy rhythm like a trip hop song but there is an aspect of noisy industrial beats that gives the song as well as the other tracks on the EP a compelling intensity, darkness and grittiness that draws you into the songs because it feels like something vital, raw and new. It speaks to persistent everyday frustrations and the pressure to constantly prove yourself while remind oneself to believe in yourself and the knowledge that if you get through these most trying of times maybe you’ll attain the level of success and achievement that will make what you’ve endured worth it. Listen to “If You Can Make It” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the EP as well.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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