Taking a little bit of funk, a whole lot of rock rebelliousness and throwing in an extra helping of pop slickness just for good measure, A-Lister breaks off one sizzling cocktail in “Groove-A” this September that indie fans need to hear before the summer is finally over. Though “Groove-A” isn’t the first experimental pop jam to get a lot of attention from the underground media in the last few months, particularly on the American side of the Atlantic, it has a couple of features I haven’t heard in any other material lately. Starting with A-Lister’s confidence, this track and its accompanying video embrace us with open arms and remind the world that pop music is at its best when no barriers exist between artist and audience. 

As far as the music video for “Groove-A” is concerned, it’s a really likeable document that isn’t overcomplicated at all – on the contrary, I think it’s efficient to the point of feeling like a statement against the excesses that a lot of his rivals in the mainstream side of pop music regularly welcome into their own work. The clean-cut stylization of the shots, which directly keeps the soundtrack at the forefront of our attention over the actual visuals, speaks to A-Lister’s artistic priorities, and among them, I see nothing related to selling-out his identity for major label money. 

I didn’t know much about A-Lister before I got into this new single, but in exploring some of his other songs like “Poser” and “Invincible Days,” I couldn’t help but notice a consistently uplifting, positive-minded theme in almost everything he pens. That kind of attitude is far from common in pop anymore, and if he can use it to get more exposure from a larger audience, I don’t doubt we’ll be hearing a number of hits from him beyond this one in the future. 

Zachary Rush