“Tarot” – Michaela Slinger Review | Unheard Gems

“Tarot” by Michaela Slinger is a singer songwriter, dreamy hit that has me hitting replay. It brings up feelings of nostalgia for anyone clinging onto past, failed relationships, but more so this song makes me feel strong.

Low percussive hums and Slinger’s soulful tone create an ethereal atmosphere. Her vocalization sounds like honey as she effortlessly hits runs within the melody and showcases great vocal control. This song evokes powerful emotions with its deep lyrics. Slinger tells of someone still holding onto a past partner, and blaming that on fate, on the tarot cards. Her presence both in the song and music video is beautiful and willowy yet very powerful. Towards the end, the production and percussive hums break through a softer segment as she declares, “I don’t want you anymore” and smashes the projector that she’d been carrying around with a baseball bat. The projector seems to represent the emotional baggage she was also clinging onto. What an empowering scene about building confidence and finally trusting yourself over fate. Slinger notes, “Tarot was one of the first songs I ever demoed and self-produced on Garageband at home. I had just purchased a MIDI keyboard and was trying to push myself to write a song a day in April 2019. I didn’t achieve a song a day, but lots of uninhibited, curious experimentation happened, such as the low percussive hums you hear throughout the track. Those are original from me in my thin-walled apartment, messing around with layering my own vocals as samples”

Michaela Slinger is a singer-songwriter from Toronto, Canada known for her youthful, energetic, and harmony-rich melodies combined with old soul lyricism. She has built an impressive stage presence from years of musical theatre experience. Slinger independently released her debut single, “Flux” in July 2019 which accumulated over 250,000 streams. After this strong start she was accepted as one of two fully-funded artists to complete Canada’s Music Incubator in Toronto, and returned home to play Vancouver’s historic Vogue Theatre as a finalist in the Elevate Music Project. Less than a year later, Slinger’s career has come full circle, releasing a brand new track on a freshly minted record deal with 604 Records.”

Written by Annika Johnson, edited by Hannah Schneider