Review
Genre and Mood
Her introduced themselves with Her, a slow-burning blend of soul, indie pop and R&B that feels like a whispered secret. The mood is intimate and soulful, unashamedly romantic, the kind of song that turns a room’s lights down by itself.
Song Summary
The song plays like a slow, sensual ode, sung with the tenderness and restraint that defined the duo, whose first tape was, in Victor Solf’s words, about “the woman and the relationship”. The arrangement is minimal and warm: muted, unhurried drums, a deep, rounded bassline, soft keys and touches of guitar, with the vocal recorded close enough to feel like it is right beside you. The memorable detail is the space. Her leave silence between the notes, letting the groove breathe; nothing is pushed or oversung.
Musical Breakdown
The track unfolds slowly, building intimacy rather than volume.
Intro
Soft drums and a warm bass pulse set a late-night mood, sparse and patient, with nothing yet hinting at how warm the song will become.
Verse 1
The vocal enters low and close, delivered with a quiet, almost conversational warmth.
Chorus
The hook lifts gently, harmonies layering over the groove as the melody reaches its most tender point.
Bridge
The arrangement pares back to voice and a few textures, a moment of stillness before the final refrain.
Outro
The groove lingers and slowly fades, leaving the warmth of the song hanging in the air.
Concepts in Focus
A groove is the felt quality of a rhythm, how the parts lock together and push against each other in time, and this track shows that it does not need volume or density. A few soft drum hits, a bass and some keys, placed with care and with silence around them, are enough to make the body sway. Her recorded around twenty songs live in the studio before choosing the best, and that live-band feel is part of why the groove breathes.
The bassline is the song’s main source of movement: deep and rounded, it carries the harmony and the pulse while the drums stay muted. In the chorus, vocal harmony adds a second voice above the melody, a small widening that feels large because everything around it is so quiet. The same palette, with a stronger hook, runs through Her – Five Minutes.
Artistic Context
Her were the French duo of Victor Solf and Simon Carpentier, who met at the Lycée Émile-Zola in Rennes, began writing songs together at sixteen and played for six years in the Rennes electro-pop band The Popopopops before forming Her in April 2015. They grew up on classical music and found their way to jazz, blues, soul and hip-hop, and they made their first recordings with a sound engineer and a producer over several months. Her Tape #1, released at the start of 2016, set out their sound of minimalist, sensual soul with indie and electronic touches; its singles were “Quite Like” and “Five Minutes”. Simon Carpentier died of cancer on 13 August 2017 at the age of 27, and Victor Solf completed the duo’s debut album, Her, released by Barclay on 30 March 2018.
Impact and Reception
The Her Tapes brought the duo international attention and festival bookings across Europe. After the album tour the project ended, with a last French concert at the Zénith Paris in February 2019 before 6,800 people, and in 2024 Rennes named a stage in the Parc du Thabor after Carpentier. The self-titled track remains a statement of what they stood for: soul music that trusts in quiet and warmth. Listen to it late at night, with headphones, and let it come close.
