Review
Genre and Mood
Scarlet Pleasure’s “Deja vu” is pop with an R&B heart and a synth-pop sheen: catchy enough to sing along to on first hearing, sultry in its voice, and full of longing for a love the singer cannot shake.
Song Summary
“Deja vu” came out on 17 March 2017 on Copenhagen Records as a single from the Danish trio’s EP Limbo, released that June; later the band pressed Limbo and its successor Lagune together on one vinyl LP. Atwood Magazine heard a lovelorn song of indulgence, a torn-up romantic trying both to forget and to embrace a lost love, for whom “she” is his déjà vu. The band described the lyric as feeling like waking up to the same day every day. They wrote the song in northern Sweden, inspired by a trip to Spain, partying and the European summer.
Musical Breakdown
No source maps the song from start to finish, but the band and two reviews describe its main parts.
The Arrangement
Stereogum heard blunt guitars and warped synthesizers making a lush background, perfect for a dance club. The band said they experimented with more silence in the song instead of too many production sounds.
The Bass
The drifting bass, the band told Atwood Magazine, made them think of a show they had played in Spain earlier that year.
Chorus
The chorus is where the band placed their idea of an anti-drop: the moment “my déjà vu” hits the beat.
The Voice
Emil Goll sings lead. Stereogum heard velvet vocals in the vein of the Weeknd, and a song mining 1980s pop.
Concepts in Focus
A drop is the release after a build-up, when the full beat and bassline crash back in. Scarlet Pleasure turned that expectation around: by their own account they liked the anti-drop of the chorus, when the title phrase lands on the beat instead of an explosion of sound.
That phrase is also the hook. Atwood Magazine called the lyrics catchy and bouncing, made for an easy singalong, and Stereogum called the song mischievously catchy.
The live recording Atwood premiered in 2018 was filmed in Aarhus in front of a packed crowd. Bassist Alexander Malone said performing live is the closest you get to the moment you wrote the song. Compare it with the studio version embedded here.
Artistic Context
Scarlet Pleasure are Emil Goll (vocals), Alexander Malone (bass) and Joachim Dencker (drums), a Danish trio active since 2013 whose formative years were in New York City. “Deja vu” followed their 2016 debut album Youth Is Wasted on the Young, and the three of them, with Nick Labajewska Madsen as co-producer, produced it.
Impact and Reception
“Deja vu” reached number four on the Danish chart, spent nine weeks in Spotify’s Danish top 10 and three weeks at number one on Danish airplay. At the 2017 Danish Music Awards it won Hit of the Year, as Elicit Magazine reported (Atwood Magazine called it Song of the Year), and the band won Best Group. Put it next to The Weeknd – Blinding Lights and listen for the 1980s both songs remember.
