Review
Genre and Mood
Seth XVI made Give It All the kind of song you play with the lights low. It is electro-pop with an indie heart: electronic in its production, but made by a singer whose music, as his biography puts it, is built on voice, guitar and piano rather than on a beat. The mood is introspective and dreamy, with a longing in its title’s promise.
Song Summary
As its title says, Give It All is about holding nothing back. Seth XVI, credited as Mickaël Verdot, wrote it alone; he is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who sings, plays and produces his own music. His biography calls his style a new kind of pop that mixes electronic and acoustic sounds, built on guitar, piano and, above all, his voice. That is the thing to listen for here: production that serves a singer.
Musical Breakdown
Intro
Listen to what comes first. In a dance track it would be the beat; in a singer-producer’s song the opening usually tells you which instrument the song was written on.
Verse 1
Notice where the voice sits: whether it is pushed forward like a pop lead or kept close, as if the song were sung to one person.
Chorus
The title phrase is the anchor to listen for, the line the song is built to make you remember.
Outro
Listen to how the song ends, and whether it resolves the longing or leaves it hanging.
Concepts in Focus
Two other versions of Give It All teach as much as the original. In November 2017 DDM Recordings released a remix by La Fine Equipe. A remix takes a finished recording and rebuilds it, often for a dance floor; listen to the two versions side by side and notice which parts survive the rebuild and which feeling changes.
The label also filmed a short live recording of the song for its DDM Live Session series. A live session shows what a studio track is made of: without the layers of production, you hear whether the song stands on voice and chords alone. Listen for whether it does.
Artistic Context
Seth XVI comes from Lyon and joined the label DDM Recordings in January 2017. Give It All came out as a single on 22 March 2017, and on 28 April it reappeared as the second track of his debut EP Symbolic, five songs long. His biography names Chet Faker, The xx and Tom Misch as influences, combined with sunnier rhythms from elsewhere. A second EP, PULP, followed with more danceable, pop-leaning tracks.
Impact and Reception
Give It All travelled further than most debut singles. In May 2017 the Paris label Kitsuné put it on its compilation Kitsuné Parisien 4, and in September it appeared on the compilation Nova Tunes 3.6. With Come & See, it is one of the two singles that brought Seth XVI to radio and to close to a million plays each. It is here because it is a quiet song that still found its way around. Put it on late, turn it up a little, and let the voice do the work.
