Micki XO has hit something that we can all relate to with Power Outage- that particular brand of being exhausted as you are, overloaded with media and loving everything that is going on in the world and somehow still expected to show up and work. The genius of this song is that it does not merely narrate that feeling but it turns it into a real danceable song, which is weirdly suitable to our present era.
The energy of operating on fumes is caught by the production. That mysterious fluttering of the synths and that kick drum beat make up this hypnotic, adrenaline laden mood that literally drags you along at a time when you may be mentally exhausted. The contrast of that, Micki singing about being defeated and tired and the beat saying that you must move, is genius. It is reflective of the way that the majority of us live, right? We are too tired to move but we move because occasionally motion is life.
The sincere emotional resonance of her voice here never allows the euphoric production to mask the actual seriousness of what she is saying. As that surprise beat drop comes and all the elements blow out into the finale it does not feel forced but cathartic. It is three minutes and sixteen seconds of recognition that we are indeed being beaten up by the world and we are also getting weary but that we need not give in to it wholesale.
The idea of Micki to create community and not to gather fans per se comes out clearly. It is not false hope or toxic positivity she is providing, but solidarity in the package of electropop. To any one with more than one job, who is in a state of constant stress, or who feels they are in dire need of a vacation, Power Outage sits with you in the fatigue and makes you know you are not the only one that feels this way.
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