EXCLUSIVE! ‘Short Cut’ by Janita

Janita. Pic by Reto Sterchi

This week’s Monday exclusive is a slice of grown-up pop from a US-based Finnish artist with an impressive track record

This week’s Monday track exclusive comes from an artist who, unlike most that grace this slot, is by no means a newcomer. By the time Janita Maria Rauko, known professionally simply as Janita, relocated to the US in the late 90s, she’d already released nine albums in her native Finland – the first when she was just 14 years old – and graced that nation’s charts on several occasions.

Since then she’s released three more long-players, including 2015’s Didn’t You My, Dear?, her biggest seller outside of Finland. Didn’t You, My Dear? is shortly to be reissued in Deluxe Edition form featuring three brand-new tracks – one of which, Short Cut, is getting its very first airing right here on Songwriting today.

“This has been a breakthrough album for me in many ways,” says Janita. “There’s a common thread of joyful defiance running through it, and that in itself, is a breakthrough for me. Short Cut is no exception thematically, and it was inspired by an urgency I was feeling at the time, about needing to accomplish this, that and the other thing, in order get where I felt I needed to be. Ironically, I think that through the process of writing, recording and promoting this album, I’ve ended up exactly where I need to be. As the song says, there are no short cuts. By simply putting one foot in front of the other, the magic happens. And now, for me, there’s no rush to get anywhere – because I’m already there.”

We can see Short Cut appealing to fans of Adele or Emeli Sande, as well as slightly more leftfield pop artists like Everything But The Girl or Crazy P. But as ever, you can make your own minds up!

Like that? Then find Janita on Facebook and Twitter.

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