Ella Pollett is a young (17) singer/songwriter from Hawke’s Bay who has already seen some success with Smokefree Rockquest, and will soon be playing her biggest gig to date when she opens for Rod Stewart at the Mission concert. This is her third single, following on from 2021’s Hold On, which like When I’m Gone assisted Ella in winning her section in the regional heats of SFRQ. This is a pleasant number, with Ella’s vocals always front and centre, and as well as her riffed acoustic we get touches of steel, drums, cello, bass, electric guitar, harmony vocals and keyboards with the result being a song which straddles the boundaries of pop and country. Her singing style definitely feels like that of a young person, with lilts and lifts, sometimes moving into head voice but often also staying much more in the middle, more alto than soprano.
The song tells the story of unrequited love, having someone important in your life who means the world to you, but they do not feel the same way – maybe they will realise this once you have gone. At 3:30 there is a gentle drop off with a nice haunting vocal “you will miss me too”, and I think it would have had more impact if it had finished at that point but it then returns to the chorus and melody to bring it out to just over 4:00. Pleasant and sweet, I am sure we will be hearing a lot more from Ella in the future.
Rating: 6/10
