London-based singer/songwriter Towa Bird explores the slimy side of love in “Gentleman,” showing us how a girl, a guitar, and unabashed passion can produce a firestorm of romantic lyricism and old-school British rock.

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Stream: “Gentleman” – Towa Bird

Towa Bird is one of those musicians who took off like a bat out of hell and never looked back.

One day, “Boomerang” popped up on discovery playlists, and the next, its mother album, American Hero, was climbing up the charts. In the end, Bird’s debut album would net her millions of combined streams across the multitude of streaming platforms, cementing her position in the musical canon. She has been noticeably absent in the past few years, though. Up until about two weeks ago, we had gotten a – that’s one – new single from the artist since the release of her debut album. So, when the new tune “Gentleman” dropped at the end of February, fans came rushing to hear it, putting the track among Towa Bird’s most popular overnight.

Left her
Undressed
All sweat, lick the
salt off my neck

Cherry cherry
on the top that like
Cherry cherry cherry
on your tongue, so bad

Out now via Interscope Records, “Gentleman” is everything you loved about American Hero and more. It has the catchy hooks of a pop song, but the gritty rocking instrumentals of something that could start a fight at one of the dive bars over on Shelby Street. It opens with some compressed picking, then an isolated riff to set the mood, and after that, boom right into the hot seat of what this tune has to offer; that old-school plucking guitar and meaty bass combo that exudes greasy rock ‘n’ roll. Soon comes the first refrain, a repetitive three-second line about cherries, which sears itself into your brain permanently. From there, the song is a firestorm of unbridled beats and dueling guitars.

So good
Unfair
I’m coming and
She’s already there

Cherry cherry
on the top that like
Gimme gimme gimme,
uh want it so bad

Bird is a guitarist at heart, and “Gentleman” is a tune that exemplifies that.

The undulating riffs rip at each other like so many fighting serpents, only to circle back to a picking baseline that gives the vocals a bumpy backtrack. The lyrics are a dirty love letter; they are Bird telling the listener that she knows how to treat a lady. They are the sort of backhanded poetry that adorns the wall of a bathroom stall. All of it comes together to make a tune that’s sharp and sweet like a maraschino cherry coated in Tajín.

Round and around and around we go
Got a dirty little secret baby nobody knows
Let em talk talk talk they’re not in the joke
One touch
And I already know

I’ll be your gentleman
I’ll be your gentleman

Bird’s earlier releases seemed to have leaned more towards the alternative side of rock than “Gentleman.” I don’t think it would be doing her justice to call her previous work indie or garage rock because that isn’t quite right, but it did have a sort of modern off-the-beaten-path feel to it. I would compare it to the Black Keys, not in sound but in style. You hear the roots of where the tunes are coming from, but it’s clear a diversion has been made from what inspired the music.

“Gentleman,” however, is all rock. This track could have dropped anytime from the ‘70s onward, and it would have been a chart topper. You have the tasty riffs, the lyrics that stick to your brain like gum sticks to your shoe, and those tickling keys that come in just before the chorus and catch you off guard. Frankly, I’m not sure that there is anybody in the rock scene who has the knack for emulating the classic rock sound that Bird does. She is reshaping the genre in her image, and if it takes another two years for the next release, then the wait is totally worth it.

Sharp shooter
A breadwinner
I’m toast
She’s a cold hearted killer

Cherry cherry
on the top that like
Cherry cherry cherry
on your tongue so bad

New boots
Pin stripes suits
I got my eye on the
hottest girl in the room

Cherry cherry
on the top that like
Gimme gimme gimme,
uh want it so bad

“Gentleman” has become a staple among Bird’s fans in the few weeks since its release.

Two years spent in the studio resulted in a track that has rapidly earned itself a place among Bird’s top songs. It’s Towa Bird in peak form, shredding her guitar and exuding pure rock ‘n’ roll in every verse. The combination of Bird’s layered guitar playing and compressed vocals has pushed “Gentleman” up the charts.

It has already outpaced many of the tunes on American Hero and, in time, may even prove to be one of her most successful songs yet.

Round and around and around we go
Got a dirty little secret baby nobody knows
Let em talk talk talk they’re not in the joke
One touch
And I already know

What
I’ll be your gentleman
I’ll be your gentleman

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Stream: “Gentleman” – Towa Bird

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