With her latest single, ‘Bite You Hard’, Carrie Hawkins delivers a haunting, emotionally charged trip-hop ballad that feels deeply intimate.
Classically trained, the Sunderland-based songwriter blends her pop instincts – shaped by the likes of Motown, Stevie Wonder, and lyrical powerhouses such as Joni Mitchell – with an evocative minimalism that strips the sound back to near silence, allowing the aching tone of her reverberated vocals to take centre stage.
Exercising huge restraint, the melody is sweet and simple, while the seductive and teasing delivery creates subtle tension. With clear nods to ‘90s icons like Portishead and Massive Attack, ‘Bite You Hard’ leans into moody minimalism with a skeletal instrumental foundation. Yet this is far from background music – it’s slow-burning, deliberate, and utterly absorbing.
Carrie’s fragile yet commanding vocal performance carries both vulnerability and strength, laced with unmissable sexual undertones and lyrical yearning. There’s a bruised honesty here, a sense of raw emotion delicately wrapped in atmosphere.
‘Bite You Hard’ may float with ghostly, otherworldly beauty, but it remains grounded in total artistic control.
You can listen to the track now on all major streaming platforms.
