Disemboweling The Corrs Breathless, I Am Boleyn leans heavily into her world of synth pop excursions, making a poppy hit into a yearning ballad. It's an interestingly retro reinvention of an already retro song, camp, whether it knows it or not, and fairly catchy. I am Boleyn, who studied History at Oxford but has been writing music since she was young and treats her music career as a passion project, unafraid of being herself. Part of Aztec Record’s capitalization on this retro wave genre, she was introduced in V Magazine in 2019, as a female artist to put on one's radar. With high streams on prior singles like Girl Like Me it seems Boleyn is hoping to expand her audience with this cover of a prior hit.
Breathless is a solid cover of the original track, good for time in the tub or equally in the montage of a Disney movie makeover. It's fun to hear synth pop so happily embraced in the here and now, and a good plaintive lovesong never really fails, it's definitely admirable that Boleyn is striving to do something unconventional, and not easily marketable. There is certainly plenty of space for her to claim within the synth pop niche, whether in native UK or further afield in Sweden, where she splits her time.
With album, Lost in Space arriving summer 2023, it's time for I Am Boleyn to make a name for herself in the British pop scene, with a little help from her Scandi production team and their yet to be tested focus on retrowave, it very well could be a recipe for summer perfection or just an injection of something different into the pop scene.