Or Мария Драгнева if you want slightly more accurate Google results…
[Video][Website]
[7.00]
Mo Kim: Google Translate tells me that “Kato Nas’n” is Bulgarian for “Like A Dream,” and there’s something undeniably surreal about how the song pits elegant piano runs and string interludes against chamber pit percussion, robot bleeps, and hi-hat beats cribbed from a high school production of Step Up. It’s a testament to Dragneva’s personality and vocal talent that she can explain all of this to us: she puts on many outfits here, from fur-draped lounge singer to J.Lo tribute to bratty schoolchild, and with each one she proves more compelling.
[7]
Alfred Soto: A percolating hybrid of operatic gestures and dance pop. I wish it’d get American airplay, for it sounds like the kind of track whose merits would impress me on repeated exposure.
[6]
Anthony Easton: This is in bad taste in the “rhinestone split to the chest and up to the crotch” kind of way that Versace designs dresses for Russians these days. But, you know, interesting.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: If a song can manage to sound like someone’s whole life story in just the little moments, then I’m pretty sure it deserves everything it can win the owner.
[8]
Iain Mew: A winking sepia gangster musical that jumps back and forth through history. Its individual elements are all well done, Maria is flexible and charming, and it’s smoother than its “what the fuck” calls would suggest. It still leans on the kind of listener who places a high value on surprises and juxtapositions, but since that’s me I’m happy with the results.
[8]
Brad Shoup: There’s no emotional throughline save the pleasure at hearing one’s name on a pop song, but Dragneva keeps everything in a stable orbit. It’s still an unheard-of existential ballad/singsong R&B pastiche, but the poppier parts melt into the slow-burning chorus.
[6]