REVIEW: Hurts - Wonderful Life

Debonair is not a word that you get to chuck around too much when it comes to modern pop. Rihanna asking about erectile capacity in Rude Boy is not debonair. Lady GaGa dry-humping PVC-clad future-nazis in the video for Alejandro is not debonair. Despite what they may think, JLS striking ‘broody’ poses in a convertible is not debonair. Not even close.

Hurts, on the other hand, are the epitome of debonair. Their new single Wonderful Life starts with haunting organs and a ticking clock before Theo tells us the story of a desperate romance that somehow finds hope from hopelessness. It’s melodramatic yet understated, gloomy yet uplifting, like a despondent Pet Shop Boys bingeing on Sinead O’Conner records.

In short, it’s debonair.