Tag: Rita Ora

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Amy Kuney is a Tulsa, OK-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as AMES. Kuney began piano lessons when she turned four, and participated in piano recitals and church performances throughout her childhood. The Tulsa-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist wrote her first song when she turned 12 and by the following year, Kuney’s father moved the family from their Tulsa home to Honduras to live as missionaries after he saw a video highlighting the destruction of Hurricane Mitch. As a teenager, Kuney taught herself guitar chords off a poster her father bought from Wal-Mart, while grappling with being gay in a strange country — and without friends; however, Kuney spent her time listening to the only secular album she could get her hands on, Fiona Apple‘s Tidal and writing songs.

The Tulsa-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist returned to the States to study at a religious college but she dropped out because of their archaic views on LGBTQ and relocated to Los Angeles, where she vowed to spend the rest of her life creating art and helping young people in the LGBQT community much like herself. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Kumey has developed a reputation as a go-to songwriter, who has written songs for the likes of Kelly Clarkson, AKON, Rita Ora, Michelle Branch, Tori Kelly, Lights, Icona Pop, Adam Lambert, Jason Mraz, Jojo, ALMA and growing list of others. Kuney steps out from behind the scenes with the release of the breezy “Hold On,” a single centered around shimmering and arpeggiated synths, strummed acoustic guitar, and a soaring and anthemic hook — and sonically speaking, the song manages to nod at Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Feist but with a much-needed message for anyone who has felt marginalized at any point.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Kent, UK-based producer Draper can trace the origins of his prolific and critically acclaimed music career in a rather humble fashion — initially as his experimenting with sound recording software, largely based around pairing a densely layered production with an uncanny knack for lyricism. With the release of attention grabbing remixes of Strange Talk, Ellie Goulding and Passion Pit, and the 2010 release of his debut EP, The Introduction, the British producer saw a rapidly growing national and international profile — at one point, he captured the attention of Turn First Music Publishing where Draper would write singles for Lapsley, Rita Ora and Little Mix.

Now, you might recall that last year I wrote about “On You,” the first single off the producer’s highly-anticipated full-length album, and that single, a collaboration with his frequent collaborator Alby Hobbs was a densely layered and swooning pop song consisting of wobbling, low pitched synths, skittering percussion, swirling electronics and rubbery, high pitched synths paired with Hobbs’ meandering yet soulful falsetto to craft a song that effortlessly meshes bouncy club-friendly electro pop with sensual and soulful R&B. While we’re anxiously awaiting Draper’s full-length effort, the British producer has remained incredibly prolific, releasing a number of singles including his latest single “Break Over You,” a collaboration with Scottish synth pop trio Prides — and what makes the single interestingly is that it reveals that Draper has been experimenting and expanding upon his sound, as “Break Over You” is a euphoric pop confection with the sort of anthemic hooks reminiscent of St. Lucia, Phoenix, Passion Pit and others. It’s arguably the most rousingly crowd pleasing and radio-friendly single Draper has released to date. (Interestingly, the song lyrically seems to make a sly reference to one of my favorite Prince songs ever, “I Will Die 4 U,” which is also quite an anthemic pop song itself.)

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Draper’s R&B Infused Electro Pop Single “On You” featuring Ally Hobbs

Kent, UK-based producer Draper‘s music career began in a rather humble fashion — as experimentation with sound recording software, based around his initial fascination with lyricism paired with densely layered sound. And as a result, […]