Tag: singer/songwriter \

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alfa Mist Teams Up with Kaya Thomas-Dyke on Soulful and CInematic “Aged Eyes”

Throughout the London-based producer, composer, musician and Sekito Records head Alfa Mist’s career, he has steadfastly refused to be boxed into a specific genre or style: his work has spanned everything from hip-hop beatmaking to producing for rappers like Loyle Carner, composing neo-classical works for the London Contemporary Orchestra and reworking tracks for Ólafur Arnalds and legendary jazz label Blue Note. He also hosts the Are We Live podcast with Barney Artist and Jordan Rakei. 

Since the release of his full-length debut, 2015’s the London-based multi-hyphenate has also quickly established himself as one of the UK’s most focused and distinct contemporary musical voices while also working with Jordan Rakei, Tom Misch, Richard Spaven, Lester Duval and Emmavie.

Building upon the success of 2017’s Antiphon, which has amassed over 10 million streams of YouTube, 2019’s Structuralism and 2021’s ANTI- Records debut, Bring Backs, the forthcoming Variables finds Alfa Mist moving forward with a renewed intensity and purpose. “The whole album is more uptempo and influenced by the freedom of returning to gigs,” Alfa Mist explains. “It feels like I’m coming back to my early days of making grime beats and creating tracks that make me want to bop my head fast.” 

Variables‘ latest single “Aged Eyes” featuring longtime collaborator Kaya Thomas-Dyke is a gorgeous bit of trip hop-inspired neo-soul built around a finger-plucked guitar melody by Jamie Leeming, a swelling string-driven, cinematic chorus from Peggy Nolan (cello), twinkling keys from Alfa Mist paired with Thomas Dyke’s expressive, gossamer vocal. The arrangement and Thomas Dyke’s vocal express a yearning sense of hope.

The accompanying video by SPOD features some gorgeously animated watercolor paintings reminiscent of Van Gogh and the Dutch masters.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lauren Lakis Shares Yearning “Take My Hand”

Lauren Lakis is a Baltimore-born, Austin-based singer/songwriter and musician, who specializes in a brooding and churning take on shoegaze centered around authentic, honest lyricism. Lakis and her backing band have extensively toured across the West Coast, sharing bills with Ringo Award-nominated rocker Tracy Bonham. She has also played in front of sold-out crowds at Doug Fir Lounge and at Santa Cruz’s The Catalyst.

During the pandemic, Lakis performed several live-streamed shows, partnering with Bandsintown, Jam in the Van, B-Side TV, Rock to End Rape Culture, KXLU, ACLU and JuJu Live.

Recorded at Seahorse Sound, the Baltimore-born, Austin-based artist’s Billy Burke-produced Daughter Language was released by Green Witch Recordings in 2021 to critical acclaim from Flaunt, Wonderland, Earmilk, Ladygunn, Buzzbands LA, Grimy Goods, Atwood Magazine and more.

Daughter Language‘s highly-anticipated follow-up, the Carey McGraw-produced A Fiesta and a Hell was recorded in Austin and is slated for a Fall release through Green Witch Recordings. The album’s first single “Take My Hand” is a brooding and stormy bit of shoegaze built around an alternating quiet and loud sections featuring glistening guitar textures for the verses and swirling, stormy power chord-driven choruses paired with Lakis’ achingly yearning vocal. The single, as Lakis explains is about “forgetting what you thought you knew, letting go, bravely opening your mind to something radically different. She adds “What if you were wrong? Are you able to admit it? Can you shift with the ever-changing landscape of reality, or are you stuck in your ways? I found myself stepping into the unknown in many ways the past few years, forced to entertain the notion that maybe I didn’t know everything, and in that I found freedom.” 

Shot in Rapid City, South Dakota and Badlands National Park, the accompanying video follows the rising singer/songwriter hanging out with a large tortoise, going through a dinosaur park, dancing on a dinosaur statue and more. It’s a surreal yet highly symbolic romp through the wilderness — both natural and constructed.

Lakis will be playing at next week’s The New Colossus Festival. I’lm looking forward to catching her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Baaba Maal Teams Up with The Very Best on Mesmerizing “Freak Out”

Acclaimed Senegalse singer/songwriter and guitarist Baaba Maal is a member of the semi-nomadic Fulani people. He first left his home in Podor, Senegal to perform music hundreds of miles away as a teenager — and he has been a wanderer ever since. “It’s part of my culture,” Maal says. “The songs travel from village to village, from country to country. It’s something natural to my tribe and this part of Africa.”

Since then, Maal has followed his music, as it traveled around the world, starting from his young travels around West Africa, performing with mentor Mansour Seck, to the Paris conservatory, where he studied music theory and then eventually across the rest of the globe, while collaborating with an eclectic array of acclaimed, contemporary artists including John Leckie, Brian Eno, Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, and Mumford & Sons. Maal has worked on the soundtracks for The Last Temptation of Christ and Black Hawk Down. He has also worked with soundtrack composer Ludwig Goransson to create the soundscapes for both Black Panther films, essentially making him the voice of Wakanda.

Throughout his career, the acclaimed Senegalese artist has spread the word of an idealistic, energetic Africa — to the entire world. “I could bring my Africa to this other, abstract Africa, and both places collided together beautifully,” he says of Black Panther, “I brought this mythical Africa back to Podor, extending my reality, my hometown, and my music. I didn’t know whether I would make another album after The Traveller, but I did know my thinking about music was still changing. And once more something stirred inside me at home in Podor. I found myself once again. It was time for a new album.”

Maal’s forthcoming album Being is slated for a March 31, 2023 release through Marathon Artists. The album reportedly is the latest stage in the development of a highly distinctive, ecstatically melodic sound that meshes traditional African instruments and rhythms with modern, electronic production, The album is a set of confrontational and contemplative stories in which Maal mixes evocative, personal local concerns with grand universal themes to produce a unique form of deep, immersive soul music, taking the listener to new places via his birthplace of Podor, Senegal, where his music always begins — and his travels always end. “However far I travel, whatever direction, I will always return home,” the acclaimed Senegalese artist says. “It is the nomadic nature. To wander, but to return home, eventually. Home is where you start from, where you begin to learn what really matters, and home is where you finish. Podor is the perfect place for me when I need some time to think, to see my music with a fresh eye, to surprise it, snare it, catch it unawares as if coming across it for the first time.”

The album is also deeply informed by experiences Maal had before, during and after the pandemic. The album is about being African, being a songwriter, being a romantic, being realistic, being wary, being online, being at the mercy of the elements, being caught between two worlds, being on your way somewhere — and ultimately about his being from Podor while being connected to a constantly turbulent and shifting world through his art. “Each song of this album has its own personality. A song is like a person. It has a life, name, a character, and it has a position in life,” Maal says in press notes. “I think that’s what makes this album so powerful – it is totally about now and where I am now, the dreams I have of the past and the future.”

The album’s material also reflects Maal’s need to continually move forward with his work. Much like the acclaimed Senegalese artist’s previously released work, there wasn’t a set deadline: Songs were finished when they ere finished, emerging out of a combination of both fast and slow work. There were intense improvisational studio sessions in Brooklyn, Podor, and London, where things moved quickly and songs took place over a few days. After energetic bursts of activity, both artist and producer took time to process their work, and songs would reveal themselves over many months. Some would be recorded by the ocean, in the ocean air, with the sound of crickets, dogs, donkeys, birds, traffic, rain and people being captured nearby. 

Last year, I wrote about album opening track “Yerimayo Celebration,” a joyous and percussive stomp centered around layers of thunderous percussion, African traditional instrumentation and enormous, ebullient hooks. The song which features contributions from Cheikh Ndoye (bass ngoni) and Momadou Sarr (percussion) is celeebration of music — and of music’s power to open the mind and heart in deeply troubled times, and of its power in fighting cynicism and chaos.

Beings latest single, “Freak Out” feat. The Very Best is a mesmerizing and woozy alchemy of traditional African folk instrumentation and modern production through the form of skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling beats and percussion that effortlessly bridges the ancient and the modern — while being boldly and defiantly African. Lyrically, the song explores the complex dynamic of social media and its effects on both African and the wider world.

“It became a song about being careful what you put on the internet,” says Baaba Maal, “It might seem funny or popular when you do it, but it might have consequences and you will have to live with those all your life.

“There are things you should keep to yourself. Mystery is important in life; you don’t need to shine a light on every little thing you do. You don’t have to give away your soul for the sake of a little bit of attention.

“The internet should be used to make humanity feel good about themselves. It is so powerful, it can be dangerous and sometimes it just seems the internet has just caused a constant freak out.”

The accompanying video is a gorgeous and sensitive slice of the complexity of African life that’s life-affirming and necessary as it captures a mix of ancient traditions and modernity. But along with that, there’s a reminder of the fact that people are generally the same.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Henry Carlyle Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “I Float”

Best known for his work in acclaimed JOVM mainstay act The Orielles, Halifax, UK-born, Manchester-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Henry Carlyle stepped out into the spotlight as solo artist with 2021’s “The Ground,” a song that found The Orielles co-founder eschewing the disco floor strobe lights for thoughtful and lived-in lyricism and an intimate, dusty, lo-fi-like production. 

Described by Carlyle as “a song about displacement,” the song’s origins can be traced back to a winter day in which the Halifax-born, Manchester-based singer/songwriter and guitarist began writing down his fractious thoughts of his unanchored passing through time and space. “It was inspired by floating through the universe and through time bouncing off events and other humans, never really knowing where you should be or what you should be doing anyway” Carlyle explained in press notes. 

Carlyle’s second solo single “A Bigger Splash,” continued his collaboration with Julia Bardo (vocals) and Jack Bogacki (drums). The song was a strangely euphoric yet uncomfortably intimate song centered around Carlyle’s aching, world weary delivery, jutting and angular guitar attack and his unerring knack for razor sharp hooks. While sonically nodding Damon Albarn and Pavement among others, the song’s relatively young narrator is struggling with the difficulties and uneasiness of existence — as everyone has been for quite some time.

Written as a by-product of “going through stuff and nothing the time to think properly,” Carlyle explains that “I was thinking how these formative years might affect people as they move on. Which is why the song’s initial musical idea stuck with me and interested me a lot as a theme; it fluctuates between two keys, the end improvisation being the ultimate meditation in that idea. it all feels as I felt, in turmoil.” 

“The lyrics are mostly about self-medicating, trying to instantly feel better for a transient moment and then reeling from that for a longer period of time than the intended relief,” Carlyle adds. “Which is why the chorus only comes once and is only two lines long. Nothing good lasts too long and goodness changes all the time.”

Carlyle’s latest single “I Float” is a brooding and atmospheric track built around twinkling synths, rumbling low end, skittering boom bap-like drumming and brief bursts of scorching guitar feedback paired with Carlyle’s chilly and detached delivery. “I Float” manages to simultaneously seem informed by — and mirror — the adventurous sonic approach developed for The Orielles’ Tableau while evoking the unease of a forced isolation in which the narrator endlessly replays his thoughts and failures.

This winter crept up on us. I started writing a lot of music on this synth I bought back in October,” Carlyle explains. “During dark evenings I built up an ambient track, ‘Prelude’ and when I finished that I realised it was the element ‘I Float had been missing. Through its many iterations, I struggled to get close enough to expressing the song’s idea until then.
 
“It’s about floating on through, not being present, doing what you’ve got to do. In a sense, it’s about living a minimal existence until you feel well enough to thrive again.”
 
Shot by Giuilia Bonometti, the accompanying video is based on a concept by Carlyle and Bonometti: We see Carlyle wearing a white jumpsuit in a park at night, bopping and bouncing around to the song’s skittering beats, appearing as though he were in a mosh pit by himself.
 

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Prince

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Prince.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Willy Hobal Shares Infectious Banger “Willy from the block”

Willy Hobal is a Dominican-born, Swiss-based singer/songwriter, actor and multi-disciplinary artist, who like countless artists and creatives have supported himself with a full-time job as a luxury hotel marketing specialist.

As a musician and recording artist, Hobal specializes in high energy, entertaining music featuring Caribbean rhythms meant to get people moving. Last year, Hobal exploded out of the gate with two singles, the Raniero Palm-produced “No Pares” and “Nadie me conoce,” which led to performances at the Somos Latinoamerica Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Miss Universe Switzerland pageant.

Last summer, Hobal announced that he was working on his debut EP, VIRGO, which is slated for a summer 2023 release. The six-song effort explores the qualities of those born under the zodiac sign of Virgo, and to two zodiac signs that share similar qualities with Virgo. The EP is specifically for open minded people — and as Hobal says “for the black sheep, the people, who seek the freedom to be themselves through dance and music.”

The EP’s first single “Willy From The Block” is a swaggering, dance floor friendly banger that features a slick mixture of Europop and Dominican dembow rhythms — and a sonic nod to Jennifer Lopez‘s “Jenny From the Block.” Thematically, the song also draws a bit from Lopez’s smash hit with teh song encouraging the listener to work hard to overcome any of the obstacles they may have to face.

Fittingly, the accompanying video is a colorful, high energy visual that stars the Dominican-Swiss artist at a ranging house party with some ridiculous hip-hop cliches, including large piles of cash and a collection of incredibly attractive Virgos — who have the Virgo zodiac symbol on their heads.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Blak Emoji Shares Sleek and Sexy “Last Night Lost”

New York-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Kelsey Warren has had a lengthy and accomplished career: Over the past two decades, Warren has been in a number of different projects as a side man, hired gun and/or frontman, including Denise Barbarita and the Morning Papers, and Pillow Theory among others.

Warren started Blak Emoji back in 2015. Initially conceived as a solo recording project with a rotating cast of players for live shows, Blak Emoji gradually evolved into a full-fledged band led by Warren (vocals, guitar and keys) featuring Sylvana Joyce (keytar), Bryan Percival (bass, keys) and Max Tholenaar-Maples (drums). With Blak Emoji, Warren has expanded upon his sound and approach to include a slick synthesis of the soul, R&B, and pop that he was immersed in while growing up in South New Jersey, along with hip-hop, punk, minimalist classical and synth-driven music Kraftwerk, Nine Inch Nails and Prince that he loved as an adult.  

Over the past handful of years, the JOVM mainstay has been incredibly busy: With Blak Emoji, Warren has released two EPs and two albums, which have received praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, Afropunk, The Line of Best Fit, BUST, Popmuzik. Vampire Freaks, Ghost Cult Magazine, this site, and many others. “Velvet Ropes & Dive Bars, and “Poison To Medicine” appeared on ABC’s Quantico while “Sapiosexual” appeared in several indie films. Additionally, Warren has become an in-demand producer, who has collaborated with an eclectic array of artists.

Last year, Warren signed with Blake Morgan‘s ECR Music Group for a four-part, full catalog re-issue from the label. The first re-issue is a recently released, deluxe, remastered edition of Warren’s acclaimed album Eclectro. The acclaimed album has been re-sequenced and remastered by ECR Music Group’s Morgan. “I’ve loved and respected Blak Emoji’s work for years,” Morgan says. “I’m thrilled to have him join our roster, and honored to have had the opportunity to remaster his catalog for these stunning ECR reissues.”

Late last year, the JOVM mainstay shared “Mainstay,” a slinky, dance floor friendly, 80s-inspired synth funk bop featuring stuttering and wobbling bass synths, boom bap beats, a sinus bass line and squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar paired with Warren’s sultry cooing. Much like the handful of other Blak Emoji singles I’ve written about over the years, “Mainstay” is rooted in Warren’s seamless and funky meshing of his various influences and his unerring knack for well-placed, razor sharp hooks.

“Last Night Lost,” Eclectro‘s second and latest single continues a remarkable run of slinky, 80s-inspired synth funk bops featuring dense layers of oscillating synths and bass synths and thumping beats paired with Warren’s sultry cooing, dance floor friendly, razor sharp hooks and sleek, contemporary production. Interestingly, “Last Night Lost” may arguably be the sexiest song of Warren’s growing catalog.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

M. Byrd is a German-born and based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalists and producer, who can trace the origins of music career, and his passion for music to when he was three: A very young Byrd used to play drums in front of the TV. Eventually, he found his dad’s guitar. Encouraged by a teacher, he picked up electric guitar and attended countless roots jam sessions at local joints. Influenced by Alice Coltrane, Tom Petty, Elliott Smith and David Lynch, Byrd began writing his own material. 

The German-born and-based artist turned heads back in 2020 with the release of “Mountain” and “Morning Sun,” tracks that amassed millions of streams and praise from Ones to Watch, Earmilk, Atwood Magazine and several others while firmly cementing his sound and approach: Intensely personal songwriting paired with shoegazer-inspired textures and pop-leaning accessibility. 

At the end of 2020, Byrd and producer Eugen Koop holed up in Detmold, Germany in a WWII-era British Corps squash hall-turned recording studio, where they worked on The Seed, the German artist’s forthcoming, full-length debut, an effort that sees Byrd personally playing guitar, synths and bass. The album’s material reportedly draws you in to inspire your own evolution. As Byrd says ““When you listen to the album, I hope you feel like you can grow with me. Maybe you’ll find confidence in yourself. We’re planting this thought with The Seed. 

So far I’ve written about two singles off the album:

  • “Over You/Over Me,” a song centered around Byrd’s plaintive and balmy vocal floating over a textured, shoegazer-like soundscape paired with a motorik groove and enormous hooks. Much like his previously released work, the new single is rooted in a bright, hopeful sense of the future. “I dreamt there were snakes all over my apartment,” Byrd recalls. “A snake is a symbol for drastic change in your life and you’re repressing it. There’s a lot of change for  me.  I’m  starting  to  be  a  full-time  musician.  There’s  still  a  pandemic.  I  tried  to  dress  up  this darkness nicely. I talked to a friend who is into interpreting dreams, and she said that snakes in dreams meant that I was going through a profound change in my life. I remembered a quote I once read in an essay by Freud:  ‘A  dream  is  the  liberation  of  the  spirit  from  the  pressure  of  external  nature,  a detachment of the soul from the restraints of matter.”
  • Album title track, “The Seed,” an anthemic, 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock song centered around Byrd’s uncanny knack for crafting rousingly anthemic hooks with earnest, deeply personal songwriting paired with a lush, Toad the Wet Sprocket meets Starsailor-like arrangement. “We realized then that nothing will ever be, no matter how far away you feel from something that’s happening in the world, independent from the suffering out there,” the German singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist explains. “It was a hard realization but we needed to figure out a way to deal with it. Listening to the whole album reminded me of holding a seed in my hands. It felt like the start of something and symbolized birth in times of chaos. The song and the album, we decided, had to be called nothing more and nothing less – The Seed.”

The Seed‘s third and latest singles, “Outside of Town” is a slow-burning, 80s-styled ballad built around glistening guitars, atmospheric synths and Byrd’s plaintive delivery paired with his unerring knack for crafting enormous, arena rock friendly hooks. While arguably the most retro-inspired of The Seed‘s released singles, the song is inspired by contemporary events.

“I wrote ‘Outside Of Town’ a few days after meeting a friend who had to flee from a war with his daughter,” Byrd explains. “It tells his story in a fictional city that is surrounded by desert and war, sustaining itself with big walls and what little water they have left.” M. Byrd adds, “every time I play the song, it reminds me of how I admire people who are fighting for a better life for themselves and their families. All of us could be in the situation of having to look past the borders of our homes, and every one of us should play a part in helping the people who are willing to go through so much suffering to provide a safer place for their family and children.“

The Seed is slated a June 16, 2023 release through Nettwerk Music Group.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Daydream Review Shares Lush and Atmospheric “No Eternity”

Elijah Montez is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, frontman, and creative mastermind behind Daydream Review. After relocating from Austin to Chicago, Montez and Daydream Review began catching the attention of Chicago’s leading tastemakers and beyond with the release of 2020’s “Blossom” and 2021’s retro-tinged, self-titled debut EP.

Last summer, the Chicago-based artist released two tracks, an A-side “Sensory Deprivation” and a B-side “Dream Sequence #29,” as a palette cleanser to his Daydream Review self-titled debut EP — and a teaser of new material. That material quickly established Montez as one of Chicago’s most buzz-worthy new artists. And adding to a growing profile, he supported that material with a lot of time on the road with a backing band featuring Kaitlyn Murphy (backing vocals and auxiliary percussion) and a rotating group of friends. 

Slated for an April 7, 2023 release through Side Hustle Records, Daydream Review’s 13-song full-length debut Leisure reportedly sees Montez aiming to expand upon the layered sonic world he has created — and continuing to push the boundaries of modern psych pop with dynamic production and reflective, existential lyricism. “Leisure is about the ever-present tension between the desire for free time, for personal enjoyment and leisure, and the demands that capitalistic society places on those desires, and how it restricts the ability to enjoy that free time,” Montez explains. ” Your job and work, to me, seem to be consistent specters that haunt your ability to enjoy your free time, knowing that those demands are always awaiting you when your free time comes to an end.”

That uneasy balancing act between work and free time informed much of the album’s creation and its themes. “Leisure,” Montez adds “as a concept, became something almost otherworldly and that much more desirable, something you dream about when you have so much time funneled into work, and the repetitive act of balancing those two ends up being something almost hypnotic, and I tried to channel all of that into the sonic qualities of the album.”

Last month, I wrote about “Have You Found What You’re Looking For,” a mellow slow-burn centered around painterly, shogeazer-inspired textures created by glistening, delay and reverb pedaled guitars, fluttering synth arpeggios and paired with a trippy groove and Montez’s ethereal delivery. The song sees its narrator asking himself — and in turn, his listener — if they’ve actually found what they’ve been looking for, with the tacit understanding

“Have You Found What You’re Looking For,” Leisure‘s first single is a mellowm and ethereal slow-burn centered around painterly, shoegazy textures: glistening, delay and reverb pedaled guitar, fluttering synth arpeggios and a trippy groove are paired with Montez’s equally ethereal and plaintive delivery. At its core, the song sees its narrator asking himself — and in turn, his listener — if they’ve found what they’ve been looking for, with the tacit understanding that they may never actually find it anyway. 

One of the last songs written for the album, Montez explains, “I had written roughly the first half of the song and was unsure where to take it, and I remember trying different things, and talking to myself saying, “Have you figured it out? Have you found it?” Montez adds the theme of the track spoke to the broader themes of the project as a whole, “The overarching theme of the song fits quite well in the context of the album–being dissatisfied with work, dissatisfied with the state of the world, and dissatisfied with capitalism at large, and searching for something that can fill in the void that all that dissatisfaction leaves.” 

Speaking to the production and cyclical pattern of its rhythm, Montez says, “I think that’s reflected in the sonic quality of the song, this repetition and cycling through your thoughts and having that “a-ha” moment, where you realize you’re looking for something that may not come.”

Leisure‘s latest single is the lush, slow-burning “No Eternity.” Centered around lush glistening and wobbling synth arpeggios, a mix of blown-out beats and live drumming paired with Montez’s plaintive cooing and his penchant for well-placed, razor-sharp hooks, “No Eternity” manages to bring Currents-era Tame Impala to mind. Sonically, the track came together long before the lyrics. and its dreamy, lush atmosphere compelled Montez to follow through and finish it.

“Lyrically, it may be the closest to a song specifically about COVID–not the pandemic itself, but between the BLM protests in Summer 2020 and this change a lot of people have had to the nature of work, I had a hard time thinking of how things would look on the other side of it, and trying to make sense of the future when the only context you have is the past,” Montez says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Sophie Colette Shares Breezy and Upbeat Anthem

Currently based in Richmond, VA, singer/songwriter, keyboardist. indie pop artist and JOVM mainstay Sophie Colette initially moved to New York to pursue fashion design. But she pivoted to music after being scouted at a high school reunion by The Party Faithful‘s bassist. As the story goes, about a month or so later, Colette was contributing vocals, keys and synths for The Party Faithful, playing at venues across town.

During that same period, she met singer/songwriter, musician, and Degraw Sound producer Ben Rice. Colette eventually showed Rice a stack of sketchbooks filled with lyrics and visual palettes. Those sketchbooks eventually spurred her work as a solo artist.

“Tonite” off Colette’s debut EP Strangers and Lovers was featured at Jasmine Chong’s runway presentations to the editors of Vogue, WWD, Elle and others during New York Fashion Week 2017. Selected footage from the Stephen Dirkes-directed music video for “Get Close” was nominated for Best Creative Concept, Art Direction and Visual Effects at the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival. She also supported the EP with a European tour with Berlin-based The Crystal Elephant.

Over the past couple of years, Colette has released a handful of singles that have received praise from my colleagues and dear friends at Glamglare, Adam’s World Blog — and of course, this site. Her work has also received airplay on French radio station Déclic Radio 101.1FM.

The JOVM mainstay’s latest single “Don’t Worry” is a breezy and uptempo, hook-driven anthem featuring a mix of live drumming and programmed beats paired with lush, twinkling keys, punchy syncopation and Colette’s achingly vulnerable delivery and lyrics. While rooted in the Richmond-based artist’s heart-worn-on-sleeve earnestness, “Don’t Worry” possesses an easy-going swagger. The song’s narrator is clearly feeling herself. But along with that confidence, the narrator is expressing her willingness to fight for the love they deserve — both from others and herself.

“I wanted to write a song I could dance to, to shake off negativity, and get myself out of bed to make that cup of coffee in the morning and get dressed,” Colette explains. “I needed it as my own antidote to loneliness and self doubt. It became a reminder that I could be my own cheerleader and push myself out of a funk.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Erykah Badu

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays homage to Erykah Badu.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Singapore’s Aisyah Aziz Shares Gorgeous Ballad “janji kita bertemu lagi”

https://youtu.be/szoIpBWhRRE

Aisyah Aziz is a Singaporean singer/songwriter, musician, model and actor with a soulful vocal that effortlessly spans a range of genres — and an ethereal presence on both the theater and concert stage. Aziz quickly established herself as a household name through notable performances both in Singapore and beyond, including Singapore’s National Day Parade, where she performed an original song co-written with longtime friend RHUAN.

The Singaporean artist also expresses herself through fashion, a passion of hers — and more recently through acting: She made her theater debuting a work by Teater Ekmatara commissioned for the Singapore International Festival of Arts.

Back in 2020, Aziz released her first English-language EP, Sugar: The Live Extended Play, which was performed and recorded as a live session. She followed that up with with 2021’s Ying Tan-produced, full-length Pearls. Her earliest work saw the Malaysian-Singaporean artist performing songs that were written for her, and she long thought herself to be a vessel for the music. But that changed when she found a creative community, who inspired her to break out of her shell and come into her own as a collaborator and independent singer/songwriter and producer.

Since then she has collaborated with Charlie Lim, Rizky Febian, YAø and a growing list of others. Adding to a growing profile. she was invited to perform with Malaysian music icon Dato’ Jamal Abdillah during his most recent Aku Jamal . . . My Musical Journey show in Singapore.

Armed with a newfound confidence, the rising Singaporean artist is ready to share what she’s been creating with the world, and is looking forward to releasing new material through various creative projects throughout the year with the hopes to bring her work further into the regional and international market. Aziz’s latest single “janji kita bertemu lagi” is the Malaysian-Singaporean artist’s first English-Malay bilingual song of her growing catalog — and the first single from her forthcoming EP, til death do us part, which is slated for an April 2023 release.

Translated from Malay “janji kita bertemu lagi” means “promise we’ll meet again.” Featuring a sparse arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar paired with Aziz’s breathtakingly gorgeous vocal “janji kita bertemu lagi,” is an achingly bittersweet ballad that captures the heartache and uncertainty, as well as the begrudging acceptance and hope (both real and sometimes delusional) of a breakup.

Directed by Aziz’s best friend Paul Lin, the video was shot from the perspective of a guitar — presumably her guitar. “Having fallen back in love with singing on the guitar, it witnesses everything that happens in my life without judgement. It is simple and it takes everything in as it is. Alhamdullilah I’m beyond stoked to be able to work with Paul, my best buddy, on this video. You don’t need a big team to create something magical.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kay Young Shares Coquettish and Funky “The Way You Look At Me”

Kay Young is a rising London-based singer/songwriter, emcee, and producer. Back in 2019, Young caught the attention of Jay Electronica on Instagram. Jay Electronica passed some of her short beat videos to friend and collaborator Jay-Z. Before she knew it, she’d been flown out to Los Angeles and signed to Jay-Z’s management company Roc Nation. She has complete creative control of her work from songwriting to production while effortlessly moving between spitting fiery bars and soulful vocals. And throughout, her work is thoughtful, uplifting and playful while drawing from and exploring dance, jazz and soul.

Young’s debut EP, 2021’s This Here Feels Good was written during pandemic-related lockdown and features material that thematically explores familial legacy and cultural relations. The EP was released to critical applause and was supported with opening slots for Jay Electronica, Masgeo and Corrine Bailey Rae, as well as festival sets at The Great Escape and We Out Here. The rising London-based artist was featured on Blue Note’s compilation album Re:Imagined II, breathing new life into Marlena Shaw‘s “Feel Like Making Love.”

In her native UK, she has received airplay from BBC 6 Music personalities Chris Hawkins and BBC Radio 1‘s Huw Stephens, as well as BBC 1Xtra’s Jamz Supernova, recording a live session at Maida Vale. She also performed a star-studded performance of “White Teeth on BBC 4’s Other Voices 20th Anniversary show.

The rising London-based artist starts off the year with “The Way You Look At Me,” the first bit of new material since the release of This Here Feels Good. Rooted in a Motown-era soul-inspired groove with a big brass section paired with Young’s coquettish and self-assured delivery (which sees her alternate between crooning and spitting bars) and an infectious hook, “The Way You Look At Me” tells a classic tale of falling in love with that pretty young thing on the dance floor — but with a modern twist. The song is just a fun, carefree and coquettish bop that captures exactly what young love feels like — new, exciting, hopeful and a little crazy.

Directed by Dylan Hayes, the accompanying video features the rising London-based artist and her backing band performing the song in late 60s-early 70s-styled garb and in front of psychedelic-tinged backgrounds. They all look like they’re about to perform on Soul Train back in about 1972 or so.

Young’s forthcoming, sophomore EP is slated for release later this year. Be on the lookout for more news.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Marvin Gaye

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Marvin Gaye.