Category: Songs of the Day

Song of the Day: Colorblind – Mae Krell

New York-based singer-songwriter MAE KRELL‘s single, ‘Colorblind’ was written and recorded in quarantine, created remotely from start to finish with the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist Jakob Leventhal. Over swirling, sliding guitars and sparse drums, Mae grieves the end of a relationship in painful and relatable detail: “I squeezed your hand, you flinched / The skies turned black, I blinked / I never practiced my goodbyes / I didn’t think that I had to.” Mae’s sharp lyrics and aching vocals brim with palpable emotion as they call back memories of a love that once was.

“I wrote ‘colorblind’ in the midst of what I thought was going to be the end of a relationship with the first girl I ever truly fell in love with,” Mae says of the inspiration behind the single. “I’ll be the first to admit that I feel everything too much, but during the couple of days that this was going on, I really felt like the world was ending. I was wildly sad while also being very restless in a way that I had never experienced before.”

Following a two-year hiatus, Mae Krell returned in early 2020 ready to embark on a new musical era. With a newfound maturity and understanding, she has perfected her folk-pop sound and introspective lyrical chops. At just 22 years old, Mae exudes a musicality wise beyond her years. Influenced by revered singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers and Gregory Alan Isakov, her songs are intimate reflections that confront trauma, self-love, and personal truths. Her singles have amassed millions of streams to date, with last year’s singles “wash,” “home,” and “garden,” all individually breaking over 500K streams.

In addition to her artist career, Mae has worn many different hats in the music industry. She was photographed live music from the likes of Rolling Stone and Sony RCA, founded the online music publication Tongue Tied Magazine and, most recently, started Bitch Mgmt, a multimedia marketing and PR company. With a multitude of career milestones already under their belt, Mae is taking it one day at a time and focusing on writing and recording songs that reach new emotional heights.

Check out the lyric video for ‘Colorblind’ below…

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Song of the Day: Afro – IThinkThatsRio

Introducing up and coming UK artist ITHINKTHATSRIO with his debut single ‘AFRO’! The melodic rap track comes six months after the London native burst onto the scene late last year with his ‘Prayer’ freestyle that caught the scene’s attention. ‘Afro’ sees IThinkThatsRio waxing lyrical about having the freedom to do what you want, whether that is with your hair or with your career.

Speaking about the inspiration behind ‘Afro’ and how the song came together, IThinkThatsRio says, “creating ‘Afro’ was such a vibe. I was in the studio with TheLifeOfKG when this Grossgod beat came on, and the first thing that came out of my head was ‘take out my braids, just roll with an afro’, and the rest came together from there. As well as the track just being a vibe, I believe the message behind it, which is that we should be free to make our own choices, without fear of ridicule or judgement from other people – in my case, it’s how I wear my hair sometimes”.

Originally from Chadwell Heath in East London, IThinkThatsRio has always had a passion for music, but he has been on course to become a professional footballer for a good few years, but after turning 20 last year and realising that music had the power to help him express his feelings, and how that made him feel, he began taking music seriously, and quickly charted a new course from a footballer to a musician.

Check out the accompanied music video below, collaboration between IThinkThatsAfro and burgeoning London-based visual director and photographer EazyVisuals (Ebenezer, B Young, Ryan De La Cruz, Michael Ward).

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Song of the Day: Alright With Me – Noa

Toronto born artist NOA’s music blends vibrant, catchy melodies with resonant emotional themes – from relationships to female empowerment and self-realization. In just over a year, NOA has garnered over two million streams on Spotify worldwide.

Taken from her debut Honeymoon EP, out now, single ‘Alright With Me’ is a chill, feel-good pop track about meeting someone who starts to show you what love should be like, starting to fall in love and hoping that they stick around.

Why not check it out below…

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Song of the Day: Fake Me – Richard Orofino

Brooklyn based singer-songwriter and producer RICHARD OROFINO‘s single, ‘Fake Me’ is a dark pop masterpiece. Switching between all moods of new wave pop, with a trippy autotuned vocal, the track that is quickly becoming a signature musical move of Richard’s. 80s synths and 808’s fill the track and encapsulate that angsty mood that Orofino has created with such an ease, with an extra mixture of drum samples sitting underneath his swooning vocal.

Describing the meaning behind ‘Fake Me’, Orofino explains:

“Fake me is about your own doppelganger. The self-punishing evil twin that constantly tries to convince you that what you believe to be truthful about yourself, is wrong. I live in this dilemma a lot, where I have some sort of issue involving myself and then decide to confide in myself only to find I’m my own biggest enemy.

This self-doubting twin of mine who lives in my head, always tries to tell me to do things for other people. “Give other people what they want, and you will find yourself in a successful position.” Rather than creating and working on something that I most definitely love and feels personal, be that image of what you expect other people to respond to.”

Check it out below…

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Song of the Day: Can’t F With – J-Onyx

Emerging with an air of mystery J-ONYX has a presence that can’t be ignored. Commanding attention with her deep tone and dynamic flows, her first release ‘Can’t F With’ captures her innate and undeniable talent as an artist. Her latest release has already landed support by DJ Target on BBC 1Xtra, DJ Shortee Blitz on his KISS FM and KISS Fresh show and Charlie Sloth will be adding the track as his Hood Heat of the week and he will also support on his Apple Music playlist. Choosing to keep her identity concealed for the time being, J-Onyx wants to let her music do the talking, as often young female artists can be over sexualized in the music industry. Catapulting through the ranks she joins the ‘Champions League’ as she ‘eliminates all of the tournaments’ and earns a rightful place as a one to watch in the UK rap scene.

The serendipitous calling to become a rapper can be pinpointed back to November 2019 where she was teasingly dared by her friends to rap an off-the-top-of-the-head freestyle and upload it onto her Instagram. Gaining an overwhelming reaction, the freestyle uncovered her natural gift with rhymes and flows and allowed her to nurture the talent into a dream career. To date she has released 3 freestyles on Instagram and her second freestyle for ‘Murda Murda’ received some strong support and was picked up by DJ Shortee Blitz and DJ MK on the KISS FM Hop Hop show.

Her exposure to music was planted long before the freestyle and the London based British rapper, singer and songwriter grew up immersed in a musical household. Building the fabric of her musical DNA her mother and elder siblings introduced her to an assorted collection of music, which ranged from Reggae, Dancehall and Hip Hop to UK Garage, Afrobeats, Rock and Indie. Her musical roots grew beyond her immediate family as her uncle was also a member of reggae band UB40.

Going against the conventional route, J-Onyx followed her own path, although she had the encouragement of her family she dropped out of school at a young age and found herself in challenging situations. What became evident was that the music was a constant and the turning point was getting into Brit School and attending drama school. Since her studies her path has led her to explore performing arts as well as pursuing a career in the property business. She has now found herself gravitating towards music as solo artist and ‘Can’t F With’ is a great introduction to her sound.

Check her out below…

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