Song of the Day: Strange Love – Cautious Clay (ft. Saba)

Singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist CAUTIOUS CLAY‘s track, ‘Strange Love’, featuring rising Chicago rapper Saba, is about the push and pull of identity in late capitalism.

Cautious explains further. “We’re constantly told we need x, y or z to let the world know who we are, inundated with information about what the latest and greatest and coolest is. I love fashion and clothes and putting them together to telegraph myself to the world, but sometimes it’s hard to separate what I like from what I’m being told to like. I think it’s a struggle lots of people can relate to.”

The smooth R&B/pop banger is taken from his long-awaited debut album, ‘Deadpan Love’ – out now independently via The Orchard – includes previously released singles ‘Wildfire’, ‘Karma & Friends,’ ‘Roots,’ ‘Dying In The Subtlety,’ and ‘Agreeable,’ and wraps influences from R&B, hip hop and indie pop in Cautious’ trademark sophisticated songwriting and jazz- and blues-inflected instrumentation. The album finds Cautious collaborating with a host of notable co-writers for Deadpan Love including Tobias Jesso Jr. (Adele, HAIM), Jim-E Stack (Caroline Polachek, Empress Of), Daniel Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, FINNEAS), Jesse Shatkin (Sia, Kelly Clarkson), Ammar Malik (Maroon 5, Halsey) and Sir Nolan (Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez).

Since the release of his breakout debut single ‘Cold War’ three years ago, the 28-year-old has been on a whirlwind ride. He’s released three EPs—Table of Context, RESONANCE, and debut Blood Type—that have earned critical praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, TIME, Complex and many more. His songs have soundtracked key scenes in films like Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and TV shows like Issa Rae’s “Insecure” and Selena Gomez’s “13 Reasons Why.”

Check out the video for ‘Strange Love’ below…

Jessica Wilde keeps the heat on with surprise ‘Cruel P2 ft. Laville’ / ‘Drugs Don’t Work’ single

JESSICA WILDE lands a surprise A/B side release, ‘Cruel P2’/ ‘Drugs Don’t Work’, as a 2nd part to her latest single ‘Cruel’ which landed her a feature on the official UK ‘Pride’ Spotify Playlist.

‘Cruel’ see’s Wilde delving back into a relationship that enabled her to come out as bisexual but also led her into addiction – a subject she’s tackling on her debut forthcoming album.

‘Drug’s Don’t work’ dives deeper into this toxic love story, a brutally honest description of what went down and how a relationship was controlled by addiction. This song takes on a raw, stripped back sound with gritty guitars and Wilde’s rap to tell the story, ‘When the Drugs don’t work, we just get hurt’.

The track comes with a one take visual, Wilde boldly telling the story to camera as she walks through the streets with onlookers caught off guard as she belts out the lyrics.

‘Cruel P2’, keeps the original ‘Cruel’ beat produced by Jay Nebula and Grammy award winning producer Kiris Houston (The Disciples, Little Mix). It embodies a summer haze 90’s classic hip hop and R&B vibe, layered with Jessica’s sultry, pleading vocals. This version has a twist, on the second verse we hear rising RnB star Laville who has collaborated with the likes of Big Narstie, Foreign Beggars, opened the O2 stage for John Legend and racked up over 500,000 streams for his latest album ‘The Wanderer’. His powerful and soulful vocals intwined with Wilde’s silky tones take the track into a whole new world.

Coming off the back of impressive Double A side release explicitly titled ‘Wasted’ / ‘F*ck U I’m Sober Now’, ’Body’ and ‘Cruel’, all part of her forthcoming album, a ride through mad parties, drunken nights, toxic relationships, love, regret, self-loathing, self-empowerment, self-love and going sober. Wilde opens a doorway into her past, returning full circle to her South London roots.

Time to check out Wilde’s Double A side release below…

Song of the Day: 26:06 – Seyblu

Canadian singer/songwriter SEYBLU wrote ’26:06′, in anticipation of reuniting with her partner.

She says of the single: “When the first lockdown hit last year, I was living in London. Suddenly, I had to fly back to Canada, fearing the borders would close and I would be unable to return home.

I quarantined for two weeks upon my arrival, counting down the final 26 hours and 6 minutes until we could see each other.”

Oozing a smooth fusion of soulful R&B and jazz, ’26:06′ is the second single from Seyblu’s EP, Silk Sessions, released last Friday (25th June). Have a peek at the official video music video below…

Cilla Raie Unveils Video For Latest Single, ‘Open For Love’ Ft. Tiffany Evans

North London’s R&B singer/songwriter CILLA RAIE returns with a brand new music video for her sultry
romantic single ‘Open For Love’ featuring US starlet Tiffany Evans (best known for her singles Promise Ring ft Ciara and Texting My Ex ft T-Pain).

The music video follows a journey of discovery and features a replica of Cilla herself, playing the role and replacing Tiffany Evans (based in the US). Open for love is an awakening, being ready to embark on a new romantic journey after healing from previous toxic relationships. The collaboration signifies a new moment for R&B, with this UK to US female R&B collaboration.

Why not check it out below…

Bukola Celebrates The Release Of Debut EP With Single, ‘Falling Deeper’ + Video

Vancouver musician BUKOLA‘s highly anticipated debut EP, ‘The Chronicles Of A Teenage Mind’ is out today on all digital streaming platforms. And to celebrate, she’s also releasing a brand new single and video, ‘Falling Deeper’.

‘Falling Deeper’ is the third single from Bukola’s new EP. The sweet laid back love song hits on that classic R&B sweet spot, while drawing inspiration from one of Bukola’s favourite artists.

“‘Falling Deeper’ is one of my favourites off the EP because it has a really sweet classic R&B vibe to it,” says Bukola. “It also draws sonic inspirations from Daniel Caesar who is one of my favourite artists. The music video for the song was also so much fun to shoot as it was a one-take video. It’s set in a beautiful jazz club and features dancing and choreography from Zavien Garrett and guitar playing from Anthony Anderson.”

Deeply influenced by artists such as India.Arie, Daniel Caesar and H.E.R., Bukola worked with Grammy Award-winning producer, Chin Injeti, and Juno Award-winning producer Ben Kaplan on her debut EP ‘The Chronicles Of A Teenage Mind’. Still a teenager at 19 years old, she came up with the concept and title for the EP when she was in grade 8.

“I never thought I would ever get to create my own EP, but I knew that if I did, I wanted it to be about my experiences as a teen,” says Bukola. “I started recording and working on the project full-on when I was in grade 11 and I even got some help from 2 of my friends when I wrote the intro and outro bits for the EP.”

The Chronicles Of A Teenage Mind is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. Have a listen to ‘Falling Deeper’ below…