New Zealand native Niki Kennedy drops her new single today titled “Cheque, Please.” At 16, pop songstress Niki Kennedy jumped from New Zealand to Toronto, Canada to attend the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. She is no stranger to spotlight. Niki has dropped a new single this week titled “Cheque, Please.”
The song is a pop ballad, with a jazzy undertone and has you swaying in your seat the moment it starts. It’s filled with bluesy notes and an uptempo beat. It’s a modern take on the old-fashioned love song; a ballad you can dance to, if you will.
Niki has definitely impressed us with this single, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for her!
Pop songstress Jaguar Grace has given new life to Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias’ To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before. She has made the song her own, inputting her sound onto the track. This pop version with a rap feature is incredibly unique.
Along with the single came a music video. The visual starts with Jaguar Grace sitting on the couch, a memory book with a heart on it in her hands. It goes on to follow her on all her journeys with the men she has loved in the past.
Jaguar Grace is unlike any artist we’ve ever seen. We can’t wait to see what else she has in store for us.
Aaron Lindenberg has us head over heels with this newest video and track, “Beg U.” The artist who has been making a bold splash into the Fall, intrigues us every time as we fall in love with his infectious brand of indie. The video does it job bringing the song to life, and the result is one that will have you remembering the Aaron Lindenberg name. We caught up with the artist for an exclusive edition of Video Voyeur, below!
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
“Beg U” grew out of the synth loop that starts the song. I added drums and bass from there, and the lyrics and melody just wrote themselves. It unfolded so naturally and directly, so the song came to be about directness and vulnerability. It felt only right that the video had me singing straight to the camera. Sonically, every element of the song called for a visual. The groove has such physicality, and the interwoven synth lines and vocals all felt like different characters in conversation. When the chorus kicks in, you just imagine all these voices singing to each other in split-screen.
What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
My friend Goolis approached me with the concept of creating these visual puns, and I had such a similar vision for the song. We both loved videos that built intricate worlds like St. Vincent’s “New York” and Kali Uchis’ “After The Storm”. “Beg U” is so colorful and kinetic, that we knew the visual world would have to be color-coordinated, textured, and full of beautiful nonsense. We chose idioms like “a watched pot never boils” for me to embody, and started building this weird, hilarious parallel universe. I wanted to satirize and embrace human nature’s irrationalities; impatience, hysteria, obsessiveness and vanity are all instantly relatable. So we sought to make them as visually tasty and laughable as possible with the four distinct characters.
What was the process of making this video?
Making this video was the most fun I think I’ve ever had. I shot it all in one day with a group of amazing, talented friends. We worked like ants, building scenes, shooting for a couple hours, and then building the next one. There was a ton of prop food, so I was tearing apart bologna, stabbing cheese, cracking eggs, and getting soaked with ice cold milk all day. We had planned out most of the sets and costumes beforehand, but so much of it came together in the moment. For instance, the bologna getting stuck to the laptop screen was one of the happy accidents that ended up making the whole video. It was the perfect marriage of planning and improvisation.
Matt Oestreicher is back at it again with his charming new single “Dream the World New,” to the delight of our ears.
The critically acclaimed artist takes center stage to craft a unique track that is filled with catchy hooks and bold lyricism that create a little bit of heaven.
On the song Oestreicher’s vocals are in full form as they drive the message of the piece home. The instrumentation creates stunning and free-flowing movements as Oestreicher’s voice glides across.
Known for playing with the stars, Matt Oestreicher proves he is one in his own right and shows no sign of slowing down. We’re on the edge of our seats waiting for more! “Dream the World New” is out today.
The Krickets have come back even stronger since we first heard them on their debut album, “Spanish Moss Sirens”. Getting ready to kick off the beginning of a new chapter, this all female Americana group delivers chilling vocals on their first single, Redbird, and title track of their upcoming sophomore album, due out October 26th, 2018. From the first chord to the last, this song haunts you in the best way possible.
The song was written about a dream Emily was having about her grandmother who passed away. “In the dream she was always trying to whisper something important in my ear,” she says. “Every time she would start to talk I could never understand what she was saying, and I’d wake up. While having these dreams I saw redbirds everywhere I went day to day.”
With voices like silk, these women redefine the swamp folk genre and give it an entirely new sound that will be stuck in your head for weeks, and have you craving more. Emerging with smoke, the first few seconds of the single paints a clear scene in your head, one that feels like a dream. And with each verse, brings more and more chills to your body. It’s very obvious that these women were born to sing.
“Is this love or is this warning?” A favorite lyric sung through the second half of the song. This song has everything, the perfect combination of sultry voices, earthy strings, and powerful lyrics. If this is only the beginning of this new era, the world is not ready for the rest.
Amie Penwell is one of our favorite new discoveries this year. Sharing with us her new video for “Unstoppable” we found ourselves instantly enticed with the singer-songwriter who bends genres and lures your eyes and ears. “Unstoppable,” is the debut track and video from her upcoming release out election day, “Windows,” and we’re eager to dive in a bit deeper. We had the pleasure of speaking with Penwell for a very special edition of Video Voyeur with a notable message. Check it out below:
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
My upcoming release Windows was long and difficult record to complete. I had to make it twice. For a DIY songwriter that was a lot of ground to recover from financially and emotionally, but creativity is sacred ground and worth being true to it at all costs. I was feeling helpless, hopeless, faithless, useless the couple days after the Narcissist Commander in Chief was elected in 2016. Everything felt like it was heading over a cliff.
My friend Shannon Coulter had launched the #GrabYourWallet boycott which was taking fast effect throughout the country. I felt bolstered by it. It was motivation to grab onto. Simultaneously my friend Drew Pearce asked me to write a protest song and those elements became Unstoppable. It helped me out of the muck.
Unstoppable felt appropriate to hopefully get folks to the voting polls in America on November 6th 2018 (the release date for Windows). It felt like a good way to lead into the to launch.
What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
Windows is about 9 different women in my life. This was the track I felt tied the record together, unified us. Initially I shot the video as a political statement with footage of important women in the feminist movement, all the marches going on, the #MeToo movement, Pussy Riot, etc. with my dear friend and creative partner Matt Palazzolo. A few weeks after we shot a bunch of footage for it he passed away suddenly. Everything stopped in my world for a few months. After I got regained my footing I wanted to offer up something simple, colorful and celebratory to lighten the heaviness, and see what the spirit of love and light had to offer.
What was the process of making this video?
I am often in a place where I have no idea how I am going to pull something off. You get good at asking for help. I asked a guy named Josh Mehler. We did what we could with what we had available to us- his studio, a projector with images I brought over and a green screen, and Josh just made me dork out for an afternoon. I have come to trust that with willingness, band aides, and tooth floss you can MacGyver anything together. I am grateful for his editing skills.
You must be logged in to post a comment.