Sara Diamond explores the complex emotions that come following the loss of long-term love in “Happy With Me,” a tongue-in-cheek examination of an ex. “Happy With Me” is the third single off Diamond’s SaraX EP, and features an accompanying music video directed by Jonathan Redavid. The sultry single finds the Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based singer showcasing her world-famous voice crooning over a smooth, sultry rhythm. “Happy With Me” was independently released on May 20th, alongside the music video.
Over the years, Sara Diamond has crafted an incredibly unique sound, perfectly in tune with her enticing gift as a powerful vocalist. Blending her vocal strength seamlessly with her clever songwriting, her music has caught many ears and captured millions of hearts all over the world. With her last few releases, the indie-pop star has gained over 20 million streams worldwide on her own music and another 16 million on collaborations with the likes of Kaskade, Adventure Club, NASAYA, Tyler Shaw, and several others. Her upcoming EP SaraX is a deeper dive into her experimental pop and R&B. Speaking about the universal experiences of heartbreak and the self-love that follows from it, SaraX is the amplified edition of this ambitious singer. Working with Italian director Jonathan Redavid on a series of music videos that bring the narrative of the music’s story to life, Sara Diamond steps into a new era as an artist with her newest project.
Pop singer-songwriter, Gabriele Kysel, has released her latest single, “Home.” The track was written by Gabriele Kysel, produced by Gabriele Kysel and Jean-Luc McMurtry, mixed by Jean-Luc McMurtry, and mastered by JD Moon.
“Home” explores Gabriele’s journey and how she has come home to music once more, and features her lush vocals accompanied by a clean pop production.
“I wrote ‘Home’ after I took my hiatus from music. I remember the moment I wrote it, it was just me and my piano,” says Gabriele. “My mind was completely still. I started playing chords and the words just came flying out of my mouth. Thus, ‘Home’ was made.”
Pop trio GIVVEN have unveiled their new single ‘Losing Colours’ via Bias Beach Records. Rich in its emotionally intense downtempo textures, one’s mind can easily fixate on the people they hold dear to their heart. The trio is comprised of members Adrian Held (who forms part of renowned electronic duo Klangkarussell), Jordan Haller, and Nikodem Milewski. ‘Losing Colours’ forms part of a bigger picture, which will consist of an EP and three picturesque music videos that will capture the breathtakingly distinct landscapes of Iceland.
Although everyone is not keen on feeling their emotions, ‘Losing Colours’ makes this fear disappear for its duration. The track although wholehearted is an inviting listen from the first few seconds with its laidback acoustic textures and gentle synth infusions. Not predictable and complex in textures, ‘Losing Colours’ is a charming taste of what we can expect from this talented genre-pushing trio.
‘Losing Colours’ features on the Spotify playlist POP_GROUND.fm
Now, if you’ve been following RCRD LBL for the past year, chances are you would have heard about the Chinese-British songstress Fifi Rong and her fantastical build towards releasing her latest crowd-funded album, There Is A Funeral In My Heart, For Every Man I Loved. The singer first arrived on our radar in February 2021 with the release of ‘Another Me’ and the artistic music video that accompanied it. In the nearly full year to follow, we saw Fifi Rong investigate the world of live performance, become a forerunner in the NFT community and launch the impressively successful crowd-funding campaign that helped her give back to her followers and collaborators alike.
It seemed only fitting to round off the year with Fifi Rong as we explore her mind, creative process and plans for the future. Find it all in the exclusive interview below.
Tell us about your first memory of music and how it inspired you
I was 4 watching this TV show about pianists and I developed this aching desire toward it and begged my parents to get me a piano.
In your biog, you mentioned how you’ve struggled to reconcile the two different sides of society (Western and Eastern). Do you feel you were able to bring the two together in your latest album?
Yes absolutely. It’s effortless now, and I can dial to any side as I wish.
There Is A Funeral In My Heart, For Every Man I Loved was crowd-funded, reaching the goal before the campaign ended. Tell us how you feel about this success and what you envision the next step to be
I’m very proud and loved. We reached the goal 2 weeks before the end of the campaign and ended at 164% crossed Indiegogo and my website’s crowdfunding period. This is proof of the ‘1000 true fan’ theory of how modern artists can have true creative freedom and full support from a relatively small number of true supporters instead of millions of distant listeners/fans. Going forward, I will be taking my connection with my real supporters to web3, which is an environment where this culture I have developed in my community can really thrive.
What is your favourite aspect of your video for ‘Out Of Clock’? What makes it stand out from the rest?
I speak in Chinese and English in the monologue at the intro, and tell the story of Why There Is A Funeral In My Heart in Chinese on one of the stereo fields, whereas I kept repeating the Album title in the other stereo field. It sums up the album really, and the production style is my favourite type in all my productions too: ‘passive aggressive’. Also, the chorus really spells out the general emotional signature of the entire album. ‘My heart is running out of love, for anyone, to stay’… after every funeral I gave to every single love affair. It’s a memoir of love after all.
The world of NFTs is quickly evolving, with you as one of the forerunners in the community. Tell us why you believe this new digital world is so important?
Cryptocurrency and NFT is a new technology, a disruptive one. Technology is a one way street, and NFT as a technology will take over the whole world before everyone realises it. It creates a better, fairer world and financial system, a win-win situation for creators, fans, and collectors, and adds much more utility and ownership to the relations between them.
Metaverse is the immediate future that will integrate with most of our lives and NFT is the builder block of this meta universe we are moving into.
Where is a good starting point for an artist looking to enter the NFT game? What tips would you give to a newcomer?
Web3 is powered by people and communities and the key is self governance, so education and connection with others in the community is the first and foremost aspect of longevity in NFT. So I’d recommend finding us on twitter, we have community space to educate and connect all the time around the week/cock. My twitter is @fifirong so follow me and connect on my daily onboarding show and I’ll set them up.
Tell us about your latest album. Which track shouldn’t fans sleep on and why?
‘I’m Enough’ has been talked about a lot from the feedback so far. I didn’t expect that, as I didn’t get special ‘love’ earlier during the making of the album from my peers, so I was sleeping on it. But now the album is out, people are loving it, and felt that it should have been a single as well. But then, the traditional industry may think there’s no single in my album, whereas my true supporters think every song is a single. Guess whose view I care more about?:)
