The quirky, slanting-jazz style of Rhona Stevens‘ new single ‘Melanin’ reminds of genre favourites like Carmody and Laura Misch. Similarly, Stevens has a deep relationship with music and songwriting, beginning to pen music at the formative age of thirteen, while listening to 2010’s staples Bombay Bicycle Club and Lianne La Havas.
There’s a really playful jauntiness to ‘Melanin’, which springs to life at a moment’s notice; like a rarely-seen sun peaking out from an unassuming cloud on a British summer’s day, causing people to rush to public parks and beaches in a desperate frenzy to top up their own melanin. By the same token, Stevens’ voice echoes a yearning for those warm and liberal days of sun-worship.
Speaking about the experience of writing the single, Rhona Stevens shares:
“Melanin is an ode to summer and easier times. I wrote it while daydreaming of festivals and sunshine on a snowy day last January. Melanin was written as a sort of retreat; what I was hoping to manifest. I think Melanin is a song that everyone can relate to and serve as a little dose of escapism to sunnier climes.”
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