Connect with us

We Speak Music

Blue Capricorn Questions Love on ‘WILL YOU AFFECT ME?’

Published

on

Rodrigo Caraballo-Marin is a Latinx musician from Dallas who goes by the stage name Blue Capricorn. He is a unique musician who works hard to combine several musical genres with his original sounds. The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist makes a comeback with his brand-new song, “WILL YOU AFFECT ME?”

‘WILL YOU AFFECT ME?’ was written in November 2022, at the halfway point through his brand-new EP, ¡AYÚDAME!. It’s a stand out track on the project for Blue Capricorn as he was in a very isolated time during this recording. He lived alone in an apartment far away from anyone he held dear to his heart. He was inspired by the sense of loneliness, but also by how madly in love he was. 

Blue Capricorn was extremely vulnerable when creating this song. He thought the way to have it stand out was to make it complex by creating an ethereal atmosphere. Although he believed that ballads were the perfect way to close a project, this tune just happened to work.

He had his friend Skyler help with some guitar work which challenged them both to lay down the foundation of the track. Having a producer like Michael helped bring ‘WILL YOU AFFECT ME?’ to life. After it was ‘finished’ the first time, Blue Capricorn sat on it for about eight months. After this time, he revisited it and decided it was not going to be the final mix because it didn’t resonate with him the way he intended it to.  After several revisions, it’s closer to the sound I’d like for Blue Capricorn to explore more.

Blue Capricorn comments on the track: “’WILL YOU AFFECT ME?’ is about letting myself be worthy of love. I had truly never been as vulnerable as I was when I recorded the track. I was in a deep state of isolation, but also love. I really dug deep into my thoughts and I didn’t know I felt so strongly about where my heart had been lately. It was in a place it’s never truly experienced that was rooted in pure love. It’s my realization that love can present itself in so many ways, and to be accepting of it once you let it be a part of your life with pure intentions.”

Blue Capricorn is still making his mark as an emerging star in the music business. He is renowned for his high-quality productions, his expanding creative abilities, and his overall passion for music which all contribute to his songs.

ABOUT BLUE CAPRICORN

Blue Capricorn is known for its eerie soundscapes and ambient moodiness in its songs. ‘It’s Cold, Yet Warm,’ his debut EP was released in 2020 at the height of the global pandemic of COVID-19, and four stand-alone songs were released the following year in 2021. His second EP, “¡AYÚDAME!.” will be released on September 8th, 2023, and has a more layered sound inspired by love and loneliness. It will be preceded by the tracks “CULEBRA,” “PALO SANTO,” and “THE STARS WILL ALIGN.” He collaborated with Michael Briggs and aimed to record a sound that didn’t divide up his sound. In his second EP, Blue Capricorn is at his most broad and subtle. He draws inspiration from boleros, jazz, experimental, and dream pop. Rodrigo referenced Nicolas Jaar, James Blake, Portishead, Nick Hakim, Billie Holiday, Frank Ocean, and Willie Colón as his biggest influences.

‘WILL YOU AFFECT ME?’ is available on all streaming platforms.

We Speak Music

Acclaimed US singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd to tour the UK for the first time this summer.

Published

on

Shortly after releasing her sophomore album in 2007, US-based singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd walked away from music completely for more than 10 years, feeling burned out and unhappy with her career progression like so many other independent artists. After going through a divorce in 2019 and in the midst of a global pandemic, she found herself pulled back toward the siren call of songwriting and again making the leap to pursue it full time. Her latest album ‘Carnival’, released in 2024, is in many ways the culmination of those decisions, and the reintroduction of an artist who now has the wisdom of experience.

There’s an unmistakable urgency you can feel when a song is written and performed from a place of complete honesty. That feeling permeates ‘Carnival’. “I’ve always been envious of writers who say they write songs because they have to, because they had these things they just had to get out of themselves,” Juliet says. “I had never really felt that way until this album. I’ve become someone who writes because they have to.”

Stylistically, ‘Carnival’ draws on a range of influences from Laurel Canyon-era singer/songwriters, to Lilith Fair rockers, to confessional country/folk balladeers, to indie pop. The central theme of the record and that of its title track is not being too precious about any one experience or decision. Take them for what they are, live in the moment, and move on when they’re done. It acknowledges also that memory can be subjective, and ambiguous—was an experience ultimately a good thing or a bad thing? And whose memory can you rely on to determine the answer to that question?

‘Carnival’ doesn’t just deal with the complexities of ending relationships, it also deals with all the feelings that come with moving on. The album’snine songs feature evocative storytelling that reveals a simple truth: when the carnival inevitably leaves town, you’re left with an empty parking lot. And how you remember, it is a choice. As Juliet sings in the title track, “If only there was a way you could bottle up that feeling / and you’d drink it in / when the days are short and you long.”

Across her 20+ year career, Juliet has been admittedly stylistically non-monogamous. Her first full-length album, ‘All Dressed Up’, was released in 2005 and was heavily jazz-influenced- a label that she rejected at the time. “I am a piano player and a woman, so I was immediately compared to Norah Jones—and I bristled at that,” Juliet says. “Listening back now, I can totally see that it was true, and it of course wasn’t a bad thing.” Her follow-up release ‘Leave the Light On,’ came out two years later and featured a slick piano-pop production that led to five of its songs being placed on reality TV shows on MTV and VH1. Coming back after her 10-year break from writing and recording, Juliet released ‘High Road’, a collection of five Americana/soul-tinged songs produced by Jim Ebert (Meredith Brooks, Shai) that earned her widespread recognition and songwriting awards both in her home region of DC as well as nationally.

Now with her first ever UK tour scheduled for July 2025, Juliet has also dropped a completely brand-new single ‘Wild Again’, which like ‘Carnival’, was written with and produced by Todd Wright (Lucy Woodward, Butch Walker, Toby Lightman). ‘Wild Again’, however, charts yet another new step in Juliet’s journey.

Carnival’, is full of deeply personal songs that are drawn from my real-life experiences and relationships. Coming out of that album cycle, I was feeling a little exhausted by my own navel-gazing and I was craving inspiration elsewhere. So, a lot of the songs I’m writing now are an evolution of sorts – focused more on external stimuli and finding the personal stories and humanity in that. Wild Again is a perfect example of this,” she explains.

The idea for ‘Wild Again’ was born out of a NY Times podcast Juliet listened to about the real-life efforts to return the whale that played Willy in the iconic movie ‘Free Willy’ back into the wild.

“It’s an insane, heartbreaking story that asks all kinds of thorny questions about human responsibility and humility and what’s the “right” thing to do and is that the same as the “kind” thing to do. There was a line that one of the trainers said in the podcast, explaining that they were trying to “train him to be wild again.” The complete absurdity of that statement hit me in the moment, and I immediately started jotting down lyrical ideas”, Juliet says.

Catch Juliet Lloyd on her UK tour this July:

1st July: The Folklore Rooms / Brighton
2nd July: The Hyde Tavern / Winchester
3rd July: Hen and Chicken / Bristol (CRH Music promotions)
4th July: Artisan Tap Hartshill / Stoke-on-Trent

5th July: Waggon & Horses, Nottingham

6th July: Cafe#9 / Sheffield
7th July: Hyde Park Book Club / Leeds
10th July: FortyFive Vinyl Café / York
11th July: The Muddy Puddle / London
13th July: The Wrotham Arms / Broadstairs

Continue Reading

Trending