We Speak Music

Marie Claire Giraud Releases New Single “Honey Honey Baby”From Upcoming Album “My Big Bold & Beautiful Technicolor Fantasy”

Published

3 months ago

June 5, 2026

Vocalist Marie-Claire Giraud announces the release of her exhilarating new single, “Honey Honey Baby”, released May 29th, 2026, a radiant, full-throated reimagining of the golden era of 1960s girl-group pop. Featuring Grammy-winning guitarist and Living Colour frontman Vernon Reid, the track showcases Marie-Claire’s extraordinary ability to move seamlessly between the worlds of classical, jazz, and pop within a single irresistible performance.

“Marie-Claire is a vocalist completely at home in the divergent realms of classical, jazz, and pop music. I’m fortunate to contribute to her updated paéon to 60’s ‘girl-group’ Pop.”

— VERNON REID, GRAMMY-WINNING GUITARIST & LIVING COLOUR

The upcoming album also features a song co-written by Marie-Claire and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison, a testament to the extraordinary creative world she inhabits, where the boundaries between classical artistry and popular music dissolve entirely.

Marie-Claire has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (twice), Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, and the United Nations General Assembly Hall (seven times). A beloved regular jazz soloist at Birdland and Dizzy’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, she recently hosted her album listening party at the prestigious Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC).

Marie-Claire’s awards include the Intercontinental Music Awards for Best Original Jazz Song (“Chasin’ Rainbows”) and Silver at the Amadeus International Classical Music Competition. Her voice has been heard everywhere from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the United Nations to Birdland, the French Consulate, Spotify Headquarters, Barclays Center (seven times), and 54 Below.

“Honey Honey Baby” arrives as a powerful expression of hard-won personal joy. During the pandemic lockdown, Marie-Claire embarked on a profound transformation, confronting childhood trauma with the help of a therapist, emerging with a clarity and freedom that unlocked her true voice. Long misclassified as a contralto and having developed dysphonia as a result, she has reclaimed her brilliant soprano under the tutelage of voice teachers Anthony Manoli and David L. Jones. The music world is now hearing her at her fullest.

“I have come through the fire and triumphed over insurmountable odds. This song is proof of that, it’s pure joy, and it’s time the world heard it.”

— MARIE-CLAIRE GIRAUD

With a voice now fully realized and a creative spirit completely unleashed, Marie-Claire Giraud is poised to take the music world by storm on her own extraordinary terms.

Honey Honey Baby is the first single from Marie-Claire’s soon to be released album this summer, MY BIG BOLD & BEAUTIFUL TECHNICOLOR FANTASY, which is inspired by Carmen Miranda & the musicals from the 40’s & 50’s. It has four original songs and two covers combining jazz, opera & pop with Grammy winner Vernon Reid, opera star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, co-writing songs with Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Harbison & Grammy nominee Jeff Franzel.

We Speak Music

Phoebe June Traces Love, Distance and Heartbreak on New EP ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2026

Joni Jones

For Phoebe June, some stories are easier to tell through music.

Her new EP, ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’, is an intimate collection that traces the emotional journey of a relationship from the exhilaration of falling in love to distance, uncertainty, heartbreak and, ultimately, learning to let go.

Inspired by artists including Gracie Abrams, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, Phoebe June combines diary-like lyricism with melancholic ballads, subtle uptempo moments and an understated, emotionally honest production style.

At the centre of the project is ‘Thursday’, a bittersweet track about loving someone from a distance and holding onto the hope that the connection might survive.

Written after Phoebe left a country that held deep personal meaning, and left someone she cared about behind, the song looks back at the relationship from its beginning. Even its title is personal: the two first met on a Thursday.

The song captures the complicated feeling of walking away from something meaningful without believing that it necessarily has to be over. It’s about distance, memory and the possibility of finding your way back to someone, while recognising that hope only works when it goes both ways.

Across six tracks, the EP develops that story in sequence.

‘Everything You Are’ opens the project with the warmth of new love, while ‘Dead Sea’ explores the security of finding someone who helps you stay afloat through difficult times. As the story progresses, ‘Thursday’ introduces separation before ‘Getaway Car’ moves into the aftermath; unanswered questions, lingering attachment and the realisation that someone can profoundly affect your life while still being unhealthy for you.

‘One Day’ leaves the door open to the possibility of a future reunion, balancing hope with the understanding that some relationships may only exist in memory.

The EP closes with ‘Ophelia’, its emotional breaking point. Inspired in part by Friedrich Heyser’s painting of the same name, the track confronts the pain of feeling manipulated and unappreciated after giving everything to someone else.

The result is a project that deliberately moves from light to dark. Phoebe June considered not only the narrative but the emotional progression when sequencing the EP, allowing the brightness of its opening to gradually give way to the heartbreak of its closing moments.

Even the title reflects that feeling.

‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ takes its name from a flower, with the image of a gate separating two people becoming a metaphor for a love that remains beautiful but just out of reach. To reach over it requires effort, just as maintaining a connection across distance, uncertainty and changing circumstances does.

Ultimately, Phoebe June isn’t interested in simply documenting her own heartbreak.

She wants listeners to recognise themselves in it.

‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ is a collection about love, nostalgia, hope and regret and about what remains when something beautiful ends up on the other side of the gate.