Connect with us

We Speak Music

Salwa Rewrites Nightlife’s Narrative On ‘Ghost You’

Published

on

What does it mean to reclaim your power? For Salwa, it’s about turning frustration into art. Her latest single, “Ghost You,” does exactly that, blending electro-pop and space disco into a fierce anthem of defiance. The Lebanese/Palestinian-Scottish artist has a knack for transforming the personal into the universal, and this track is no exception. With its hypnotic beats and candid lyrics, “Ghost You” offers a raw and empowering look at nightlife’s messy underbelly.

Salwa’s artistry is steeped in storytelling. Raised in Beirut and now thriving in East London, she’s carved out a career that spans acting, filmmaking, modeling, and poetry. Yet, music remains her ultimate medium of expression. Her genre-defying sound, influenced by icons like Justice and Caravan Palace, reflects the highs and lows of city life—a mirror of her own experiences navigating relationships and mental health as a bipolar woman.

The music video for “Ghost You” is a visual feast. Directed by Ted Clarke, it pairs retro 80s gymnasium aesthetics with grainy Super 8 textures to create a dreamlike yet haunting world. The video captures the duality of nightlife, from its sparkling allure to its bitter realities. Salwa’s commanding presence shines, drawing viewers into her orbit and underscoring the song’s defiant message.

What makes “Ghost You” truly remarkable is its relatability. Salwa’s lyrics tap into the frustrations of modern social dynamics, from unwanted attention to the exhaustion of navigating nightlife’s chaos. But the track flips these frustrations into something empowering. The female chorus, a pulsating backbone of the song, transforms personal anger into a collective roar of strength and solidarity.

Salwa is an artist unafraid to push boundaries. With “Ghost You,” she’s created a track that’s not just music but a statement—a call to own your narrative and refuse to be diminished. It’s this fearless authenticity that sets her apart, making her a voice to watch in the ever-evolving landscape of modern music. If “Ghost You” is any indication, Salwa is on the cusp of something extraordinary.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

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