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Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer, Louisa Johnson + more feature on new Toby Gad “Piano Diaries” album!

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Los Angeles, CA – July 19, 2024Toby Gad, the GRAMMY-award nominated songwriter and producer behind some of the biggest global hits ever written such as John Legend’s “All Of Me,” Beyoncé’s “If I Were A Boy,” and Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” is embarking on a new artistic journey with his project, PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS. After a remarkable career spanning multiple decades and amassing over 15 billion streams, Toby Gad continues to push the boundaries of modern pop music with this exciting new venture, available now on all DSPs and streaming platforms HERE.

PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS transforms Toby’s biggest hits into emotive piano-vocal masterpieces, featuring today’s stars like Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer & Aloe Blacc, Johnny Orlando, Louisa Johnson, Angelina Jordan, Celina Sharma, and more. This project offers a fresh take on his timeless songs, captivating a new generation.

Kelly Clarkson featured Toby’s premiere Piano Diaries Single, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” with Victoria Justice, on her talk-show alongside appearances on KTLA and Good Day New York. The positive reception laid the groundwork for the following singles:

  1. “Skyscraper”: A powerful rendition of Demi Lovato’s career defining song, featuring Universal Republic touring Artist, Camylio.
  2. “Little Do You Know”: With the original gaining over 1M+ Tiktok User Creates, the new version now features Keke Palmer and Aloe Blacc,
  3. “Untouched”: Australia’s anthem, originally written with The Veronicas,  reinterpreted by online sensation Johnny Orlando.
  4. “Who You Are”: Written with Jessie J, now with the youngest winner of ‘X Factor UK’, Louisa Johnson.
  5. If I Were a Boy”: Beyonce’s hit reinvented with Universal Republic’s 18-year-old rising star, Angelina Jordan.

On July 19th, Toby’s reinvented “All Of Me,” originally composed with John Legend, completes the PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS album, now featuring social media sensation Celina Sharma (7 Billion TikTok likes.)

Toby Gad expresses his enthusiasm for this project: “It has been an incredible journey to watch my songs evolve and reach new audiences. Working with such talented emerging vocalists has brought a fresh and exciting perspective to these tracks. I am proud of the artistry and emotion each artist has brought to PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS, and I can’t wait for the world to hear these reimagined versions.”

Each track in PIANO DIARIES is re-interpreted as a timeless piano-vocal masterpiece, performed by Toby Gad. To further expand the project’s reach and appeal, there will also be partnerships with DJs for high-energy remixes, providing fans with dynamic new versions of their favorite hits.

Toby has begun bringing Piano Diaries to the stage with well-received live performances in Los Angeles and London, featuring various established artists and telling his untold stories behind the songs. 

PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS promises to be an exciting musical journey, offering unique insight into the meaning of songs that have become staples on American radio and around the world. The album’s stripped-down nature allows the raw emotion and lyrical beauty of each song to shine through, providing a new and intimate listening experience for fans old and new.

PIANO DIARIES – THE HITS Tracklist:

  1. All of Me feat Celina Sharma
  2. If I Were a Boy feat Angelina Jordan
  3. Untouched feat Johnny Orlando
  4. Big Girls Don’t Cry feat Victoria Justice
  5. Little Do You Know feat Keke Palmer & Aloe Blacc
  6. Who You Are feat Louisa Johnson
  7. Skyscraper feat Camylio
  8. Feel Good feat Paravi
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Acclaimed US singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd to tour the UK for the first time this summer.

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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

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