We Speak Music
Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer, Louisa Johnson + more feature on new Toby Gad “Piano Diaries” album!
Los Angeles, CA – July 19, 2024 – Toby 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:
- “Skyscraper”: A powerful rendition of Demi Lovato’s career defining song, featuring Universal Republic touring Artist, Camylio.
- “Little Do You Know”: With the original gaining over 1M+ Tiktok User Creates, the new version now features Keke Palmer and Aloe Blacc,
- “Untouched”: Australia’s anthem, originally written with The Veronicas, reinterpreted by online sensation Johnny Orlando.
- “Who You Are”: Written with Jessie J, now with the youngest winner of ‘X Factor UK’, Louisa Johnson.
- “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:
- All of Me feat Celina Sharma
- If I Were a Boy feat Angelina Jordan
- Untouched feat Johnny Orlando
- Big Girls Don’t Cry feat Victoria Justice
- Little Do You Know feat Keke Palmer & Aloe Blacc
- Who You Are feat Louisa Johnson
- Skyscraper feat Camylio
- Feel Good feat Paravi
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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