Another week, another exceptional Nashville talent to share with you all.
This time it’s the turn of singer-songwriter Mali Velasquez, whose new single ‘Bobby’ is nothing short of sublime. This might well be one of the finest indie songs we’ve come across so far this month, and as soon as you press play you’ll understand why.
Produced by Josef Kuhn, the track evolves in spectacular fashion the longer you listen, while maintaining a powerfully emotive essence throughout. Explaining the song’s inspiration, Velasquez says:
“I wrote ‘Bobby’ originally about losing my mom when I was in high school, I had a lot of these visuals of her being sick. The only connections I can find from sickness and death are in animals and nature, which felt like my way out of grieving in a tunnel vision. The chorus of the song is largely about my coping with her loss, mostly being unable to move or stop staring at the wall. Grief and moving from unhealthy coping mechanisms to safer ones is a thick and embarrassing struggle that seeps into a lot of these songs.”
“Getting these songs out has been really healing for me. Before, the way I was grieving was just kind of holding it all in, waiting for it to release. These songs have given me a new perspective on grief. At one time, I didn’t think anything good could come from this. There’s nothing left of my mom on the planet, and that can be super strange to talk about, but I do feel like there are little pieces of her living in these songs, which is very comforting to me.”
Velasquez is currently preparing for the release of her upcoming debut album, called ‘I’m Green’ (out soon).
🎵 Discover more new music on the Ones To Watch Playlist