Marian Carmel has been known to have an innate ability to evoke emotions in her music. Her ethereal vocals breathe life into the melancholic nature of her songs and are influenced by the soulful R&B tunes of Emily King, Lianne La Havas, and Sabrina Claudio. Also, her Tik Tok videos are HILARIOUS! Her recently released track ‘You Like The Chase‘ is a flirty complex piece that juxtaposes the lighthearted front with a darker and outraged undertone. Listening to it has flashes of TV scenes of Never Have I Ever, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, some new age Sex and The City (And Just Like That is now in filming stages, *wink wink* SYNC THIS TRACK!).
@mariancarmel no rly i’m having fun on my own pls believe me #wheredoibegin #fyp #tiktoksg #dating and uhhh #daddyissues i guess lol
Marian Carmel shares, “Over dinner with a friend, she told me something about a previous relationship that made me so angry that I stopped my Encik Tan fishball noodles and turned on my voice memo to record a hook I hummed. That very night, I finished writing the song ‘You Like The Chase”’ The song features a flirty and sassy persona; She giggles and she makes snide comments hidden in the track. I made something that wasn’t melancholy for a change and it showed a very rare playful and sarcastic side of me.”
Meet Me in Amsterdam – RINI
When I had my friend hear the demo for ‘You Like The Chase’, she told me it reminded her of RINI, whom I hadn’t heard of at the time. I gave his music a listen and oh my god did I fall in love with this track! It has so much space at the start and grows into this huge romantic call towards the end. The track makes me wanna go to Amsterdam and meet someone.
Creation – Sabrina Claudio
I’ve always been a huge fan of Sabrina Claudio, and her music has influenced the way I sing and write my harmonies. Creation is suuuuuuchhh a juicy track, and because ‘You Like The Chase’ had a similar flirtiness to it, ‘Creation’ was a big reference for me when it came to the harmonies and little embellishments.
Voice Note 1 – Ady Suleiman
The start of ‘You Like The Chase’ has this voice note effect, which my producer Leo Goh (Soul Dot) and I did in order to link my previous single ‘Rose’ and this one. Before we get into production, we usually arrange songs in the studio with just vocals+guitar, and jam with the voice memos app on. So that whole intro was meant to be an homage to that, us just messing around and then going into this big transition for the intro of the song.
Subside – Eloise
Eloise is one of my favourite artists of all time. She’s such an amazing songwriter and has one of those timeless voices that can sing you to sleep. This song in particular, is the one I usually send to people when they need song recommendations. It’s just so playful and cheeky, even though it has a sense of restraint and control. I wanted to capture that essence with ‘You Like The Chase’ too!
If I Lost You – Ariza, Emily C. Browning
The first draft of ‘You Like The Chase’ was more towards this direction, but ultimately I wanted to do something a bit more cheeky and angry so we went with what you hear now. I still really love this song though – it’s so well written and the storytelling is so strong. The way that it plays with dynamics and how it unfolds production-wise, sooo good!!! Definitely on the list of songs I wish I had written!
Calvin’s Joint – Mac Ayres, Declan Miers
I’m a sucker for a good groovy R&B song, and ‘Calvin’s Joint’ by Mac Ayres and Declan Miers has been on my playlists for the longest time. I love the chords and the keys, and the percussion that they have on this makes me wish I knew how to dance because I would 100% dance to this – I mean I still do, I just don’t look good doing it.
@mariancarmel ##duet with @boywhocriedwolff happy pride month ##fyp ##tiktoksg
Sugarplum Elegy – NIKI
NIKI!!! What a voice this woman has. She sings with such accurate delivery and control, and she’s such a huge inspiration to me. ‘You Like The Chase’ is a fun take on sarcasm and frustration, so I felt that this song by NIKI was a good reference track for the kind of headspace I could be in while recording.
Therefore I Am – Billie Eilish
The backing vocals for ‘You Like The Chase’ are filled with little harmony layers. In fact, we had to cut down a lot of them in order to give the song some space. I sent ‘Therefore I Am’ as a reference for the backing vocals, and when Jason Gelchen (Homeground Studios) and I worked on the vocals we tried to emulate the whispery, sing-talky vibe that this track has.
COPYCAT – Billie Eilish
In the second verse of the song, I wanted this BIG ANGRY BASS SOUND!!! For MAXIMUM ANGER!!!! It felt fitting for that part of the song where I sing “as much as I hate to admit it, DAMMIT I deserve more than this”. So Leo and I took inspiration from COPYCAT by Billie Eilish. This song is so wild – they sample Billie’s screams and the sounds that they use just make you powerwalk like a badass every time this track comes on.
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