Eclectic songstress Jeannel unveils new single and visuals for ‘BLUE’
Avant-garde artist Jeannel (Jeanne Amiens) has unveiled a stirring new single, ‘Blue’, and its equally moving video on 03 May 2024 via Unfelt Recordings. The video premiered on the notable tastemaker NOTION. Produced by Jeannel herself and oh.no.ty (Tory Lanez, Belly, Moses Yoofee Trio), mixed by oh.no.ty, and mastered by 4x Grammy-nominated engineer Zino Mikorey (Hans Zimmer, Thom Yorke, Metronomy, Jessie Reyez, Parcels, Sohn, The Kooks, Fred Again). The Berlin-based songwriter and producer has garnered 1.5 million streams across platforms, earning praises from likes of Resident Advisor, Vice Mag, CLASH Mag, Earmilk, The Line of Best Fit, Kaltblut Mag and more, as well as landing placements on various Spotify playlists and earning spins on radio stations such as NTS Radio. Jeannel has graced the stages of Red Bull Music Festival, Clouds Hill Festival and Reeperbahn Festival NYC Edition, in addition to performances at art galleries and museums, and artist residencies (such as one in Havana, Cuba) abroad to boot. These are but a few of the host of achievements under her belt, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Growing up in a musical household in Cologne and playing cello from the age of seven, Jeannel’s musical journey started with classical music, Walt Disney sing-alongs, ’90s/2000s R&B and pop, and ’60s tapes. She studied jazz vocals and classical cello at the Music Conservatory in Cologne, always producing her own music on her laptop on the side. With a co-sign from Chilly Gonzales, who featured her on his show Music’s Cool with Chilly Gonzales, she became an alumnus of the distinguished Red Bull Music Academy in 2018 and since then developed a versatile catalogue, displaying not only her gift as a vocalist, but also as a compelling composer and lyricist.
Her musical project that has developed is rooted in healing, vulnerability, boldness, and candour. Thematically, she is unafraid to venture the dark waters of femininity, love, sexuality, mental health and the subconscious. Musically, she deftly dances between the borders of alt-R&B, avant-pop, trip-hop, neo-classical and beyond. Influenced by Sevdaliza and what she was exposed to in her upbringing, her music has been compared to feminine luminaries such as FKA Twigs, Solange, Lana del Rey, Sevdaliza and Charlotte Day Wilson.
‘Blue’ is a tense yet tender elegy to the risk and rapture of falling in love. Eluding classification, it lies musically somewhere near baroque pop, but it carries the emotional potency of something beyond genre. A carefully-picked cello plays a lilting, slow rhythm that carries Jeannel’s rich, honeyed vocals, reminiscent of Lana Del Rey’s. Heavenly choral vocals swell, awash with feeling. Gliding cello notes weave in and out of the delicate fray, leaving brush strokes of emotion in their wake. This is a moving track sure to be enjoyed by fans of Bjork, Jessie Jo Stark and Laura Marling.
The song comes alive as it weaves its way into the accompanying video (a potent visual narrative more like a short film than music video), creating an audiovisual tapestry of love’s process. Directed by Jeannel & Lauren Pringle, it intimately chronicles Jeannel and Kelvin Kilonzo in a vast art deco hall as they move through love’s stages, from bliss to destruction and everything in between. The story unfolds in a captivating performance by the pair, who each offer a starkly raw and vulnerable partially-improvised movement drawing from their own relationship and break up experiences. It is a storytelling experience that transcends what words are unable to express; an art piece that must be experienced through both mediums simultaneously.
