Today, Brooklyn-based artist Dida Pelled announces her new album Love Of The Tiger and drops her new single “Melody” along with B-side track “Skinny”, both of which will feature on the upcoming album due out in June.
Pelled is widely considered the greatest jazz guitarist this side of the Mississippi. As her jazz star rose, she felt a pull towards classic American songwriting, changing direction and redefining her voice.
“Melody,” which Pelled herself dubbed the “makeup song,” flows down your spine with a jazz-infused R&B sound, illuminated by the thrill of great love, and features a verse by young rapper KNWLDG. The couple formed after Pelled was introduced to KNWLDG by her co-producer Andrew Forman, who also happened to be her roommate.
Pelled shares, “The song started as an experiment one summer in Berlin. I had a moment of rebellion, feeling the need to break away from the songwriting techniques I had grown accustomed to. I escaped to Berlin, I recruited two of my favorite collaborators, and I spent a week in a
Airbnb does nothing but make random beats and sing gibberish. Inspired by electronic sounds and this new way of writing, “Melody” appeared out of nowhere. It was an artistic exercise, an attempt to unblock, without a specific goal in mind.
She continues, “A few years later, at the start of the pandemic, my band and I were hanging out at Andrew Forman’s studio, when Melody came back to light. I was telling KNWLDG what the song is about, “a big love, an’ KNWLDG disappeared into the other room for a while and came back with an entire written verse. It only took one take to realize it was a perfect union.
On Love Of The Tiger, Pelled’s upcoming album, she writes about obsession and salvation, fleeting love, smoke and mirrors, madness and more. Pelled’s additional song release today “Skinny” is a look inward, where she explores the infamous act of losing yourself while trying to conform. The stunning “Sylvia (lost sense of being a woman)”, released in March, will also be featured on Love Of The Tiger. The album is the product of a jazz prodigy turned rogue. It’s a love letter to the dark, weaving across genres, twisting and turning with Pelled’s ever-expanding range of musical abilities and interests.
As a child, Pelled sequestered herself from the world and decided to master the guitar. She quickly made a name for herself on the New York jazz scene, recording with jazz masters like Roy Hargrove and Gregory Hutchinson and touring the world.
Listen to the new single here:
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