*The Following Press Release Was Issued By FANATIC*
| Brooklyn, NY Young, Black, and Queer: Sibling duo Charlie Belle made music for mutuals since childhood. Now, they make most personal music of their lives. Sexy new video for “What Is This” single captures “the beauty that is blackness, queerness and the intersection of the two.” Watch via FLOOD. |
| Charlie Belle (L-R): Jendayi Bonds, Gyasi Bonds. Photo by Nehemiah Brent. |
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| “The smooth neo-soul track features shuffling programmed percussion and atmospheric synths that provide the perfect backdrop for Jendayi’s vocals. During the chorus, Gyasi lends a voice to round out the harmonies, offering a rich and textured performance.” — FLOOD See “What Is This” now via FLOOD or at the link above! +++ About | What Is This “‘What Is This’ is a song about anxiety, the things that keep you up at night, and the guilt you have over feelings you can’t control. The most important thing we wanted to accomplish with the ‘What Is This’ video is capturing the beauty that is blackness, queerness and the intersection of the two. I always say things like ‘I love Insecure, but I wish it were queer!’ and ‘I love Broad City, but I wish it were black!’ because I deeply crave representation.” — Jendayi Bonds of Charlie Belle “This music video is a love letter to Brooklyn and the queer community that we’re proud to be a part of here. The club scene is all Brooklynite friends filmed at the queer-owned venue C’mon Everybody in Bed-Stuy. We feature the ‘Dank Dykes,’ which is a Brooklyn-based, lesbian-owned cannabis brand, and street scenes shot in Cobble Hill. Our black and white shots are an ode to iconic Brooklyn filmmaker, Spike Lee.” — Director Madeleine Richardson of Solis Films +++ “Backed by a cool, breezy arrangement, the melody flows effortlessly.” — Lost In The Manor “An endlessly interesting release to dissect and pick apart, both thanks to the intoxicating allure of the sound and its sobering lyrics.” — CLOUT |
| +++ Charlie Belle “What Is This” Out Now (S/R) Streaming Link: STREAM VIDEO + SINGLE |
| +++ Charlie Belle | About Sibling duo Jendayi and Gyasi Bonds have been the band Charlie Belle for most of their lives. Talented, outspoken, Black and queer, the sister and brother are perhaps most of all, more experienced at music making than their peers. International acclaim arrived when Jendayi and Gyasi were just sixteen and fourteen-years-old. NPR, Nylon, MTV, Vice and Wired profiled the pair and Jendayi and Gyasi appeared together on the cover of the Austin Chronicle, their hometown paper at the time. Two new singles and videos in 2020 continued the forward motion. “We’ve been a band for over a decade and we’ve been Black our whole lives. Now, more than ever, there’s a spotlight on what Black artists bring to the table in all genres,” Jendayi explained at the time. Now, in a 2024 world, as adults living in Brooklyn, Jendayi and Gyasi are products of a time that continually challenges them to be exactly who they are. The maturity that comes with life experience sounds great alongside their musical history on the new Charlie Belle single “What Is This,” out now. The new song is a deeper groove than Charlie Belle has ever offered before and lyrically, it reflects exactly who Jendayi is today. “Helicopters flying… filming people dying. Got a roof and it’s downtown. I can hear the sirens.” “The ‘roof’ isn’t just a physical place,” Gyasi says, going on to give an insight that only a sibling could have. “It symbolizes Jendayi’s mind and her anxious, scary, stressful thoughts.” “It’s bittersweet watching him grow up,” Jendayi says of her thoughtful brother. “We’re so close in age, but just far enough away where I can see what Gyasi is going through from being on the other side of it. What a gift it has been to be on this journey together.” Jendayi and Gyasi’s journey is not solitary. They speak to us, too: “Scared of something that doesn’t exist. Yeah I’m scared of something that doesn’t exist,” they solemnly sing on the “What Is This” chorus. This isn’t just Jendayi’s mind now. It’s everyone at one time or another. “Do you feel it too?” Jendayi wonders. “Because the first time Gyasi played this track for me, it gave me chills and I immediately knew we would release it. I was bumping along to it, scrolling through my notes app — where my old lyrics go to die — and I knew in my soul that this song was what these words had been waiting for.” “With more life behind me, I can express myself with more intention,” Jendayi concludes, referencing the music that Charlie Belle made when they were so much younger. “It is so bizarre gaining recognition for shit you did as a kid, but I don’t want to replace the image people have of us, I want to add to it.” “What Is This,” the latest video and single by sister-brother duo Charlie Belle is out now. +++ Charlie Belle | Links |
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