ON THE RISE
The collaborative project of Craig Lowe, better known as The C.o.o.l (Chase Opportunity or Lose) and Derion Scroggins, AKA Day Underscore, It's A Cool Day is the vessel by which two incredible musicians share their Chicago roots and a unique blend of R&B and Hip Hop with the world. Their most recent project, an EP titled You’re Welcome explores the duality of words, music and emotions layered over insightful lyrics and exciting beats.
It's A Cool Day is the brainchild of Greg "Olskool Ice-Gre" Lewis who envisioned Cool and Day as a duo (originally solo artists), and knew as a collective they'd be destined for great things. Now proudly repped by Honest Music, the duo is truly making magic.
You may have already heard the hit single “The Butterfly Effect” from It’s A Cool Day’s new EP. The song is very forward about its dual meaning, describing both the feeling of getting butterflies and hinting at the importance of the little things, a play on the song’s title.
Songs like “Bucket Seats” and “Resuscitation” showcase the duo’s versatility. While “Bucket Seats” defines the peak of excitement in a new romantic venture, “Resuscitation” is more laid back, taking you through the feeling of redemption after a fight or slip up in a relationship.
Another notable track on the project is “Dogeza” another play on terminology, with the title referring to a Japanese tradition of showing gratitude. “It’s a very confident, cocky song,” Day explained. “It’s kind of our way of telling our fans that they can be grateful for what we’re giving them with this album.” The song truly stands out as one with a forward message and the knowledge that these two are not to be messed with.
“Dogeza” is also the basis for the project’s title. “You’re Welcome, like a lot of this project has two meanings,” Cool explained. “One is the same as what ‘Dogeza’ is saying, and the other is more of a humble ‘welcome in’ kind of meaning.”
In its entirety, You’re Welcome is a little slice of Cool and Day’s lives and innermost thoughts. “The project talks about a lot of topics that we think are really important,” they said. “Everything from feeling like you're making all the right moves, to exploring how it feels to be a father, husband, Black man, in a modern world.” It's A Cool Day is the perfect venue for these two to express themselves while connecting with each other and a community of people with shared experiences.
Following the release of You’re Welcome on June 28, It’s A Cool Day is looking forward to sharing more visuals to go alongside the project. The duo is also excited about some of their other upcoming content and the release of their merch line, all things you can find updates about on their social media.
Make sure to stay tuned in to It’s A Cool Day as well as the individual works of Day Underscore and The C.o.o.l. on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts.
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Photo Credit to: Mike Quain Photo
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Pop and soul singer Sharon Watkins is preparing to share her very first album in 2023. Working alongside producer Sam Miller (known for his work with The Hoosiers and One Direction), she is following up with her newest release, The One That Got Away, which arrives on 18 November 2022. The track is a tender acoustic ballad that tells the story of leaving behind a harmful relationship, finding strength, and welcoming a fresh start. With gentle piano arrangements and Sharon’s unmistakable soulful voice, the song captures an intensely emotional journey.
Her earlier singles, Proud and Stranded, have already connected with listeners in a big way, reaching more than 250,000 views on YouTube and 150,000 streams on Spotify. With this momentum building, Music News sat down with Sharon to talk about her music and what comes next.
Hi Sharon How are you?
Doing really well thanks! So excited about all the momentum we’ve had with our first 3 singles, honestly, it has been insane to have had BBC radio interviews, rotations, global press coverage and to have won an international song contest in such a short space of time!!
Tell us about your latest release ‘The One That Got Away’?
Well, it starts out as a real wintery piano ballad, portraying that moment when you suddenly realise that someone you're with is messing you around. Then, with the help of big strings and orchestral percussion, it develops into a powerful "I'm over you" song…. It is really a defiant two-fingers up at the ex that never appreciated you until it was too late. It moves from the turmoil of still having feelings for that person, cutting lose and moving on to triumphant recovery, knowing that you made the right decision.
The music video is visually stunning and the dance is beautiful, talk to us about the filming of this video and the creative decision to use dance to express the meaning of the track.
Thank you, that means a lot! We’re really pleased with the way the video came out. Me and my brother, Sammy J Stopford, who has been my partner in crime on this whole album project, knew very early on that we wanted a contemporary dance that portrayed the turmoil in this song. I also knew I wanted the video to express the mental turmoil you go through after finishing a relationship and the underwater medium just seamed such an ideal metaphor for that. We put out a request for dancers and choreographers on Instragram not thinking we would get much interest. One of our lessons on this project is that you can’t pore the right energy into a project if you don’t love the music and so this was the main pre-requisite for dancers…. “please only contact us if the song inspires you!”…. we couldn’t believe the response!! We ended up watching so many amazing dance videos from such talented people. Our album is about adult life lessons and so we knew we wanted a believable couple, that had a great connection and were old enough to have gone through an adult relationship and breakup. We chose Florivaldo Mossi (Michael Jackson in West End Show “Thriller”) & Ashley Cavell (Star of many shows, including ABBA Fever) as they are both incredible dancers but also fit the storyline so well. I couldn’t believe it when Choreographer, Stewart Arnold (choreographer & dancer to Kate Bush) agreed to work on the project!!
The writing in the song is very personal. Was it emotional pouring these emotions into lyrics?
Honestly, it is like an exorcism. Songwriting is how I process and deal with life’s ups-and-downs and so I would be lost without that outlet. It forces me to really dig deep on my emotions towards things. You can’t write songs about superficial stuff, otherwise it just sounds cliché.
What do you hope people take away from ‘The One That Got Away’?
I feel like it’s the song you need a friend to play you when you have broken up from someone and are feeling injured and unsure. You need someone to tell you that you missed a bullet and one day that ex will look around and realise that they lost something very special. I have had people reach out already and tell me how relatable the message is and that it has helped them… this is the biggest compliment of all!!
Talk to us about your influences as an artist.
I grew up in Manchester surrounded by an incredible 90’s music scene, in a house where my dad played everything from The Beatles to Zappa. I then spent 8 years living in the states, picking up some great American influences like Carole King. I have now made Nottingham my home, which is where I recorded the album and I have honestly really been enjoying the return in popularity of singer-songwriters like Lewis Capaldi and Tom Odell …. So all-in-all a pretty varied range of influcences… making for an eclectic pop album that I hope you all like.
Going back briefly on the video, you collaborated with some great people on the video such as Stewart Arnold who worked closely with Kate Bush and Florivaldo Mossi, noted for being Michael Jackson in Thriller Live. Tell us about your experience working with them.
It's been the stuff of dreams really. I am a massive Kate Bush fan and to work with Stewart was like a dream come true. He and I had some long conversations about our vision for this video and the turmoil I wanted to portray. His ability to translate that into dance is something amazing to watch. I had the honour of watching him choregraph the dancers on the morning of the shoot and it was like watching a master at work, the artistic ideas that he brought to this project were incredible. Flori Mossi and Ashley Cavell are both experienced dancers but seeing the way they clicked together, and their interaction and interpretation of the song just blew me away.
What can we expect from you next?
Well, we have 3 more singles coming ahead of the album launch in 2023, so make sure you follow me on Spotify to keep up with those (Sharon Watkins) and we’re also going to be doing a series of “Live Lounge” performances of our tracks ahead of the album release so follow me on socials @sharonwatkinsofficial to keep an eye out for those.
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