Maria Lawson
Alt-Soul Artist Loners Club’s New Genre-Blending Single Is A Nod To Not Only Her Loved Ones, But Her Mental Health Journey.
Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.
Loners Club — “Princess Charming”
RIYL: a set of lo-fi hip-hop, R&B and blues triplets all on one track
What else you need to know: This party of one — Cameroonian singer-songwriter Beverly Etta — dropped her latest single 10 days ago.
The timeless tune pours one out for those people who love her unconditionally, and not just in the “ILY”-comment-on-an-Instagram-post way. She tells the story of wanting to be heard, seen and communicated with through this musical progression.
The song ramps up with a snare-like beat, then with no time wasted, Loners Club comes in five seconds later with some angelic vocals. This ear candy of a song ties in hip-hop DJ samples in the back while taking on a more R&B style of singing, making it a jam to fit Friday night or Sunday morning.
Its energy remains pretty consistent throughout the four-minute-11-second runtime (which hey, we need more of longer songs nowadays), ending on a fun note with some more techno-style beats before sending us off. This love anthem goes past just romantic relationships — she harmonizes to represent the healthy, consistent relationships she has and hopes that everyone else does too.
This project takes on a different approach from her latest EP titled Leave Me Alone. By putting together this single, she focused on her mental health and the song reflects that. She was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so she sings about some of the topics she was silenced about during her journey.
In this song, she aims to tie in as many genres as she can to make her own unique style, including jazz, blues, R&B and lo-fi hip hop, and uses this fusion to inspire other queer and BIPOC artists to find their voice in the music world.