New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Hollis (aka Hollis Wong-Wear) releases the second single and self-directed music video from her forthcoming debut solo album, Subliminal, set for release in early 2022 via AntiFragile.
The new track, "Let Me Not," was inspired by a line in Hollis' diary and catapults listeners into the tension and catharsis of our unending pandemic reality via sound. With a haunting synth line - ominous and eerie, yet a total earworm - the song's energetic chorus almost bursts at the seams, with Hollis' airy, spirited vocals front and center. Created together with Ryan Lewis (Macklemore, Kesha), Keeley Bumford (Dresage, Jai Wolf), and Lewis' assistant engineer, Brian Wall, the anthemic track is the perfect way to close out the summer.
The collaboration marks the first time Hollis and Ryan Lewis have worked together since 2013's Grammy-nominated album 'The Heist.'
The cinematic music video for "Let Me Not" is aptly a love letter to Seattle - the city where Hollis became a musician and songwriter and the city where Ryan and Hollis first met and made music together. Directed by Hollis herself and with the help of cinematographer Edward Tran (Panic! At The Disco, Kehlani, G-Eazy, and E-40), the video crosses an array of scenes from the historic Moore Theatre and the green fields of Magnuson Park to the empty basement in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood for an homage to the iconic era of Seattle grunge. Read more via Ones To Watch:
https://www.onestowatch.com/blog/hollis-feels-larger-than-life-on-the-cathartic
"The song is meant to be a catharsis, a release, a cry for all of us in our moments of endless spiral," Hollis says about the inspiration behind "Let Me Not." "It's truly lifted right from my personal diary but I hope something that resonates with all. It broke open the seal of me creating what would eventually be a whole album of music for me, something that felt like an impossibility prior to this sole in-person session."
"I moved down to Los Angeles a little over a year ago at the front of the pandemic. The music for "Let Me Not" was the very first beat I made in a new studio and new city," Ryan Lewis shares about the track. "It really felt how life felt at the time… Groundhog's Day, frustrated, anxious... a never-ending spiral. Hollis, who's been an amazing friend, creative, and collaborator for over a decade, joined together with Keeley and created something really special that we all loved."
Hollis, who added "recording engineer" to her resume with 'Subliminal,' and is a Pigeons and Planes Best New Artist of the Month, collaborated with artists over Zoom to make her forthcoming debut solo record. It's a document of all the highs and lows, all the self consciousness and soul-seeking and trying to find hope within all of the unknowns.
Previously released singles from Subliminal include "Less Like," a slick alt, pop track about admitting we're not exactly who we wish we were, and "Grace Lee," a moving, introspective tribute to the late Chinese-American social activist
Grace Lee Boggs
Hollis is a modern-day Renaissance woman: recording artist, vocalist, songwriter, creative producer, and community advocate. With her roots in spoken word and slam poetry through the nationally recognized Youth Speaks program, Hollis is passionate about how creativity and the arts fuel and shape civic discourse and is dedicated to lending her voice and capacities towards vibrant social equity. Known best for her collaborations with
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ("White Walls," for which she was Grammy-nominated), Shawn Wasabi ("Otter Pop") and her band The Flavr Blue, Hollis' solo music -- which she calls existential alt or "sad girl jams" -- showcases her singular voice and rich, daring lyricism. Her debut solo EP half-life was released in February 2020; her self-directed video for her single "All My Weight" premiered on Billboard, and she was named one of Pigeons & Planes' Best New Artists 2020 upon its release. Originally from the Bay Area, Hollis Wong-Wear emerged from the independent hip hop scene in Seattle and has become an in-demand songwriter in her current home of Los Angeles. Alongside her music, Hollis is an impassioned advocate for empowered creativity, a Google Next Gen Policy Leader, and is a frequent featured speaker on the intersection of art, activism, and creators' rights.
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