Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ JMWest Entertainment) American Pop/R&B singer Kylie Marcus released her first EP, No Disguise, today with Beverly Hills-based record label JMWest Entertainment. The EP, featuring radio single "Yellow Shirt" is garnering serious attention as it works its way up the charts.
Marcus celebrated the release of her EP and months of work with producer and songwriter and JMWest Entertainment founder Jean-Michel Soupraya at a release party at the Gibson Showroom in Beverly Hills. "Yellow Shirt" is currently #32 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.
Born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida, 21-year old Marcus is a female
Bruno Mars - magine the musical offspring of
Barbara Streisand and
James Brown and you have a glimpse into the soul of Kylie Marcus.
"Kylie has this voice, a force of its own, that almost exists by itself," says Soupraya. "It's somewhere between jazz and soul, somewhere between strong and tender, somewhere between Streisand and Winehouse. She really doesn't sound like anyone else, she just sounds good - she sounds like Kylie Marcus."
With the debut of No Disguise, Kylie delivers a well-rounded selection that showcases all facets of her Pop/R&B sound. In "Yellow Shirt," her first single releasing alongside the EP, Kylie gets people on their feet. She rides the groove into "Butterfly," adds a touch of jazz with "Something Wrong," and conquers the ballad "
Walk On Water". In "The Real Me," Kylie drops a rhyme and opens a window into her personal life.
"I write what is really real for me. I've never been great at communicating my feelings face to face. I've always been the "tough one", but I'm human and I do have feelings. Music, lyrics, writing - that's how I handle my feelings."
No Disguise features the stylings of talented musicians such as Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar), Guy Nsangue-Akwa (bass), John JR Robinson (drums), Luis Conte (percussion), Dorian Holley (vocals), Charlean Hines
Carmon (vocals), Jasmine Lee (vocals), Franck Gelibert (piano), and Jean-Michel Soupraya (keyboard).
Kylie's EP is raw, real, and can rock the boat at times, but "I can't do it any other way," she says. "This is how I express myself; it's the only way I know how."
Will the help of talented sound engineers Steve Sykes, Scott Frankfurt, mixing engineer Phil Tan, mastering engineer Chris Gehringer, and of course, Soupraya himself, Kylie Marcus delivers!
With airplay that kicked off on
Sirius XM's 20 on 20 on Thanksgiving Day, "Yellow Shirt" is now playing on stations across the US and working its way up the Mediabase Charts in multiple genres—Top 40, Rhythmic and Urban, where the single has already broken into the top 100 (currently at #79).
Despite the parental advisory warning and the relevant Urban Pop influence, Kylie is all soul when she sings. In every song she tells a truth, a story—hers or one she has personally witnessed—with a wisdom and honesty that is simultaneously refreshing and nostalgic.
"I've never written any other kind of music," says Kylie. "Everyone in my family listens to something different - my dad loves Kansas, my mom rocks out a little more than that and my sisters both have their own thing going on. I guess, growing up, I always just felt like R&B was personal for me, it was my thing. It just feels authentic for to me. It always has."
Whether Pop/R&B is your thing or not, there is no question Kylie Marcus is doing her thing. "I'll be me in my music, because I need to be. This is what I do for me; and if I'm lucky I'll get to keep doing it for others too."
