From the first note that plays up to the ending, “You Had Me At Hello” by Claire Saint was a melodic single that evoked a lot of chemistry between you and the song. My favorite element to the lyrics in “You Had Me At Hello” was how it helped us think about a special someone that we can relate this song to. The lyrics paint settings, images, and different storylines in your mind that help the record comes to life. It’s like Claire Saint places you inside the song to explore your thoughts and feelings with every movement of the song.
Claire Saint is a truly special kind of artist with a magnificent vocal delivery that you can’t find anywhere else. The production of “You Had Me At Hello” was detailed and intricate with multiple complex arrangements, thus making the song as colorful as possible. “You Had Me At Hello” was a sweet-sounding, texturized, and even radiating single that takes a jab at the theme of love and crushes in a more delightful and vibrant aura. The vibes of “You Had Me At Hello” was as memorable as Claire’s Saint sugary vocal resonance that blends between a smooth falsetto and mid vocal range. Claire Saint is the singer to be on the lookout for and “You Had Me At Hello” is the record to be intuned with!
Listen to "You Had Me At Hello" here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Claire Saint! Talk to us about your upbringing and background where did you find most of your influence from?
‘Music is my elixir‘ is not only the main statement of the first single of Claire Saints double album ‘This is Claire Saint‘, but it is also her life motto. As Marie-Claire Toussaint is born and raised in Berlin, she got to know a lot of different types of art, especially music. Next to a comprehensive education while going to school (singing in a choir, conducting, singing, music as an advanced course), she took piano, guitar and singing lessons. She was part of several bands and started within different music projects to write her own songs. In 2009, she released her first EP „Cover me“ with four songs in English that can still be found on her SoundCloud page. After Claire Saint finished school, she lived in Nashville for 8 months. Having the chance to stay with the musician Neal Morse and his family, she built a connection to the land, the people, the music and the language over there. That is why she decided to split up her album into 2 CD‘s, one CD with German and one with English songs. This shall describe Claire Saint's life between and within these two worlds. Her music is influenced by her background education, her life in general (she loves to travel and getting to know people), but also by the people she worked with.
Tell us about your record “You Had Me At Hello”, What inspired this song? How would you describe the songwriting approach?
'You Had Me At Hello' is based on a story Claire experienced herself. It was written last year when Claire got to know a guy and from minute one she knew that there was a special connection between them. So she started to write about the meeting with the guy and she already had the melody line in her head ‘I do like you, yes I do’. However, she had no idea what the song title could be. Because of a friend of hers, telling her about a bag that said ‘you had me at hello’, she found her song title and the words to the chorus by surprise.
What were some of the challenges you faced when making “You Had Me At Hello”?
It was the first song, Claire Saint produced in America and with the Shuffle Brothers. However, she/they did not really face any challenges, because it worked out perfectly, working together.
How would you describe the production and arrangement behind “You Had Me At Hello”?
‘You Had Me At Hello’ was produced in the Shuffle Brother Studios (Gabriel Klein, Gideon John Klein). It is a song that could also be a part of a love film. It is a catchy song, full of small returning elements so that the song easily get stuck in your head. Especially the synth motif and the background choir accentuate the feeling of walking on clouds, falling for somebody, only seeing through rose-colored glasses.
What are you looking forward to in the new decade Claire Saint?
After the album release ‘This is Claire Saint’ (December 2019), which is a portrait of Claire Saint's life, she wants to focus on playing some shows (mainly in Germany and America) and presenting her German and English songs to the world. However, she constantly writes new songs…maybe she will start to work on her next album as well.