The Los Angeles born and raised singer-songwriter and R&B/Pop artist Neekull takes us through her post-breakup thoughts with the sweet escape of a single, "Distance."
Although she wasn't born into a musical family, Neekull was always fascinated by the art of music and how it could alleviate one's emotions while also trigger them. After graduating from LACM, Neekull was as inspired as ever to collaborate and make a name for herself not only in Los Angeles but worldwide.
When asked about her recent single, "Distance," Neekull stated that the piece is ultimately a song about someone who brought a relationship down, which led Neekull to need distance more than ever. Through the smoothest R&B instrumentation and production, Neekull exudes a similar flair and attitude to that of Summer Walker, primarily through her passionate and empowering performance.
Listening to "Distance," the track opens with a blissful electric guitar accompanied by the warmest of R&B keys that offer the song an intriguing ambiance. As Neekull enters the song with her melodic and angelic vocals, she begins singing the trials and tribulations that a past relationship brought.
As we move further into the song, we must note the incredible R&B production that hums us into a deep slumber with its lullaby tones, especially with help from Neekull's dreamy vocal stylings that glimmer through our speakers. We're highly impressed with Neekull's performance on this piece as she states her need for distance from those who bring her down.
Ending the song off with the soothing and soft R&B keys once again, we're more than appreciative of such a serene yet empowering piece like "Distance," as Neekull exclaims her inner needs and desires that couldn't seem to be satisfied.
We love the raw emotion and powerful message you've tied into your single "Distance." At what moment throughout this relationship did you feel compelled to write this piece?
Honestly, I wrote this song maybe like a year after the relationship that inspired this ended. When it comes to writing I have two ways I think I really go about it. One way I would go about it is when I really feel the emotions from what triggered me and it’s too much, I have to do something about it so I write about it. I love that process for the reason that it’s so personal and it’s so easy to let it flow because the emotions and passion are right there. But that’s not the only way I go about writing. Other times I'll be playing around, finding chords and melodies I like, and then seeing where this vibe will take me. Maybe it’s a love song maybe not. But I love doing it this way too because it’s like a puzzle. I’m about to find out what’s still bothering me or where my thoughts are gonna drift to. And when I wrote this song it was the second process of like “where will my thoughts take me today”? I guess I still had some things I would’ve wanted to say and I wanted to do it with a different attitude. For me, this song is really about the moment I realize there’s no saving the relationship and I’m laying it all out why it’s not going to work, and for the better of everyone just leave me alone.
When you began creating the single "Distance" in your bedroom with your keyboard, what vibe and atmosphere were you initially looking for?
At first, I just picked a chord progression to play with and kept doing that. And as I kept playing I was observing things like, where do these four chords want to take me and like am I feeling the tempo I’m playing at? The thing with music is I want it to be honest because I believe music only sounds good when we’re being real with it. That’s what allows people to find that connection to the songs in their playlist. And with writing songs, it’s like introspection. Things that happen to us in real life or the outside world, as artists, I think we like to take what happened to us and share that moment in our own way. To come back to your question, I wouldn’t say I tried to set a tone right away but instead, listened to my mind and body. Music is very intuitive and the process of writing this song had a lot of moments of just listening before taking action in actually writing the song. I wrote this song just singing whatever came to mind and I wrote it all down. Then I started seeing where I was headed which set the intention of the song and then started piecing some lines I wrote to get some lyrics into the melodies I had. The lines I had were placed in the first verse, from there I moved into the chorus then lastly, the second verse.
Could you take us through your collaborative process with Producer Jayvid for your single "Distance"? How did he take your initial foundation and expand it?
Yeah, for real Jayvid’s taught me a lot and I’m grateful to have worked with him. For this song, I think he really enhanced the melody and solidified the vibe with what he produced. We weren’t able to meet up so when that happens, he’ll have me send him a voice memo of me singing the melody with a click in the back so I’m singing in tempo. From there he’ll put the voice memo into Ableton with the right bpm and do his thing. For this song, I actually wasn’t a part of his process at all haha. Sometimes I feel like he knows what direction I’m heading towards before I even know it. I literally sent him the voice memo and he was like “bet say less” and in like 30 minutes he sent an instrumental track and a track with my reference vocal on top. And like... this song was the first song I was fucking proud like… actually proud of haha. I built a little home studio and recorded all the vocals on my own.
Might we hear "Distance" on your forthcoming EP in February? What should we expect from the project itself?
The timing is so close but I’m really last minute deciding on doing an EP or a bunch of singles haha. I can tell you this if I decide to do an EP “Distance” will for sure be a part of it. With these next projects, you can expect different scenarios of being in and out of love.
What has been keeping you inspired to create music?
Reflecting and experiencing life really be like the most inspiring thing. Listening to my friends and family, and noticing parts of life we all experience at one point is inspiring because these situations are so relatable and so valid to our growth. But what also keeps me inspired are other artists. I love listening to music as well and to hear all these creatives open up to the world in their way is inspiring because no matter how it’s done, somebody is going to relate to it or value the work they put in. And that motivates me to continue and do my own thing.
instagram.com/neekull