West-London-based rising star Unflirt has shared her latest single ‘Anywhere’, ahead of the release of her debut EP 'Bitter Sweet', set for release on April 5.
The track follows previous singles ‘Out Of Time’ and ‘Before Dawn’, which will appear on the four-track EP, written entirely by the 22-year-old. In celebration of the EP, Unflirt will be joining Beabadoobee on the EU stretch of her upcoming tour which kicks off later this month in Germany.
‘Anywhere’ is a confessional, heart-on-sleeve love song captured with a feeling of delicate intimacy as the singer-songwriter explains: “I wrote it when I started to fall in love with someone, and I really like how dreamy it is as it reminds me of exactly how I felt at that time. I hadn’t told that person that I loved them yet, so I think it’s a song that says that many times without saying it at all.”
Immensely proud of her heritage, Unflirt is a first-generation immigrant, born and raised in West London to Filipino parents. Her earliest musical experiences are performing karaoke ballads of Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and The Beegees with her mum and dad - a staple activity in every Filipino household. These happy memories aided her in forging her musical identity. With no formal music training aside from basic guitar lessons imparted in her childhood by her father, she began releasing music independently during the lockdown. She bought herself a microphone and a basic interface and began making music from the sanctuary of her bedroom as a way to process her emotions during the pandemic at a particularly pivotal moment of her adolescence. Unflirt notes the layered guitar techniques of King Krule and Jimi Hendrix as well as the intimate lyrical style of traditional Brazilian and bossa nova tracks as her greatest influences.
Sincere and candidly authentic - Unflirt gravitates towards writing about personal experiences, vulnerability, relationships and friendships with unabashed honesty. Debut EP Bitter Sweet is no exception - charting the ebb and flow of a young relationship from tumult to resolution, reverence to regret. The EP makes its dreamy introduction with ‘Before Dawn’, written retrospectively about one of the most painful moments of the young artist’s life. Drenched in nostalgia and longing, the shoegazing guitar passages and lilting production allow for Unflirt’s unmistakable vocal tone to take centre stage. On ‘Out Of Time,’ Unflirt encapsulates the awkward process of making peace with our defeat. The next track ‘Anywhere’ serves as the prequel to this tumult, an ode to the unchecked adoration and naivety which can betray the halcyon days of early love. The EP closes on ‘Get Off The Train’, where all-consuming regret gives way to hindsight and serene closure, best seen in her lyrical refrain
“Forget about that train / I’ll just say goodbye / I’ll find another place where I’ll be first in line”. Unflirt describes it as “the perfect song to end the EP - it feels like a breakthrough and finale of everything I was going through, and was finally the point where I made a decision to let it go…”
With only a handful of tracks released so far, Unflirt has organically racked up over 2 million streams for her deeply confessional bedroom pop, with co-signs from the likes of Beabadoobee and Deb Never – who included one of her tracks in her ‘anti pop’ curated playlist on Spotify – and she has also been featured on Vogue during their fashion week coverage as a result of her unique style. The imminent arrival of Bitter Sweet can be seen as the first deep breath in and a fierce declaration of what’s to come for Unflirt, and the EP will surely mark her as a star to watch for 2023.
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