Felicity Vanderveen, better known as FELIVAND has a rich, multilayered voice that makes every track feel weightless and refreshing. But if you listen a little harder, you begin to notice that her music is anything but simple. In fact, FELIVAND‘s sophomore album Nerve, out 10/16 is filled with dark, wistful pieces that remind you of things you might rather forget.
Her latest single “Midsummer Sun” is one such track that particularly reflects a yearning for a place or a person that you can never quite return to. “Don’t look back over your shoulder/ you don’t have to remember” she sings. True, you don’t have to remember. But sometimes you can’t help it. And sometimes forgetting is also more painful than the memories that are left behind when someone you care about is no longer there.
Of the single, the artist states:
“…it’s about the painful pull that can sometimes come with caring for someone who doesn’t care enough for themselves.”
FELIVAND‘s first EP In Bloom earned her millions of streams of Spotify, and you can see why. Her voice has been compared to Solange, which might seem like a pretty lofty compliment for a rising soul singer, but listen to any of her songs and it starts to make sense. It isn’t just anybody who can sing about these sorts of things without becoming maudlin. You have to wrap the darkness in beauty, otherwise it’s just easier to look away. It’s why we always return to people who hurt us, or places where we have been hurt. There is beauty in sadness, and in her latest album, FELIVAND finds it.
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