Enchanting, immersive, and hauntingly beautiful, singer/songwriter Billy Sharp’s dreamy debut single “Kitchen Disco Queen” is a soul-stirring sweet breeze – a soul-stirring reverie aching with desire and longing, intimate connection, and words unspoken.
follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist
Stream: “Kitchen Disco Queen” – Billy Sharp
The heat of a long summer evening wafts throughout Billy Sharp’s debut single.
It’s just a song – nothing more – and yet listening to the artist’s tender guitar work, his soft voice, and the poignant poetry pouring out of him, you can almost feel the warm wind of a hot night gently kissing the nape of your neck, the blood rushing out from the heart as it beats a little faster than usual. Enchanting, immersive, and hauntingly beautiful, “Kitchen Disco Queen” is a soul-stirring sweet breeze – a dreamy reverie aching with desire and longing, intimate connection and physical space.
It’s a song full of words unspoken, a story we must fill out for ourselves.
Tired eyes
Cut through the blue
As we sink in the sounds
Of my living room
Kitchen Disco Queen
All the rumours are true
You won′t answer it now
But you’ll see him soon
Released June 12, 2024 via Nice Guys Records, “Kitchen Disco Queen” is instantly memorable and utterly irresistible: A gorgeous introduction to an artist we will surely be following from here on out. Having first come up in the music world as a lauded professional flamenco guitarist, Welsh singer/songwriter Billy Sharp approaches his music with a careful, steady, and knowing hand. Long before his present venture began, he had the unique distinction of Billie Eilish favoriting his very first demo on SoundCloud – a fun fact he wears as its own small badge of honor.
Much like Eilish’s music, Sharp’s artistry – or at least, his very first song as a full-fledged singer/songwriter – is nuanced, hushed, and achingly evocative. “Kitchen Disco Queen” features only his voice and his guitar – albeit multi-tracked and manipulated in such a way that it acts as percussion and bass accompaniment as well. “Kitchen Disco Queen” and the rest of his forthcoming debut EP Rose Tint (out August 9) showcase Sharp’s musicality in such a way that feels unfiltered and exposed: Future releases may be more built up with the help and presence of other musicians, but for now, Sharp presents himself alone – just a man and his guitar, singing for the lonely.
His chorus is a particularly moving crescendo of melancholy, finding him deep in wistful reflection as he recalls his “kitchen disco queen” on a night he will always remember:
She said C′est la vie
Under these city lights
Got a whizkid
Driving her through the night
As she’s longing for more
But she lays down the law
And Oh my God I’m so mistaken
I watch that heart but it′s always breaking
At the end of the night caught me by surprise
On the promenade walking off the lines
“I recorded this EP almost entirely on an old beat up 1960s Ramirez guitar I fell in love with at a vintage guitar shop in London,” Sharp tells Atwood Magazine.
“Despite being temperamental and tricky to record, I wanted to capture as much of its magic as possible, and almost all of what you hear – from the percussion to the bass sound on this record – came from this old instrument. I then used modern recording technologies to experiment with the sound and see what was possible, looping and layering to build soundscapes as the foundation for my songwriting.”
Dizzy lies
Hold back the truth
You′re all up for it now
With a bottle loose
But the lights out signals a change
That’s just the way it goes
As you search for your friend′s lost bag
And you gather your clothes
She said C’est la vie
Under these city lights
Got a whizkid
Driving her through the night
As she′s longing for more
But she lays down the law
And Oh my God I’m so mistaken
I watch that heart but it′s always breaking
At the end of the night caught me by surprise
On the promenade walking off the lines
Sharp hasn’t necessarily expanded on the story behind “Kitchen Disco Queen” not because he doesn’t want us to know, but because he’s said it all in song.
It’s a moment of reflection and reckoning, of unrequited love and passing ships in the night, of pain and passion and empathy and yearning and all that come with feeling so deeply for another, whether or not they feel the same way for you. And thus we are brought deep into that thick summertime heat, and we feel the weight on Sharp’s heart as he shares a special moment with the person he loves, who loves another. For a moment he plays the lead role, but ultimately he returns to being the wallflower, just a part of someone else’s story.
Or at least, that’s one interpretation. Stay tuned for more to come – and soon! – from this stunning artist: Billy Sharp’s debut EP Rose Tint is set to release this August.
Tell me it’s okay to run
It’s okay to lie sometimes
Tell me it′s okay to run
It′s okay to lie sometimes
But the lights out signals a change
That’s just the way it goes
As you search for your friend′s lost bag
And you gather your clothes
— —
:: stream/purchase Kitchen Disco Queen here ::
:: connect with Billy Sharp here ::
Stream: “Kitchen Disco Queen” – Billy Sharp
— — — —
Connect to Billy Sharp on
Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© courtesy of the artist
© courtesy of the artist
:: Today’s Song(s) ::
follow our daily playlist on Spotify
:: Stream Billy Sharp ::
