By: Staff
Juliet By Night released “Perfect Lover,” an absolutely amazing audio and visual creation built from the ashes of pain.
This artist possesses many talents and layers, then utilizes these dramatic techniques to display their artistry, physically and musically, in the most awesome fashion. With the very opening of this song, we were instantly enthralled and fixated on the beautiful pianos.
Entering... stage left is Juliet By Night, with a stunning and perfect vocal performance that is unique and gorgeous to the listener. Hovering over the background of the track are whispers of a crowd, instilling the sensation that Juliet By Night feels the sensation that she is being gossiped about behind her back. Lyrics provoke your emotion with words like “When you feel weak and small, are you the one they call?” Utilizing a tremendously powerful misnomer, Juliet By Night named this song “Perfect Lover” for a person falsely providing us with what we want, but only temporarily to meet the moment's needs. This is much like a drug that only works for the short term and then leaves us with our problems the same as before, if not worsened. One of our favorite portions of the lyrics was, “A minute of your touch for a life without.” Wow, this was powerful and amazing.
The accompanying visualizer provides a very well-edited mixture of images that helped us connect with this artist and performance. We obviously can’t share every lyric and song with you. Still, another one that hit so Hard was “Cyanide caramelized“for a terrific way to deliver the message that poison tastes so sweet but is so deadly. We can’t emphasize enough that the lyrics are incredible. Once again, touching on the vocal presentation, Juliet By Night is an absolute standout vocalist with tremendous control and an extraordinary emotional delivery. We loved the visualizer and how the images kept getting bigger and created anxiety by filling the screen with more and more words. Just past halfway mark, the song builds and increases in intensity with a Broadway-style that perfectly fits our drama-inspired songstress. Bravo, a performance deserving of a standing ovation!
What’s probably the biggest paradox of this song is this perfect lover who is going to break hearts, and they have helped create a song we are all going to fall in love with. Love and beauty come out of such strange and evil circumstances, but at least with Juliet By Night, that positive aspect is the definite result of all this pain. The engineering and production of this song are exemplary and support the beautiful performance of this artist.
We strongly suggest you stream, playlist,
and share Juliet By Night and “Perfect Lover” today.
Powerful Quote that describes this artist:
“Much of Juliet By Night’s aesthetic is inspired by old Hollywood Asian icons, who made their marks as artists upon the American movie scene as well as brought an Eastern touch to the West. Examples include Anna May Wong, Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki, etc. Juliet also pulls from the aesthetic of the 1920s’ flapper girls, who embody a death-defying sense of exuberance, boldness, and optimism.”
Wait, there's more!
We caught up with this exciting and emerging artist, Juliet By Night, for:
“The Cage” Music Blog, to talk about music and learn more about them.
Here’s how it went:
Begin Interview
What emotion inspires your writing process the most, i.e., sadness, worry, happiness, etc.?
Rage and anxiety. Stemming from womanhood and capitalism and, of course, dealing with boys. Maybe I can better articulate these feelings later in life once I’ve written enough songs that my rage dies down. I suppose that’s why a lot of my songs are angry, bitchy and sarcastic. I do add a layer of melancholy on top of everything since I’m prone to the theatrics.
Can you walk us through your songwriting process and tell us where the inspiration comes from for this latest project?
My latest song “Perfect Lover” is a good example of the aforementioned rage, anxiety, and drama. It’s based on the book The Great Gatsby, with which I’ve had a longtime obsession. Specifically, it’s based on the character Daisy Buchanan, who to me represents this idealized, unattainable “perfect lover” who is actually a carefree, careless person. Then comes the idea of writing a song about a stereotypically charming “perfect guy” who would absolutely not make a good boyfriend. Eventually I settled on the perspective of an outsider interrogating the subject, to empathize with his conquests and to see if this asshole has a heart.
My process varies from song to song, although my favorite route to a song happened with “Perfect Lover”: when I just start singing a melody unaided by instruments, then comes a rough layout of the lyrics come out, then I write down a messy little poem and work it into the rhyme scheme laid out by the melody.
What was the most challenging part of bringing this project to life, from the initial idea to the final recording?
Writing the song was a breeze, but getting a producer to connect with it was quite challenging. It’s on the longer side and quite stuffed with lyrics — did I mention I listen to Taylor Swift religiously? For most producers this means the song is less likely to retain listeners’ attention. I was resigned to the idea that this song would never see the light of day, but eventually I did find someone. Benjamin James was the perfect guy for the project, I think he did a really great job.
Is any part of your music's message or your personal purpose you feel fans should know more about? If so, what is that element, and why is it so important to you?
I think most artists want to be understood. Art is self-expression, after all. We paint you a picture of ourselves and we put it out there in the world hoping someone would appreciate and resonate with it. I wouldn’t say that I make emotionally complex art, but I do try for some degree of complexity in my writing, and it would be really nice if someone can see and understand my vision. It would mean that I’ve succeeded.
On a lesser note, I sometimes sneak in American pop culture or literary references in my songs. I've been waiting for someone to point one out to me and go, “Oh my god, this is from That Thing!”
What part of the music-making process is the most stressful, ie the creation, the actual release date, etc?
Making music is a joy. Marketing music is hell on earth. Basically for at least a month before release date, your life is dominated by excel spreadsheets and to-do lists and deadlines. After the release date, you are beholden to your phone, scheduling content, analyzing engagement, figuring out how the hell Google Ads actually work. Marketers and communication majors are my new heroes. I cannot wait to eventually offload all of this to them one day.
If there was one thing you could change about the music industry, what would it be?
I think some aspects of the industry are already better than they were a few years ago. Although one stupid new development is the trend of record labels demanding that you go viral before they sign you. Like, that is … the labels’ job? What else do these jerks who claim to have an “eye” for talents and potentials even do, then?
Where do you see your sound and artistry heading in the future? Are there any exciting new directions you're exploring?
I recently went through a minor rebranding, where I expanded my artist name from Juliet to Juliet By Night with the intention of steering my music toward something more dramatic and theatrical. Not necessarily in the Broadway sense, but I do want my songwriting to have more structure, more purpose, with a live, dynamic sound. I’ve really been inspired by Raye’s music, how she combines spoken words with extremely catchy hooks but makes it sound so non-commercial. Sometimes she writes about her own problems in the context of bigger social grievances, which is something I’ve wanted to do my whole career and am trying to do more precisely.
Was there ever a time when you emotionally felt, “I can’t do this anymore”? Can you tell us why this happened and how you found the strength to continue?
I have those about once a week, it goes up to three times a week around release dates. When you’re a creative life is really just full of unmet expectations, which then lead to doubt, from both yourself and other people.
On how I found the strength to continue, I’m going to paraphrase the comedian Taylor Tomlinson: When you’re a kid and you have a thing you want to do, you can just pep talk yourself in the mirror and be like: “You’re going to do it, because you’re great and I believe in you.” As an adult, you’re just gripping the sink and going, “You’re gonna do it, because what other goddamn choice do you have?”
I’m a musician. This is what I do. Anything else for me is unimaginable.
How do you feel about social media?
The good part of social media is talked about a lot: it gives creatives a shot to express themselves and get their art out there, to bypass the conventional industry gatekeepers. Although I would argue that it’s not democratizing the power to influence as much as advocates of social media made it out to be. Instead of being beholden to a label, you’re beholden to a tech company. But I guess we all have to start somewhere in some little box before getting to do whatever we want, however we want it.
I do think that the rise of short-form video content has shortened our attention span and, with it being a major venue of marketing, has forced creative products into being short, neat, center-framed, catchy-within-3 seconds. While a lot of good art does fit into this, I’m worried that these extreme marketability expectations will further rob us of experimentation in the creative arts.
If you could go on any late-night talk show, which would it be? And based on present life, what would be the topic of discussion?
Definitely Stephen Colbert, just because he was the first late-night TV host that I ever watched. I started watching him at 15 after having moved to the US for school. He got me interested in politics, which in turn made me interested in social commentary. Mix that with angsty 15-year-old teenager bs and finally I had something to write songs about. Maybe I will tell him about that on the show.
If Stephen Colbert won’t have me on his show, though, I’ll take Seth Meyers. He has a segment where he goes day-drinking with his guests and then talks about it on the show afterwards. That sounds pretty fun.
When you reach the stage where you have the admiration and respect of other world-known artists, what band or artist would you love to call and say, “Let’s go on tour together”?
I mean, if we’re allowed to be completely delusional here: Taylor Swift. I imagine she will still be the biggest act as long as she is active. But more personally, she basically taught me English. My dad first introduced me to the Internet in 2009, and back then American cultural exports (which are always very strong and far-reaching) were action movies and Taylor Swift music. For the longest time, I sang every English song with a Southern accent. Everyone who met me back then was extremely confused. If I ever meet her maybe I’ll tell her that.
What is the most inspirational thing a fan, or anyone, has told or shown you about your music?
Someone told me that my song “Any Other Way” helped them get over a big breakup. Growing up I was socialized to think that a passion for singing and songwriting was lame, unintelligent, and frivolous. Despite experiencing the power of music myself I’ve always been dubious that my work can actually impact someone in any way other than them going, “Oh, this is catchy. Cool.” So being told that I had a hand in this total stranger’s heartbreak recovery process is bewildering. But in a really, really good way.
END INTERVIEW
Check out this latest release and listen to more of Juliet By Night on Spotify & YouTube.
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