After amassing over 100 million global streams with the release of his latest EP, AFTERIMAGE, R.LUM.R returns with the alluring new songs “How It Feels” and “Lonely.” The former coming in the form of an official music video. Also, R.LUM.R announces his upcoming album, “Surfacing,” his major label debut album, due out this November 1st via Island Records.
“‘Lonely,’ sets the tone for the upcoming album; it’s a collective of creativity that’s been budding in my mind,” R.LUM.R told me. He continued, “imagine a collection of smooth, mellow beats with dreary vocals added to it but with different cadences and production sets in each song to bring out each of my emotions. That’s the vibe I got coming for this project.” What’s surfacing, to him, is hidden emotions and thoughts meant to come out, but he hasn’t told anybody yet for personal reasons. To find a way to vent out his feelings, he chooses to use “Lonely” as his therapy of choice.
In the style of D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, and Frank Ocean, we both agreed that “Lonely” takes listeners to another world. R.LUM.R told me “his music is therapeutic,” and the intent is to make the listener feel better. The single is also meant to be educational; it’s influenced by novels such as ’40 Laws Of Power,’ giving the song a purpose to let listeners know it’s okay to feel alone and broken. “Lonely” adds more contextual meaning for the project, ‘Surfacing.’
Also, R.LUM.R recently shared the single, “How This Feels,” along with it’s video. Although the production is dark and spacious, the verses are vulnerable. Falsetto creeps in at the top of the hook, and he asks, “So, can we be real? About how this feels.” Musically, it combines sounds of nocturnal R&B while blending with a delicately plucked guitar-driven bridge.
About the video, R.LUM.R states, “With this first visual, I wanted to make sure to do something more striking and interesting than I’ve ever done that makes you feel the isolation that is felt in the music. I think we did it with ‘How This Feels.'”
Speaking with R.LUM.R, he makes music for listeners to fully engage in his world and feel his emotion through the words he sings. Thus, the title “How It Feels” takes on not just another headline of a song but a more profound purpose, which he aims for ‘Surfacing’ to have.
“How This Feels” and “Lonely” builds on the momentum that R.LUM.R gained since he burst onto the music scene with his debut single, “Show Me.” “Frustrated” marked his major breakthrough in 2017 and endeared him to fans worldwide. Now, after the recent releases of “How It Feels” and “Lonely,” fans all over the world are in heavy anticipation for “Surfacing” to release. In the meantime, listen to the singles on Singersroom.