Lily Elise, Soul - Pop Songstress, Watch/Listen to Three Excellent Tracks from Forthcoming Debut EP, Taken


There is a friend with whom I like listening to music; her taste nicely complements mine. I'm albums, she's singles; she's pop, I'm rock; I'm soul, she's rap; she's hip-hop, I'm jazz; I'm folk, she's dance; she's country, I'm country(!). We enjoy listening to Sirius XM where she is Pop2K and Utopia while I'm Deep Tracks and The Loft. I'm 50's, 60's, and 70's; she's 70's, 80's, and 90's. We come together in The Blend and The Bridge.

I knew that she would like Lily Elise so I showed her the video of "Generator" on the day it was released; she bought the track later that day. Truth be told, I love that song too. Lily Elise combines well crafted pop, rock, soul, and electronica in a way that blurs genre lines and gives her unlimited crossover potential. Think Imogen Heap meets Rihanna, or maybe America's answer to Jessie Ware. The "Generator" video has amazing cinematography; the dramatically beautiful lighting, color, and images, together with an excellent song, delivers a total knockout video. Here is "Generator".





Lily Elise - Generator

"Generator" is the first single from Lily's debut EP, Taken, due late this summer. The songs on the EP are in every sense a collaboration between Lily, as the songwriter and vocalist, and a new breed of studio auteurs, musician-producers who do it all (they play the instruments, produce, and engineer the tracks).

"Generator" was written by Lily Elise with Brice Fox, Daniel Weber, and Daniel Nigro. Weber and Nigro played all the instruments; they also produced and engineered the track. Lily has spent the last two years writing and recording the songs for Taken. "They tell a story of struggling to find myself in the midst of an unknown career path and a destructive relationship, from beginning to end. They are my babies and while I’m terrified to push them out of the nest, I’m also extremely proud and excited to watch them fly.”

The second single from Taken is "Suitcases". This is another gem of production with more soulful pop vocals by Lily, anchored by an insistent rhythm section and, like "Generator", it's got great bass. Your subwoofer will thank you. The video for "Suitcases" is also visually striking. Here is "Suitcases".




Lily Elise - Suitcases

"Suitcases" was written by Lily Elise with Rosina “Soaky” Russell, and Michael McGarity. Mighty Mike (McGarity) also played all the instruments and produced the track.

"Taken" is the title track of the EP and is the latest single. Like it's two predecessors, it has dramatic production and a compelling vocal by Lily. Here is "Taken".




Lily Elise - Taken

"Taken" was written by Lily Elise with Jenn Decilveo and Felix Snow. This track is the work of studio virtuoso Snow who played all the instruments, produced, and engineered the track. The Taken EP also includes two additional tracks, "I Don't Know Why" and "Circles" (feat Famous).

"I Don't Know Why" was written by Lily Elise with Rosina “Soaky” Russell & Daniel Nigro. Daniel Nigro played all instruments, produced, and engineered the track. On "I Don't Know Why" the music supports some well written lyrics which deal with a relationship gone wrong. The song bubbles with tension but never breaks loose.

"Circles", featuring Famous, was written by Lily Elise with Brandon Williamson, Erik Belz, Daniel Schwartz and Famous. Erik Belz and Danny Score are the production whiz kids who played all instruments, produced and engineered the track. "Circles" adds hip-hop to the soul-pop mix with production and editing that runs very close to showing off. It all works, and when the track weaves a nice rap by Famous with Lily's melodic vocals, the song leaves you wishing there were more.



Lily Elise comes from San Anselmo, California in the San Francisco Bay area. In 2011 at age twenty, Lily appeared on NBC's The Voice, Season One. Lily recently told Billboard Magazine "'Taken' is the breakup song of the EP. Growing up, my grandma always said to me, 'The space for what you want, is being taken by what you settled for.' What I've always wanted, with a deep sense of certainty, is to share my music and my voice with the world. Because of that I've always been extremely focused on music, which doesn't leave much room for love. It wedged a divide in the relationship, and we grew further apart as he realized he would never mean more to me than my music. Hopefully I find someone someday that does, but he wasn't that person. I wrote 'Taken' with Jenn Deciliveo as a piano ballad and Felix Snow brought the song to life with his production."

Bonus video: Watch Lily Elise & Julia Harriman cover Selena Gomez's "Come And Get It". With all of the production and instrumentation stripped away in this acoustic cover, you can clearly hear the potential and soulfulness of Lily's voice.




Photos provided by Black Panda PR.

Lily Elise's Website
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