From Los Angeles, California, ROE drops a brand new video for ‘I like’ with seductive lyrics and her personal touch of glamour.

Under the Universal Music Publishing Group label, we have seen her talent as a songwriter for great artists such as Mary J. Blige, Usher, Normani, Kiana Ledé, Teyana Taylor, and Kash Doll with singles about love and heartbreak or her recent participation with Tiesto and The Kid Daytona in Ride, making her way to be recognized as one of the great musical authors of the moment.

This time, for the first time, ROE is in the limelight and thrills us with a sensual and glamorous video clip directed by Damien Sandoval in the luscious Santa Monica County, California. ́I Like ́ is a single with airs of RNBass, the new cutting edge genre infused with heavy ’80s, melodic sounds, and real / tone singing, which surrounds us with touches of the 90s and gives a twist to the theme ́I Like the Way ́ by Hi.Five.

́I Like ́ is a bridge of connection between the artist and her audience, it is a single of seduction and desire that awakens the senses. As she said for Refinery29, “I just want people to feel really good when they listen to this song. We’re in a time right now where we need to flirt and love more than ever amidst all the craziness going on. I want to provide a moment for people to feel good. That’s what I want to share with the world: a chance for people to feel themselves again.”

Roe – I like

Between sensual sets of animal print, with transparencies, mesh bodycon, and diamonds under the white light of the sun, ROE highlights her figure and beauty, with straight or wavy hair, glossy lips, and big eyelashes and adds a touch of sensuality with her attractive voice and delicate vocal tones. Her style is glamorous and confident, because who else has given the power to a big fur white coat with touches of diamonds and a bright green dress with a neckline and scorpion hook? Very daring under the UglyGold styling and with the sensual stamp of ROE.

But it is not only her musical talent that stands out but also her support for other black singers and her encouragement to propel them to success. We can see this in his video clip shot in a luxurious Bel-Air mansion and under her statements for Refinery29, “I’m really big on Black women living and existing in luxury, and the more that that’s seen, the better it is for the culture. I’ve always said that when I have my opportunity to do it big, I want to be just like that. So I found the most beautiful house that I could find in Bel-Air, and that was it”.

This recording artist has marked the industry this year also in her participation as a panelist in the initiative by Universal Music Publishing Group and She is the Music – Women Making Waves- acting as an agent of positive change and empowering new talents and women in the music industry.

Daring and committed, ́I Like ́ is a sign of the great future in the music industry that ROE has as one of the imposing forts of the new R&B sound.

Words by Cami Martinez

Graphics by Frances Scott

The post Under the Spotlight: ROE Drops a Sensual and Glamourous Video for ‘I Like’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Dolly Parton’s most popular songs are set to come alive through unique characters and storylines on November 22nd in a new Netflix series entitled ‘Heartstrings.’ With their enthralling narratives and themes, Parton’s songs indeed appear ideal for an anthology series. Each episode will tell a stand-alone story based on a hit; from a return to the 1970s with the infamous ‘Jolene’ to a western-like story in ‘These Old Bones’.

Judging from the trailer, we can also expect appearances by Parton in her typical flamboyant style. Indeed, to this day, the country singer continues to turn heads with bold, daring outfits that burst with colours and sparkles. While a distinctive sense of fashion makes up a significant part of Parton’s image, her uniqueness lies nonetheless in the inspiring elements of her ballads.

With her career kickstarting in the late 1960s, Dolly Parton made a name for herself at a time where country music was heavily dominated by men, and is now a worldwide country legend. Not only that, but back she wrote the music and lyrics for ‘9 to 5: The Musical’ which is currently in theatres and follows a female office worker getting revenge on her disrespectful, sexist boss. Parton is therefore widely regarded as an advocate of female empowerment, yet the singer, rather controversially, does not consider herself as a feminist. While this may initially sound surprising, she has explained the reasons behind her unpopular opinion on feminism: she views the word ‘feminist’ as meaning “I hate all men.” Perhaps this is quite an unfair generalisation of the movement, however Parton is not wrong regarding the existence of such man-haters—individuals that unfortunately harm the feminist movement and instead spread what is referred to as ‘white feminism’.

The world’s admiration for the singer is not only due the inspiration she represents for women, but also for her openness regarding personal yet universal issues such as depression. Looking at the beginning of her career; Parton’s music indeed used to tell tragic stories of unrequited love, loneliness, domestic violence—which she now jokingly refers to as ‘sad-ass songs’. There is something beyond impressive behind Parton’s music evolving from rather bleak themes to happier, more uplifting lyrics: she overcame her struggles. Spanning the rough period of Parton’s career from the old ‘Down From Dover’ to the 2014 hit ‘If I Had Wings’, the show will hopefully capture this inspiring sense of growth.

From feminist singer to fashion icon, it seems then that Dolly Parton gets labelled with titles that she has little regard for, something which is highly characteristic of her as a down-to-earth musician: music is all that matters to her. She possesses an incredible ability to mirror the emotions of her lyrics with her heavenly yet firm voice, and these emotions will now be rendered through fictional characters and stories.

Words by Carla Pelosoff

Graphics by Aamir Potrick

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Laura Pergolizzi is not one to conform, and if you haven’t heard of her – that’s probably why. There’s an element of pushiness amongst many artists in the music industry today that just doesn’t seem to resonate with her, with many of her fans stumbling across her music as organically as she has produced it. And if you didn’t know she was a writer, the poetic tenor of her raspy American accent would give it away in a second.

So, what exactly (besides music itself, obviously) drives a singer-songwriter who not only has five albums behind her, but has written for a roster containing the likes of Cher, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera? Laura, better known by the stage name LP, answers the above with a sagacious “The human heart is my biggest inspiration. I read a lot of biographies and I’m fascinated by the arch of someone’s life – how they come into their art, the triumph and the tragedy.” This particular line seems to unequivocally articulate LP’s journey as a musician, having grown up as part of a largely academic family that was ‘blowing up’ around the time that she decided that music was the path she wanted to take.

The added strain of an alcoholic father and a tragically sick mother meant life for a young LP wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. “But I wasn’t being looked at too closely, so I did whatever the fuck I wanted,” and by this, she means music. “I think my extended family were like, ‘at least she’s not homeless’” she explains. “I just kept doing it, I never really ask permission from anybody to do anything, ever.”

This weekend sees LP play the BBC Sounds Stage at Latitude festival, and she professes that the UK is actually one of her favourite places in the world. “I could live in London; I feel very at home here. I love English people; I’ve dated English people… I’m a fan of how they are and [how they] think” (a flattering, if slightly hyperbolic credit to the brainpower of Her Majesty’s people). Playing festivals, LP tells us, requires a different level of energy than playing her own shows: “It’s nice to get introduced to people that might have never seen you, mixed with your old crowd. They get to see why [your fans] are into you, sometimes having never heard of you. [Her own shows] are more of a finesse game, festivals are wilder.” Incidentally, LP champions the ‘rock ‘n’ roll vibe’ of London, counting us brits as her favourite crowd to play for.

Having established that LP is very much her own person and that her art is, essentially, stimulated by other art, she tells me that Kahlo, Mozart and Hemingway are amongst the creators acting as inspiration for the work that she has and continues to create: “We’re all constantly busy, in the place of feeling like we’re going to make it/we’re not going to make it, we love everybody/we want to fucking kill ourselves. I’m constantly aware of myself, and that constant tornado of emotion that we all have.” She nods towards the idea of the illusion of appearances; how for many people, an internal struggle can be well-disguised by a strong exterior.

“I’m constantly aware of myself, and that constant tornado of emotion that we all have.”

One thing LP has mastered is the art of connecting with her loyal listeners through her music in a way that evokes buzzwords like ‘pure’, ‘sweet’ and ‘emotional’ (alongside an abundance of heart-eyed emojis) in her YouTube comments: ‘I love her soul’, ‘I wish I could listen to this song for the first time again’ and (a personal favourite) ‘she know how to hit the ear G-spot’. LP’s latest track, ‘Shaken’, which tells the story of seeing an ex-lover with somebody new, was released alongside a fan-made animation music video. “This woman [Maayan Priva] was making little cartoons of the band, in these scenarios that were really funny. She’s very astute, she picked up on certain peculiarities, things that I do. I thought she was really interesting… such an artist.” Team LP encouraged Maayan to draw up some more of the album, and with non-stop touring and no time to produce a music video herself; LP put the job in the hands of her trusted devotee.

LP believes that social media is “a really cool way to stay close [to fans], and for fans to be close to artists” but admits that this ease of contact is “kind of funny” to her, unable to imagine an exchange of DM’s with an idol of her own, Jeff Buckley. “I have fun with it [social media]. It’s fun to be privy to other artists as well, see what they’re up to and how they’re rocking it. It’s interesting to see how we’re affected by other artists and other people now; it continues to manifest in all these ways. We’ve just got to remain aware that everything can be manufactured at times.”

I’m curious as to what obstacles LP has faced as a queer woman in the music industry. Sadly, she opens with: “How much time do you have?” There’s something of a ‘token’ system when it comes to queer artists, particularly women, and LP is very much a casualty of this. Over the years, she’s had seven record deals in the States and the most common label-artist-breakup line has been “we just don’t know how to market this” – the musical equivalent of “it’s not you, it’s me” (in short, a cop-out). LP, along with the masses, longs for a time in which labels don’t have to think about how many queer artists they’re signing: “There’s always discrimination for women as far as being queer; there are quotas. I’ve seen that so many times, ‘we have one rock-pop lesbian artist, so we can’t have another one.’” Thankfully for LP, she’s not one to be too phased by the nature of a cruel industry, and despite being ‘hard to market’, she continues to be her absolute self. Style-wise, LP has what she calls her “own brand of androgyny”, compiled of “some rock ‘n’ roll stuff, some old, some new,” She compares her morning routine to that of a child: “they just put on whatever the fuck they want. I like to look and feel like that, just wearing whatever makes me happy on that day.”

“There’s always discrimination for women as far as being queer; there are quotas.”

She’s often asked what advice she’d give to young artists, and the answer is always “Keep writing songs.” For LP, there’s no stopping, and she’s all too familiar with writing in bulk because “when you have a hit, everybody wants another one,” she says. “You’re only a song away. When ‘Lost on You’ was out there, people were like ‘you must have known that was going to be a hit’, but I didn’t know shit.” In fact, when she first played ‘Lost on You’ to the label she was with, they dropped her. “Songs are currency,” she explains. “and it’s your job to keep cranking them out if that’s what you’re in to.” A final word of advice on existing within the music industry: “Trust no one.”

Artwork by Sasha Green

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