USED TO DYING: THE NEW SINGLE FROM SINGER, SONGWRITER & FILM MAKER HOLLY BLAIR
LA-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and filmmaker Holly Blair shares her new single ‘Used To Dying’, out everywhere on 9 February. To accompany the track, Holly also releases a video which she self-directed with her brother, watch it here.
Having recently released her debut EP ‘One Step Away Is Too Far’ which received high praise from the likes of Wonderland, 1883 Magazine and ASBO Magazine, just to name a few, Holly returns with new music that pushes her artistic versatility to the next level.
Naming Bully, The Japanese House and Porches as her biggest musical inspirations, Holly’s music and art traverse the spaces in-between in an effort to mirror the natural spectrum of human emotion. As a queer, gender-fluid artist, she is interested in exploring environments that challenge fixed definitions. She creates cinematic, sonic, and lyrical worlds that breach the gap between genres in order to resonate with the inherent messiness of being human.
Produced by Caleb Knott (of BROODS), lyrically, ‘Used To Dying’ is written from the perspective of an AI trying to understand her own consciousness, it’s also just really about belonging. She says, “The world we are living in is so rapidly changing and so many things about the way we live feels so counterintuitive, and I think a lot of people are feeling that right now in the current climate. On a subconscious level I think the song is really about the feeling of not understanding the structures we are encouraged to live within, especially within Western culture.
The title of the song “Used to Dying” refers to a line in the song where I am describing her awareness of constantly being reset and starting over as a blank slate intended to learn for the benefit of something larger than her. The cycle of life and death is something I don’t think we are wired to fully grasp as humans, and yet it is truly the only truth we know exists. Writing the story through her lens helped me tap into feelings I often grapple with of not totally understanding what my role should be in this life. I think the song draws a parallel between AI consciousness and human consciousness, in that maybe the same way humans have tried to understand why we are here, whether it be through religion or science etc. AI may grapple with the same ideas and that might just be the nature of existence.”
Recorded with Kyle Berzle and Caleb, Holly wanted to produce a world that mimicked the tone of the lyrics. Since the song is written from the perspective of an AI, she wanted to emulate her inner world, and so they relied more on utilising technology to create and shape the sounds they wanted rather than just live production.
‘Used To Dying’ is the first of a string of exciting releases for Holly in 2024. Watch this space!