Platinum producer Felix Cartal has released his latest single, ‘The Life ft. Fjord’ on the 18th of June. The single is the last to be shared before his upcoming album, Expensive Sounds For Nice People, slated for release on the 25th of June via Physical Presents.
Speaking of the single, Fjord tell us, “When we received the demo from Felix, it was an instant crush! We knew we were about to have loads of fun working on this tune. The songwriting was refreshing and the production was already mind-blowing.”
‘The Life’ bounces along on a sunshine vibe and grin-inducing breakdown. But analyze the lyrics and things aren’t quite what they seem. Its pivotal line – ‘I used to believe that life was just a breeze/But the highs and low set me free’ – is a commentary on the superficiality of social media”, says Felix. “If people also share life’s ‘misses’ once in a while, I feel like we’d all have a better shot at living confidently,” he explains.
Felix Cartal tells us about the creation and inspiration for the single: “’The Life’ was one of the first instrumentals I wrote for my album, Expensive Sounds For Nice People. I’m obsessive with vocal chops and will spend days getting them to feel as emotive as a vocal. Once I started writing the lyrics in Oslo with Iselin, Erik and Kris, we reverse-engineered some of the vowel sounds because one of them sounded like the word ‘The Life.’ I loved the grandiosity of that concept, but I wanted to make it feel honest and authentic. And I think over the years with the increase in social media, we’re often guilty of viewing others’ highlight reels as the only way to be happy, but letting go of that perception will give you much greater peace of mind. Hardships are inevitable, things aren’t always fair, and we need to just learn from them and push through. That’s what the line “the highs & lows woke me up” symbolizes. Fjord’s vocals on this track really took it to this unique place that gives the song a hopeful melodrama, and I’m so happy to collaborate with them again after the beautiful performance they did on my rework of ‘Get What You Give’ from 2017.
Also taken from Cartal’s forthcoming album are ‘Mine’ with Sophie Simmons, and ‘Love Me’ (featuring the singer LIGHTS) also winning the Dance Recording of the Year at the Junos 2020. His previous single, ‘Get What You Give’ also featured the talented vocals of Fjord and reached platinum while Felix’s single, ‘Happy Hour’ with Kiiara was featured on 32 Spotify New Music Friday playlists as well as Billboard’s Best New Dance Tracks. Other remarkable tracks on the album include ‘Only One’ with the hit UK singer-songwriter Karen Harding and ‘My Last Song’ with the rebellious Norwegian songstress Hanne Mjøen. Along with those already released singles, Felix shares the remaining track listing and reveals the album art below.
Listen to ‘The Life ft. Fjord’ below and pre-save Expensive Sounds For Nice People here.