Singer-songwriter Shab chatted about her new single and music video for “Swerve.” She also premiered her new video exclusively in Digital Journal.
How did “Swerve” come about?
“Swerve” arose out of a series of raucous studio sessions with my long-time producer Damon Sharpe and the fabulous young British American hitmaker JHart.
Damon had been working on a series of new 16 bar beats that we really liked: and while I had some ideas for the themes that we would be mining, it was really JHart who led the way on the songwriting effort.
Once we had resolved the rhythm track that we wanted, we sat in the studio for an afternoon and conjured all different types of melodies, cadences and lyrics over the course of about four hours towards laying down a base demo track.
Thereafter Damon and I worked iteratively towards finishing up the track and with Damon supplying the vast bulk of the background orchestration for what you hear In the finished product.
What inspires your music and songwriting?
As much as anything, it’s life events and the emotions that one either enjoys or suffers during the course of day-to-day living that provides inspiration for our efforts.
However, most of my songs historically have been happier works focused on love and romance, and for certain songs on my upcoming album, “One Suitcase,” I wanted to break a bit from that trend.
How did the music video for the song come about? (Were you going for a certain theme or concept)
After we had the song mixed but not yet mastered, Damon sent the song to my regular video director and my very good friend, Eli Sokhn, who decided on the concept of swerving with motorized vehicles with a female twist.
Eli then brought my other creative co-director, Richie Jackson, into the mix – and after some back and forth dialogue among the team as the treatment for the video was being formulated, Eli ended up with a female street biker gang motif and together with some of the greatest dancers in Los Angeles.
We shot the video in the parking lot of an abandoned Sears Roebuck building in East Los Angeles over the course of a long day — and what you see on the video is what emerged from that process.
What’s the one thing you want our readers (and your listeners) to get out of “Swerve”?
Well, we all know that life sometimes requires us to switch directions when events so dictate – but you don’t always have to reverse course. So instead, traveling to your goal, “Swerve”!
“Swerve” is available on digital service providers by clicking here.
To learn more about Shab and her new music, check out her official homepage.
