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Bahrain-loving British singer Clarissa has released a song based on her life in Bahrain, blending reggae with pop and jazz.
The song This is Our Life was created in collaboration with Cultivated Mind, and was first written in 2016 and 2017 during Clarissa’s years in Bahrain.
“Music is my life, my love and my outlet,” the 29-year-old told GulfWeekly. “It’s helped me through many difficult times, helped me connect with others and given me the opportunity to travel.”
Clarissa performed at the Bahrain Jazz Fest with Likwid and during her time in the kingdom, played at a number of venues including Jumeirah Royal Saray and Crowne Plaza.
At the latter, she opened for Rick Ross in 2018 – a meteoric rise since she first performed in Bahrain with the bands, Dublins and Davy Crockett.
The three-minute-42-seconds track was released on major streaming platforms under her recording artist profile ‘thisisclarissauk’ and has a dance-reggae vibe, while crooning about how different people go through their own difficulties.
“I’ve grown up seeing a lot of people struggle for basic necessities whilst so many flaunt wealth and rules only seem to apply to the poorer person where financial sanctions are used to control them,” she explained.
The original song was created in collaboration with Italian-American multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and producer Anthony Brand’s reggae musical project ‘Cultivated Mind.’
According to Anthony, the music under the project combines “classic roots and dub production with Latin, blues, and jazz to create a unique sound called ‘East Coast Reggae’.”
Clarissa had written and arranged the song before she met Anthony, but turned to his new project to “breathe new life into the track.”
Clarissa met Anthony in Virginia and worked with him on a few shows just before the pandemic hit. She considers her influences to be Lauryn Hill, Christina Aguilera and the queen of soul Aretha Franklin.
Although she has released originals like Better and What’s It Gonna Be on SoundCloud previously, this is the British singer’s first foray into monetising her music digitally.
She hopes to expand the song into a full album to be released by the end of the year, which she hopes to promote during a short tour in the kingdom at the end of the year.
For more details, visit www.thisisclarissa.com or follow @thisisclarissauk on Instagram.
This is Our Life is now available on Spotify, Apple Music and other major streaming platforms.
