Gallant – ‘Sweet Insomnia’ (Stream)

Featuring assistance from 6LACK and Sabrina Claudio. From Complex:

“The sound of the album took a while to lock-in. I wanted it to feel like a shoebox you kept under your bed full of Polaroids—just very nostalgic… I was born in 1991 so a lot of the synths have that early-’90s, even late-’80s, feel to it. I wanted to also pull from mid-2000s and early-2000s R&B sensibilities. I grew up listening to a lot of that stuff on the radio and I felt like—to keep with the nostalgic vibe—it made sense to pull from those influences as much as I could.”

“I called the album Sweet Insomnia because, lyrically, every song on the album is bittersweet. You know, nothing is 100 percent positive and lighthearted. Nothing is 100 percent brooding and cynical. It’s very balanced and real, like an unretouched photo. The ‘insomnia’ comes from the fact that I was working on the album from 1 p.m. to 6-7 p.m., then I’d come home to try to get the vocals right from 8 p.m. to 4 in the morning … I got locked in that cycle to the point where, sonically, the album started feeling a little bit hazier.”

Gallant – “Compromise” (Feat. Sabrina Claudio), “Sleep On It” & “Sharpest Edges” (Videos)

We don’t give DMV rising star Gallant enough attention, clearly — cause the man’s dropped off a few dope visuals over the past few months that need to be seen by those who aren’t hip, immediately. Check ’em out below, including a duet with star Sabrina Claudio. Sweet Compromise drops October 25th. Random shoutout to Ginuwine.

Gallant – “Crimes” (Lyric Video)

Today, GRAMMY® Award-nominated, critically acclaimed singer and songwriter Gallant shares his new single “Crimes.” Get it HERE via Mind of a Genius / Warner Records.

Zane Lowe exclusively premiered the Stint-produced song as his latest “World Record” on Apple Music’s Beats 1. Lowe praised Gallant for “deliberately finding his voice” and “trying new things” while describing “Crimes” as “soulful” and “pure.”

“Crimes” spotlights the nuances of Gallant’s signature soulful alternative R&B style with cinematic production and another show-stopping vocal performance. It arrives on the heels of “Sharpest Edges.” The music video for the latter recently premiered on VMan. The song also attracted widespread acclaim from Billboard to Complex and Consequence of Sound. The New York Times wrote, “The pleasurable payoff is in the music, harking back to the 1980s era of Michael Jackson’s vocal harmonies and Prince’s synthesizers, all sweet, glassy smoothness.”

Gallant joins Chance the Rapper, Estelle, James Fauntleroy and more as a musical contributor to Steven Universe The Movie—the musical version of the Cartoon Network show due in the fall.

Later this year, Gallant returns with the follow-up album to 2016’s universally acclaimed full-length debut, Ology.