On her second record "Cyan Blue," Toronto-based R&B artist Charlotte Day Wilson is embracing collaboration. It’s her first full-length LP released on XL Recordings and her own Stone Woman Music, and the first time she’s worked with outside collaborators. The record also features a duet with fellow R&B singer Snoh Aalegra.
Wilson recently caught up with WUNC Music’s Brian Burns on Future Shock to discuss the process and inspiration behind the record.
This is an excerpt of an edited transcript of that conversation. You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN button at the top of this post.
How did you approach this record compared to your last one ("Alpha")?
The process for this was completely different than anything I’ve done in the past. I worked on it collaboratively with my friend Jack Rochon. It was nice to work collaboratively with another producer, since I used to kind of do everything by myself alone in my room.
What inspired the title of the record?
I have eyes that are somewhere between green and blue. A theme that I explore a lot in my music, particularly on this record, is wishing that I could see through the eyes of myself at different stages in my life. I’m kind of fixated on this heavy idea that we’ll never be able to feel feelings that we did when we were younger. Once that emotion happens, you might be able to remember the setting you were in, or how something smelled or what it looked like, but you’ll never be able to feel those feelings again. There’s something about that that inspires me to write about that.
