B2B: Sunkissed Child & Telica

Introducing ‘Palette Cleanser’, an enchanting collaboration between artists Pavel Telica and SunkissedChild. This captivating lo-fi summer anthem effortlessly combines elements of jazz, alt-pop, and R&B, setting the stage for a delightful tale of a summer fling. In this track, SunkissedChild, known for her multilingual prowess, gracefully unveils her French singing debut, infusing the song with an irresistible charm. The lyrics brim with playfulness and flirtatiousness, serving as a remedy to any remnants of a toxic, negative romantic history.

This track stands as a celebration of the ‘single era’, with lush harmonies, jazzy undertones and tantalising production making it irresistibly addictive. Prepare to be swept away by the magnetic allure of ‘Palette Cleanser’, a mesmerising composition that beckons you to indulge in the joy of newfound connections and the blissful anticipation of a summer romance. With collaboration at it's core we hosted both artists for an interview, with them both chatting to each other. What unveiled is one of our favourite ever features on the magazine, enjoy!

Yasmina: Hey Pasha! Today marks 1 week since we released Palate Cleanser, our lofi summer single... how do you feel!?

Telica: hey homie. One week!? It has flown so fast! I feel fantastic though. So much love for this release, people sharing, vibing, adding to playlists. And obviously SPOTIFY’s JAZZ UK!!!! WOW, still processing.

What about you? how is it feeling to finally drop our Palate Cleanser baby?

Yasmina: Haha, I feel the same you know! It's my first time releasing a song in (mostly) french and I feel like people have really been enjoying this new side of Sunkissed Child! I'm glad you and Teo Marangon (our producer) pushed it out of me!

I really wanted to ask... we obviously met through tiktok, which is such an incredible way of meeting musicians these days... is it something that happens to you often? And most importantly, what was your first impression of me?

Telica: Somehow, despite the fact that I’m someone who is still navigating his way through social media and still trying to find ways to express and promote myself out there - I did indeed meet a bunch of people on Tik Tok and Instagram. A lot of these people are now not only part of my musical network but actually part of my friend group. Same definitely applies to you.

I remember I bumped into some of your videos promoting “Come Round, Waste Time”, and I genuinely loved the track and the vibe you were giving was very sunny and kind and with no second thoughts I just hit you up to make some music. That said I never expected to hit it off so well when we’ve met - I think the vibes are super right, an incredible friendship and partnership has been formed. That was already the first impression after 1-2 of our sessions so honestly the impression was super good.

How common such a thing was for you and how did the whole feel/seem from your perspective? Did you envision we would make a summer banger 2023 together?

Yasmina: That is so sweet! And I feel exactly the same!!

Do you know what, I think this connection might actually be the first time that happens to me! A year or two ago, I actually really used to struggle with social media. I was actually completely terrified of it, and terrified of showing my true colours, and my truest self to the entire online community. It's not until about a year ago, exactly when I released my debut single, that I started noticing that people want to see the real you. And that there's no point in hiding it, so my relationship with social media completely changed from then on. That's when I actually started forming natural and organic relationships with fellow artists and musicians. It's crazy to think that in the new world we live in, we can have access to so many amazing people and stories, thar you probably wouldn't have met in 'real life'

That's why im so joyful and grateful to have met you. Because through these platforms, we've been able to create something that is so beautiful and unique. And I love that so much.

I wanted to ask actually, I've seen on your Spotify page that you love working with different types of artists, and collaborate a lot. This is something I enjoy doing a lot as well!

What would be your dream artist to collaborate with?? Dead or alive

Telica: I must say it’s so true what you are saying. Over the last weeks I’ve been low key learning/observing the way you use your socials and I’m coming to similar conclusions - just be yourself is the ultimate way

And aiiii, difficult questions now, ok ok. Dream artist to collab with…..it’s a veery tough one. I’m gonna do a cheeky thing and say this:

- dream collab is one song with me, Kiefer, Loyle Carner and Little Simz

I think would have been a banging track haha. I would love to shift the question into another direction. Where does Sunkissed child the artist come from? When did you know that you wanna express through music and how did your influences come together?

Yasmina: Ouf that would be an amazing track, good choices!

Ok ok we hitting the heavy hitters questions now! That answer has always been a difficult one to answer to be fair. I guess sunkissed child , the artist, came from wanting to create a sort of alternate, stronger, and even I'd say, more true and accurate version of myself; Yasmina. Yasmina has always struggled with certain things; confidence, overthinking, anxiety... Sunkissed Child truly allowed me to push my own boundaries, and create a new tale for myself. It's funny how traits of Sunkissed Child bleed into Yasmina now? It's a difficult thing to explain, they are definitely the same person, but I guess just at different stages, and different ' fonts' I guess haha

I knew from a very young age that I wanted to express myself through music; from the age of 15, I just wouldn't stop laying on the floor in the middle of the night writing about my feelings. And in a weird way, I sort of always knew my words would relate to other people, and I always found myself aching to share it to the world. But it all really came about when I first moved into the UK, in the conservatoire in Leeds more specifically. The world and the people, and the musical education here completely blew me away. I wanted to be more. I still want to!

My influences to be honest are still growing. From a very early age I became very inspired by Soul and HipHop. How Kanye West, for example would mix the two so effortlessly. Started taking an interest in composition, and how to mix different genres together. And I definitely believe that's what sunkissed child is about. A lot of people often ask me 'what type of artist I am' in terms of genre, and Ive always struggled to fit into a box. Right now, what Im really enjoying learning, is some arabic music. The old stuff you know? Talking about Fairuz, Om Koulthoum, Majida El Roumi... and how I can introduce all of these influences in a modern way into my music.

How about you? I really want to know about how you grew up with music, and if where you come from has had any influence on your expression of music, and how you look at it today?

Telica: POWERFUL stuff, never felt any overthinking or anxiety vibes from you so defo on a right track. So beautiful how music can affect the mindset and be part of our identities.

The way I grew up with music…I guess it starts with my mother’s CD collection that I’ve been bumping since I was a kid. Just to illustrate the vibe - Norah Jones, ella Fitzgerald, St. Germain and some random “elevator music” bossa nova collections. As you can see that surely left an imprint - i make jazzy/sexy music with loads of bossa elements and I adore blending genres together. After that came hip hop and I started playing guitar at 11 years old and so the music pathway has opened up.

In terms of how the place I grew up in affected me is kind of different from your story I believe. Growing up in a post Soviet Union Latvia I was constantly faced with a massive dissonance - the music culture, perception of music was all centered around a singer songwritish/folkish bard type of music. Seeing a young kid with a guitar people around me always repeated the same thing:

“Why don’t you sing?”

“Wait where is singing?”

“Sing me a song”

“Oh, you play guitar but do you sing?”

And also:

“Why English songs?? Why not in Russian???” And all that crap I couldn’t relate to.

Etc. etc.etc. I think the dissonance between my influences and whatever the society around me “demanded” propelled me into instrumentation. Jazz, improvisation, relationships between instruments and layers, marvelling over virtuoso players was the path I took and as soon as I had a chance to move away to UK….I felt like “wow, you can be appreciated as a musician!!!!!!”. The rest is just growth and exploration. Does it makes sense?

Do you think bring a bilingual and multicultural persona helps to connect,express and be a better artist and person? Talk me through your relationship with globalisation and being a “citizen of the universe”?

Yasmina: It definitely makes sense! I can relate to that dissonance a lot.

I think my choice of introducing bilinguality and multiculture to my music didn't initially come from wanting to connect, but more from wanting to find the best way to express myself as accurately as possible. Coming from a trilingual country, so many things can be said in different ways within different languages. I became very conscious of the fact that I started using languages to express different ideas and emotions. For example, I tend to use french when I want to be more flirty, or arabic when I want to be more angry etc. and Ive found that somehow, people connect to that, to the story more like. Even in the UK, when Im doing a show and start to sing in a different language, I've found that people take a specific interest in that. I think we're definitely in an age of wanting to open up our tastebuds and collection of music to a much wider range.

You can see everywhere now, music trending globally from communities, people and languages that didn't used to. Listening to Nigerian artists like Rema playing on Radio 1 is such a huge deal! Or even, more closely to my culture, people like Saint Levant, who absolutely blew up online because of his trilinguality. And that brings me to your other question, being a 'citizen of the universe'. As cliché as this may sound. I believe that about myself a lot. Coming from a country like Lebanon and moving to the UK has honestly allowed me to open up to such an incredible range of music, people, and stories. Ive developed such a strong passion in understanding communities, and how the world works differently within them. I find that so beautiful, do you not think? Especially in a melting pot such as London, where i feel like ive truly found my place. As much as I have incredible pride in being arab, and more specificaly lebanese, I also have pride in being more than that, like you said, a citizen of the world, that embraces people, and promotes my culture to the world as much as I can.

Do you get what I mean and feel the same somehow? Most importantly, what are you thoughts on the great city of the London, or more broadly, the UK music scene? Any exciting releases coming soon with you?

Telica: Of course I get what you mean. London was the first time when I didn’t feel a “foreigner” or labelled through the prism of a country and nationality. It’s nice to embrace a more global and more human approach and disregard the labels alltogether. As a result only better art and better music will come out. I am 100% convinced that London scene is the hottest, most innovative and almost a driving factor in worldwide music. At least it’s one of the 2-3 unique places of the world where you meet the fullest and strongest mix of artists and creators + UK Jazz scene….is absolute damn fire, the rest of the world are looking up to sounds made here)))) that’s exactly what our track Palate Cleanser represents - symbiosis and fusion of cultures and different stories of different storytellers. And that has for me the biggest value.

and yeah, loads of releases coming up with talented collaborators from the London scene + potentially a 4 track instrumental jazzy uptempo EP. A lot, a lot, a lot of music!! Anything exciting planned for Sunkissed Child this year?

Yasmina: so exciting! And definitely, sunkissed child has a lot more exciting things happening in 2023, I'm ready for the world to hear the full realm of what sunkissed child means! But for now, palate cleanser is out everywhere! Listen now!