East London based artist George Barnett drops the first single from his debut album today along with the accompanying video. It casts a dark shadow across the instantly memorable, hook-laden song which was written and produced by George. LOVESTRUCK IS OUT NOW – LISTEN HERE
Speaking about LOVESTRUCK, George says:
‘The song is about being at war with myself. How I think it’s OK to treat myself badly – worse than I would ever allow anyone else to treat me. It’s a conversation between one voice in my head who is trying to bring me down and the other voice who wants me to survive. Everyone feels that way at some point. I think I often feel it because I’ve spent so much time by myself. And still do.’
Of the video, which ends in a violent confrontation, he says:
‘The video for the song depicts those two characters. They fight it out until one kills the other. I’ll leave it up to everyone else to decide if the right one wins.’
George got used to solitude from an early age: When he was nine years old, George moved from a housing estate in Rugby to a remote house on the Welsh border. With no formal schooling, George spent his days teaching himself how to play the instruments that were scattered around the house. By the time he was twelve, he was playing drums, guitar, bass and keys and by sixteen, he was writing and producing his own songs.
George adds:
‘Other than reading books there wasn’t much else to do. We didn’t have a TV and we didn’t have a computer… I didn’t know what YouTube was. I was listening to old music. That was my only reference. So, I started recording myself on an old karaoke machine; it had a double cassette deck and I could layer up the instruments. I thought this was very cutting edge.’
Fiercely independent, George has veered away from major labels and has released two EPs through AntiFragile Music, Bad For You and Make It Rain, which have garnered twenty-five million streams on Spotify alone. George’s music has been lauded by artists as diverse as Pharrell, Grandson and Julien Granel. 6Music says: “George Barnett is one song away from stardom.”
George Barnett’s debut single LOVESTRUCK is out now and he will be releasing more singles from the album in the coming months.
