#loversdream

Wine lovers, break out that bucket list — La Cité du Vin is your next must-see spot.

If you’ve ever found yourself taking in a day at the amusement park and thinking your trip would be much improved with a bottle of white or red (or perhaps rosé instead) by your side, look no further than this destination in Bordeaux, France.

La Cité du Vin, which translates to The City of Wine, opened in 2016…

Musician Narde on Growth and Fulfillment.

(bold Narde, non-bold sensesofsonancy)

Music has always been like a parent to me, it helped raise me and guide me to the place I am now and the person I am now. I always loved it and found comfort in it. I started creating my own music at about 15 years old with friends from high school all for fun and out of love. It wasn’t until I graduated college that I started to take it seriously. College took up too much time but the love for music never left me, I continued to write, most of Homegrown, and my commitment grew stronger the more I shared the music with others. 

“You have to put this out” people would say. So I did.

Narde is an upcoming R&B singer who creates music that sounds like to your ears what tastes like your favourite smoothie in your mouth. She released Homegrown earlier this year and the album consists of 8 tracks that hypnotize you, then take you to your own soothing high.

Homegrown was a cultivation of my experiences over a 3 year period, my coming of age really. Everything on the project was very organic, and I recorded most of it on my own, in my room all mixed and mastered by me, which is where I got the title, Homegrown. It all sort of came to me though, I had no big writing session where I wrote a song over and over. Every song just flowed out, whether it was first a poem or just a voice memo recorded in traffic on the way home. I try for my music to be concept driven. So I’ll sit with a beat and a concept and just create melodies that favor the concept. I was inspired by love and heartbreak at the time, I love hard and I wanted a lot for myself and the people around me. Some people lived up to my expectations and some people didn’t. I lived and learned A LOT during this time. I also saw a lot of bullshit happening all around me, with the government and societies viewpoints on certain people and things, so I wanted to bring some awareness to my audience with songs like “Black Diamond” and “Slowly”.

“Black diamond” and “Slowly” are thought-provoking and engaging stories that reference coming into your own despite hypocrisy and unjust judgement from others.

Trust your gut and only do what feels right to you.  People will try to tell you what they think you should sound like or look like. I’m just me and I make music for me but people enjoy it so I honor that. But, at the end of the day I’m an artist that will always just organically, do me.

I discovered her song “Lover’s Dream” through Crystal Sounds, a YouTube channel that promotes underrated female artists. I went through a bunch of songs before being drawn into the world that is “Lover’s Dream”. I wish I could type “Lover’s Dream” in my own cursive handwriting… The song is so dreamy, flows beautifully and feels like a song written for everyone who desires an uncomplicated and calm romance. You can hear her influences shining through the track,

I am influenced by everything, the clouds, birds, food, love, hate, anything that makes me feel something. I’m inspired by the clouds ability to be ever-changing yet  be faithful to the sky. But really, I’m mostly inspired when something is able to captivate a moment or remind me of what once was or what is. Music is like tiny capsules of a time or a feeling. Musically though, my biggest influence is Outkast, they are everything… intricate, erratic, meaningful.

A  track that is intricate, erratic and meaningful is, “Where were you”. It features  a menacing production that ties in with the song’s story of feeling lost, betrayed and a sense of seeking retribution.

I have found that most of my songs come from a place of deep realization, which can often start off as sadness. I have always written through my problems, which makes my music pretty personal and relatable. I can write a song about something that happened to me 5 years ago or about something I saw happen to a friend, I am lucky to be able to put myself in other people’s shoes like that. I don’t force anything, if it comes it comes, if it doesn't it doesn’t, I accept that notion in every aspect of my life.

A predominant current throughout Narde’s life and art is the growth and development of  the individual as she explains to me,

I am an art lover. However, I do not paint or draw. I use myself as a canvas, whether it’s my voice or my face or my clothes. I like to think of myself as art, super intricate and ever-changing. However, I am a writer at heart, I have started to write a book about my life, I write poems and my biggest goal is to write a television show.  

Just like her music Narde has had complete involvement in her music videos saying,

I have an obsession with visuals, I directed every video I have ever created and I conceptualize the ideas. I am a very visual, sensory sensitive person so the visuals are super important to me. In front of the camera, I’m very comfortable. I always have been, my mom has tons of old footage of me dancing to the camera so, I’ve never really been shy. You can 100% expect new videos, maybe even one before the year ends.

What most attracts me to Narde is not only her glorious music but her story. It is a story of ambition and complete ownership of her creative process and overall life path.

I was raised only by my Italian mother and my love for music. My upbringing allowed me to see what a strong woman truly is and that transcends into my life now as a young woman. 

*