The track follows the release of her lauded EP California Fire earlier this year.
From her 2018 debut EP Hey Ace to California Fire earlier this year, Cornwall singer-songwriter Bailey Tomkinson is an artist who has consistently found herself earning plaudits and acclaim for her earnest writing and the raw, authentic nature of her sound.
The latest testament to the artist’s prowess is her latest single ‘Graceland’, that has swiftly followed her latest EP. The track is more of what we have come to love from the artist, with a sombre acoustic guitar pairing effortlessly with the artist’s delicate voice and thoughtful, poignant lyricism. There is a really profound sense of personality and charm that really permeates the artist’s work and songwriting and feels unerringly her own, Bailey has crafted a sonic world for herself within her stories that transports you to wherever she decides to take you at the time. A rare modern artist that has the ability to cut through and resonate with you on a meaningful level.
“My inspirations for this song came from a couple of places…obviously with a title like Graceland, it’s probably not a huge surprise that I had this burst of inspiration by Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film “Elvis” and the journey he went on from obscurity to essentially ending up exploited by these dark, selfish, consumerist forces,” explains Bailey.
“And then, I came across what is actually a made-up word by a writer called John Koenig. He has this project where he tries to come up with words for emotions that currently lack words. It’s called ‘The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows’. The word was ‘Sonder’ which basically describes the realisation that each random passer-by is living a life as vivd and complex as your own.
So like Elvis, the narrator of my song has their own vivid and complex journey, not as flamboyant or spectacular maybe but still meaningful…so I had these two contrasting journeys and I thought it would be cool to have them intersect at Graceland.”
