Generally, the rule goes that winter is cuffing season (as in, you handcuff yourself to a partner to stay warm) and summer is uncuffing season (as in.. well, you get it.) I beg to disagree: I think summer is crush season, the time of year when everyone’s looking dewy from the heat, grinning from all the extra Vitamin D, and ready to make eyes at someone cute across the dancefloor at a party.
Chicago artist Ric Wilson gets it: today, he’s releasing “Yellowbrick” and its Mauricio Reyes and Eddie Letamendi-directed video, a gorgeous, starry-eyed ode to new love and all the endorphins that come with it. Beginning as a slow, romantic soul joint, “Yellowbrick” explodes into a piece of funky, kaleidoscopic party-rap that’s anchored by Wilson’s endearingly sweet lyrics: “The way that you smile/ You’re holding me down/ That’s the yellowbrick road to my love,” he sings on the hook. You only wish someone could write something like that for you.
"I started writing “Yellowbrick” three years ago about one love and finished writing it about a current one,” Wilson tells The FADER of the track. “I just wanted to make a song that sounded like it could be in a black rom-com; a song that sounded like the black love songs I grew up too. You know, Marc Dorsey, Tyrese, Jason Weaver, Tank, Ruff Endz."
“"It was a real collaborative effort between Eddie [Letamendi] and I,” adds Reyes. “Combining two different ideas that really capture the energy that Ric brings to his music, live shows and life in general. And puppets... you can never go wrong with puppets!”
Watch “Yellowbrick” above.
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