"Happy" Valentine's from clide's "Hotel Room"

Clide's "Hotel Room" is a very wild ride of a track. It's got more packed together in its two-and-a-half-minute runtime than many EPs have in their entire length, and while every bit of it is easily recognizable, it's arranged in such a way that makes Clide stand out immediately as an artist with complete ownership of his sound.

It's difficult to come up with a truly "unique" sound nowadays, (and with good reason!) but that doesn't stop people from trying, and it's only a matter of time before innovators do things their way and release something that feels truly fresh and new. That is where Clide proudly stands today and this new single is more than enough proof.

Last year was huge for the artist, pushing his Spotify streams over the 40mil mark and his youtube views over the 3Mil mark, with his music videos "Broken Parts" and "Blank Space" taking the bulk of those youtube views. All of this trails his 2020 Debut EP "In My Mind", making it an undeniable success with audiences and assuring everyone that Clide is here to stay.

With a style that's been described as "Emo-Pop", Clide certainly favors vulnerability and emotional connection through his lyrics, and "Hotel Room" is no exception. Taking in the opportunity presented by Valentine's Day, Clide's new song is a retelling of the ever-complex situation of literally falling back in love with your ex.

In the guitar-driven track, Clide manages to express all the difficult-to-understand feelings that seeing a person who used to mean a lot to you can elicit. Sometimes that confusing mix of emotions can make things even more intense, it can cloud your judgment and bring you back to someone who's hurt you before. It ain't pretty but it's real, and it's worth singing about.

Clide easily makes the painful subject into a song that is wild, unique, and even outright fun. He bares his pain in the lyrics while giving us an upbeat track that utilizes acoustic and electric guitars alike, tied together with a strong undercurrent vanguardist electronica sounds that take on hints of dubstep and even Drum & Bass. It's in this balance of elements that the obvious recipe of his ongoing success is found, his music is an exciting off-the-wall proposal difficult to describe, while his unapologetically vulnerable lyrics act as the connecting tissue holding things together and grounding them to that element of realness that we always look for.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music.