Canadian-born artist, cimone, has made her long awaited musical debut with her beautiful and vulnerable single, “pink clouding”. cimone has spent much of her life writing songs and performing, with influences from Sufi and Bollywood music as well as Motown and R&B. “pink clouding” is the first single off of her upcoming EP after the rain. This project has been in the works for two years now, and “pink clouding” proves that it will be well worth the wait.

“pink clouding” is all about the feeling of not being okay and the lengths that we will go to pretend that we are. I had the pleasure of asking cimone a few questions in order to dig deeper into the meaning and inspirations behind “pink clouding”.

I love the term pink clouding. How did you come up with that?

“Funny story, I actually found the term on Urban Dictionary during an office hour with my songwriting teacher! I was looking for song seeds and the term immediately caught my eye. It was defined as “pretending everything is okay to everyone when it really isn’t”, which spoke to me so deeply, especially at that time. I later found out that the term “pink clouding” originates from drug addiction; it’s the euphoric phase that comes with quitting an addiction before withdrawal effects kick in. I tried to play to that idea in the song, where you’re almost addicted to pretending and you know you’re about to slip, but you choose to relish in that euphoria while you can.”

You are classically trained in South Asain vocal styles. How has that influenced this single in particular, and your upcoming EP?

“I wouldn’t say I am formally trained in Indian Classical music, but I did train for about a year! I have also been heavily influenced by my father’s sound, who was a Pakistani and Sufi artist. If you listen closely, you can hear that influence in the inflections in my voice. We included samples from my father’s old Sufi songs in “pink clouding”, and throughout the EP. You’ll also hear a sitar, tabla, darbouka, and ney flute. It was fun infusing such a huge part of my identity in its commercial R&B production!”

“pink clouding” is your debut single, and although you are no stranger to songwriting and performing, what has it been like to share your art so widely for the first time?

“It’s been both exciting, since Cristobal (my producer) and I have been itching to release this song for two years now, but also pretty nerve-wracking. Not only is this my first official single, it’s also an incredibly vulnerable song that reveals my life story in a nutshell. While that is a scary thought, it’s my way of telling myself, “Hey, you don’t need to pretend anymore. You can be you now.’”

“And it’s my favorite song right now so that’s also really cool.”

What is the biggest takeaway you want listeners to get out of “pink clouding”?

“That it’s okay to not be okay. I think pretending is a habit we all fall victim to at some point, especially because it’s highly emphasized in society. You can’t let anyone know you’re struggling and if you do, you’re labeled “a mess”. But being human comes with having messy emotions and if anything, there’s something wrong with running away from them. So I hope this song can help someone feel less alone and comforted enough to embrace that mess; it’s what makes you human and that’s beautiful!”

You can listen to “pink clouding” today on all streaming platforms. Don’t forget to follow cimone on Instagram for news and more on her upcoming EP after the rain, set to release this summer.

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Cimone - Artist of the Week (04.05)