Emily King

In the organizer's words:

Like so many of music's foremost singer-songwriters, Emily King has an almost magical gift for delving into life's deepest concerns and uncovering unexpected beauty and illuminating truths. Since the release of her Grammy-nominated debut album East Side Story, the New York City native has continued to add new layers of depth and nuance to her songwriting, rooting each revelation in her mesmerizing blend of soul, R&B and forward-thinking pop. On her new album Special Occasion, King shares a real-time exploration of the endless dimensions of heartbreak - an exploration informed by the end of her love affair. King and longtime producer Jeremy Most (Grammy-nominated producer and multi-instrumentalist) collaborated closely on each track to create an intimate and infinitely enchanting look at the way we love, grieve, and ultimately come to a greater understanding of ourselves.

"Special Occasion" is the follow-up to 2019's "Scenery," which included the standout singles "Remind Me" and "Look At Me Now," which was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Song. On "Special Occasion," King channels the most overwhelming emotions with indescribable grace, once again highlighting the radiant vocal presence she's shown in previous music and touring collaborations with artists like Brittany Howard, Robert Glasper, Sara Bareilles, John Legend and more. "The album was made during a very painful breakup and the only way for me to feel relief was to meditate through music," says King. The daughter of two musicians, she grew up with her brother in a small New York apartment in the East Village, where she began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of 15. Like all of her work dating back to The Switch, Special Occasion came about as she and Most traded notes and slowly formed the album's intricately composed sound, with King handling vocals, guitar and percussion and Most playing everything from guitar to bass, sitar to synthesizer and Mellotron to drums. The album also features a track created with producer Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Rhett Miller) and ultimately embodies a breathtaking elegance, even as King articulates devastating pain. "Writing songs is surviving my own feelings," she says. "Expression brings a much-needed relief in the moment."

King's fourth album is one of her first releases since her 2020 single "See Me" (a Grammy nominee for Best R&B Performance). The title comes from a dreamlike track that fully encapsulates the album's theme. With its intricately detailed arrangement of sonic elements (warm tenor saxophone, luminous flute, hypnotically layered vocals), "Special Occasion" was created during an enchanting session with King's friend Abe Rounds (an L.A.-based multi-instrumentalist/producer with whom he's collaborated Andrew Bird and Blake Mills). "I decided to take a trip to LA. by myself, just to get out of my comfort zone," she recalls. "I remember feeling so vulnerable and playing this idea on the guitar and mumbling some lyrics, and Abe told me it sounded like I was singing the words "special occasion." At the time, I thought, "This is the last thing this feels like."" But it ended up being the birth of that song and summed up the message of the whole album. It's about finding some light in the middle of the most difficult times: those moments when you don't really have anything to celebrate, you're just alone and you're sitting in those feelings and trying to make sense of it all."

Now nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Album at the 2024 Grammy Awards, "Special Occasion" opens with the heavy determination of "This Year," a beat-driven and gorgeously breezy track that expresses both deep regret and passionate resolve. "This song came to me on the morning of New Year's Eve," King says. "Everyone was posting their photo highlights of the year. I looked back and my pictures were all selfies. I was desperately trying to get the attention of this person who just couldn't reciprocate." On "Medal," the project's joyously upbeat song, King notes, "I had the melody in my head for a very long time," and when she got into the studio with Most, "he started playing this funky baseline in the chorus." And it was like instant joy!" As the song took shape, King describes, "The lyrics were 'I want to be the girl with the medal,' like I want to have that shiny feeling when you're the person you have a crush on" gives you her attention. These days, I've been singing the song to myself, giving it a slightly different meaning. Like, "Hey, you're the prize girl!" "You're the medal and you've already won it yourself!" Ha. It makes me feel good and then I start dancing. And on "False Start," singer/songwriter Nick Hakim joins King for an unfiltered but gently captivating meditation on the pain of breaking free from a devoted relationship. "'False Start' represents the feeling of knowing something is wrong but sticking with it anyway. This song just flowed out of me one day. Out of grief. Out of my inability to make a change that I needed because it was just too painful," says King. "The song kind of wrote itself and reminded me that I couldn't just choose the comfort of familiarity. I had to listen to myself and follow through with the necessary changes."

Special Occasion is extraordinarily rich in emotion and sound, and also showcases King's unique artistry in songs like "Bad Memory" (a pedal steel infused, folk-infused track with guest vocals from Lukas Nelson) and "The Way That You Love Me". (a highly atmospheric track adorned with a lush string arrangement by Rob Moose, a composer known for his work with Bon Iver and Phoebe Bridgers). As King reveals, the album's immense scope is the direct result of a deep-rooted desire to share limitless facets of her experience. "I think by telling as many stories as possible, we can impact as many people as possible," she says. "I've labeled it as an album about breaking up to reconciling to breaking up again, but it's really about finding joy in difficult times - about celebrating who you are in the quietest moments, not in your relationship with someone else. It's still a work-in-progress for me, but I hope these songs will help people find some hope and relief."

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