Following the release of PJ Harding and Noah Cyrus’ collaborative debut single and video “Dear August,” the duo releases “You Belong To Somebody Else” today.
Listen Here: https://smarturl.it/YBTSE
These two lead tracks are featured on their debut EP PEOPLE DON’T CHANGE via RCA Records UK out April 23rd.
The duo has spent much of the last year working together remotely with PJ in his native Australia and Noah in Los Angeles, managing to make deeply personal records from opposite sides of the world. They released their debut single “Dear August,” with an accompanying video at the end of last month.
Multiplatinum, Best New Artist Grammy-nominated songstress Noah Cyrus and sought-after Australian songwriter and producer PJ Harding [Chromeo, Ruel, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian] forged an unbreakable creative union after co-writing four songs from Noah’s 2020 EP, The End of Everything, including the double-platinum hit “July.” This carried over to countless sessions in late 2019 as they not only wrote together, but organically sang together as well. At the onset of the global pandemic, they continued to write and record over the internet resulting in their collaborative debut EP People Don’t Change set for release April 23rd.
The EP spotlights the organic nature of their partnership, with stripped-down instrumentation, the extraordinary pairing of their voices, poetic lyrics and catchy melodies to create a remarkable mash up of Americana, folk, and classic country.
“At heart, this is really a raw, homemade record,” PJ states. “There’s a strong folk tradition in Australia, which you can possibly feel. There’s certainly a lot of Nashville in there too. I feel like Noah is really the guiding force here. She’s the soul of this record.”
“This wouldn’t have happened without PJ,” counters Noah. “He put the music together, so I could do this. He’s the most talented dude I’ve ever partnered with. I genuinely admire him as a writer, singer, musician, and artist. Writing songs before, I honestly felt a little lost. It felt special to go back to my roots and make something with guitar and piano like what my dad made me listen to as a kid. I felt like I was able to put my true self into this. I could be who I am at the core—which is just Noah from Nashville.”
PJ continues: “Last summer, our song ‘July’ was really connecting, but it was an incredibly uncertain time.” “I’m fairly easygoing, but I was deeply anxious about being in Los Angeles with the pandemic getting out of control. I was having lots of discussions with my family about moving back to Australia. We eventually did. (Our debut single) ‘Dear August’ was written as a love letter to the future, hoping there’s a light on the other side. We haven’t seen the light, but we’re still looking.”
“It was full circle and funny for us to write ‘Dear August’ after ‘July’,” observes Noah. “I was going through a lot. I suffer from anxiety and depression. We were in this cloud of darkness where it’s very easy to fall into bad habits. July and August 2020 were the hardest parts of quarantine for me. I lost my grandma, and I was looking to the future for hope. The song reminds me you will get to the light at the end of the tunnel. It may not be perfect, but you’ll get there.”
