When Annie Mac unveils the new names she’s feeling, you know the talent she tips is worth pay attention. The music connoisseur is rarely wrong, so when she shouted out 22-year-old Brighton native Celeste as young chanteuse on rise, we knew we were in for a treat. A new signee to Lily Allen’s imprint Bank Holiday records, Celeste teamed up with SBTRKT collaborator Tev’n and acclaimed DJ and producer J.D. Reid for her single “Day Dreaming,”a hazy ode to nostalgic summer days that showcases Celeste’s smoky Etta James-esque lyrics to their best effect. “‘Day Dreaming’ is my lust after the summer, the hypnotic murmur of Billie Holiday’s voice in the background, a brief moment of self-empathy and a beam of light that turned into a day dream, then into day dreaming,” Celeste says of the track.
The music video, created by visual artist Bafic, frames Celeste’s day dream perfectly. She reminisces while sitting in fields of lavender and sunflowers. Press play on Celeste’s “Day Dreaming” video below and drift away into memories of hotter days. Here are the 10 things you need to know about music’s next big dreamer.
1. She grew up on both sides of the pond: “I was born in LA but we ended up moving to England and we lived in a few different places until we settled in Brighton, so that’s where I spent most of my time growing up.”
2. She’s an old-school Aretha fan: “I remember the first album I ever listened to all the way through was an Aretha Franklin tape. My grandad had this cherry red Jaguar that he used to take me everywhere in and he would play it. I remember the first time I heard her voice, my face literally lit up.”
3. Her new single “Day Dreaming” was written while she was on the clock: “‘Day Dreaming’ is basically a song I wrote when I was working in a pub all summer and I couldn’t wait to leave! I was pulling pints and listening to Shirley Bassey imagining I was in Carnegie Hall doing a performance in floor length fur.”
4. Her current obsession is an acting legend: “Robert De Niro! OMG I have such a crush on him, and I literally just watched The Deer Hunter the other day so that’s probably why! I go through phases, next week it will be something else.”
5. She would most like to collaborate with: “Connan Mockasin, Kanye West, or BadBadNotGood but there are so many people I would love to work with.”
6. She believes in psychic powers: “I have this psychic book at home called The Oracle and if I’m ever unsure of something I always ask the book. When I was younger I really wanted to be a witch so I think this is me living that childhood fantasy out!”
7. If music doesn’t work out: “I want to have a patisserie when I’m older. I want it to be something in-between a Wes Anderson film and the boulangerie in Balthazar. I don’t know what it will be called yet!”
8. She’s uses the elements as her alarm: “I really like waking up to the sound of rain against my window.”
9. She was taught to work hard by her grandma: “I was complaining to my great nan about being hungover and having no money and not wanting to go to work, she told me to ‘stop going out on the piss and get to work.’ RIP nanny Vi!”
10. It was written in the stars that she would go into music: “When I finished school is when I think I properly got into to it, but I had always been into music. When I was three I used to dance on the kitchen table to The Clash.”
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Text Lynette Nylander