Written by Aida Rashid
You can never go wrong with hip-hop & R&B, especially not when it features the face of Malaysia’s current R&B scene, Lunadira and the guys from Saturday Selects namely, Reddi Rocket & Daaliah. Their latest release is a twist to Aminé’s hit song ‘Caroline’ that has a different vibe breathed into it— incorporating layered vocals from Lunadira and Reddi. The quality of the cover however, betrays their spontaneous narrative between the three of them. “I just happened to be in the studio when they were producing a track for Saturday Select’s 2K compilation and sang the cover over it for fun and they liked it, so they sent me straight to the recording booth.” said Lunadira when asked about how they came up with the collaboration.
Left to Right: Daaliah & Reddi Rocket
It was spontaneous because they (Daaliah & Reddi Rocket) were just hanging out while looking for vocals to fit into the track — overlooking the fact that they already had their answer in front of them. “Luna just started humming a tune and in that moment – we knew that ‘OH RIGHT WE HAVE A SINGER WITH US DUH.”
According to Daaliah, the cover is actually an edit of TLC’s “No Scrubs” for the Saturday Selects 2k Compilation. It’s hard to reimagine the cover as No Scrubs now, as this shows their versatility when recreating it. “The initial idea of the track started when I was in the airport waiting for a flight in Surabaya whilst traveling around in Indonesia. It was actually an edit of TLC’s “No Scrubs” for the Saturday Select’s 2k Compilation. During a studio session with Reddi, we were bouncing off ideas with each other and I showed him the track which he really liked. We recorded some guitar ideas and rearranged certain elements through some back and forth over WeTransfer.
Luna.dira
“When it came to finalizing the track in the studio, Luna happened to be there, she was humming the melody of Caroline over the song and we told her to get into the recording booth straight away and replaced the “No Scrubs” acapella. We did more back and forth rearranging and mixing her vocals to fit the other instruments and added another guitar layer and the track was done!” Said Daaliah.
The remix brings a completely different vibe as compared to the original. Where the original presents itself in the form a chill-trap song, Reddi’s version diverts from that subspace completely to bring over a tone that takes it down a few notches as you lay down on your bed lazily as Luna.dira’s lustrous vocals serenade your well being. We all need to take it easy once in a while, and the trio have crafted just the right track for that.
We are getting hints from Reddi Rocket and Lunadira in regards to their future collaboration and we are incredibly excited to see what’s in store for us. In the mean time, check out the cover that just got uploaded on Spotify! You wouldn’t wanna miss it. For more on Luna.dira, we also sat down and talked to her about the direction in her music and future career growth.
