Fabiana Palladino and Jai Paul come together to release “I Care”. The single, which the pair co-wrote and produced - is the first track to be released from Palladino’s highly-anticipated debut album and the first piece of new music from either musician in over three years. The single debuted to a rapturous response last month during Jai Paul’s sold-out headline show at Mayan Theater in Los Angeles and today gets a full digital release via Paul Institute / XL Recordings. A limited edition 7” vinyl will be released on Friday 10 November.
On “I Care” and working with regular collaborator Jai Paul, Fabiana Palladino says “I wrote this song on my Juno 106 one night at home and played it to Jai the next day. He instantly came up with a beat and we worked together on the track from there. I’ve always loved those Motown duets with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, or Diana Ross and wanted to create a modern version of that. We’re playing with the way those duets have this quite clear notion of romance, love and relationships…we’re subverting that a little to explore normativity in relationships. Musically, we’ve tried to put all of the beauty, excitement, and tension of modern day love into this song.”
Fabiana Palladino first broke out in 2017 as one of Paul Institute’s founding artists after her shadowy R&B-influenced spectral pop reached Jai Paul, who founded the label alongside his brother A.K. Paul. Releasing three singles in four years, she caught the ear of critics - Pitchfork likened “Mystery” to “a scratch track from a big-budget 80s studio that’s been smuggled out on reel-to-reel tape” – but Palladino’s output remained slight. The intervening years have seen her working as an in-demand session musician for the likes of Jessie Ware while intensely striving for pop perfection in her own music. This year, she formed part of Jai Paul’s band for his live debut (which she also supported solo), the most wildly awaited performances in years.