Artists You Should Know: Mychelle Conjures Up Soothing Self-Assurances On New EP "IT'S not YOU, it's me"

A creator of soul-stirring R&B/soul Mychelle has just shared a new EP in the form of the emotionally sonorous IT’S not YOU, it’s me. Across five sublime tracks, she composes powerful ballads that reveal her affinity for crossing genre lines to manifest her empowering vulnerability and self-assurance. One that finds her constantly growing somewhere between the poignant wonder of soul and cavernous acoustic folk-pop. If this is your first run-in with Mychelle prepare to be completely and totally enamored by the EP’s end.

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From the lush and twinkling instrumentals that fill the EP’s opening track “Tightrope” to the radiant beaming that is Mychelle’s assuaging vocals — every minute of every track overflows with this sunny warmth. This neo-soul spirit permeates throughout IT’S not YOU, it’s me and lends it its most emotionally rapt moments. At its core, the EP is about reconciling moments of intense openness and pain with one’s own strength. The haunting movements of “Hurts” hone in on a heartbreaking but necessary separation; while the shuddering ballad “Moving On” voices the difficulty of walking that hard road away from a once imagined future.

“I wanted to share vulnerability alongside moments of comfortability & self-respect,” Mychelle explained. “They all co-exist when going through a breakup or the ending of a friendship. It’s sad to go through it but it’s also important to know when you deserve better.”

But the EP wouldn’t be complete without Mychelle finding something to move on to. On “Magical” the singer/songwriter and guitarist composes a lightweight and glowing melody that celebrates the self and one’s ability to continuously find happiness even after periods of difficulty. The music video for the song, directed by Korrie Powell (itself inspired by the work of Spike Jonze) sees two sisters struggling with everything from body image and self-esteem to colorism. Offering a vision of what someone who is truly comfortable (or valiantly trying to be) in their own skin would look like.

The EPs title track closes out the 14 minutes of tenderhearted musings that make up IT’S not YOU, it’s me. Over a lilting acoustic melody and delivered via Mychelle’s ever heart-warming vocals the song fades out on the hard but necessary truth the whole project seems to be eyeing throughout: that simple understanding that before you can love others wholly or even be loved in return, you must first have the space to grow and love yourself.