“I Am Human,” the second single from ILSE’s upcoming album, shows a different side of ILSE's unique story. Her sultry, otherworldly voice is transformed into one that is vulnerable, courageous, and unmistakably human. Born without her left arm, ILSE has overcome a distinct set of challenges to find her voice in today’s music industry. ILSE is unafraid to be herself, and she sings about vulnerability and finding strength through love from a deeply personal perspective. In "I Am Human," ILSE recounts her determination to stay true to herself and her vision, reminding us that “standing tall” after “going through it all” is no small victory. This new single is about finding the strength to push past the obstacles despite pain and despair, because to assert oneself proudly in the face of adversity is the ultimate triumph.

I Am Human

A bold ballad from and for the future, “Behind The Scenes” is about the search for love in the cavernous Big City and the desire to make a real connection between two people amidst the hustle and bustle.


"Behind the Scenes”, follows ILSE through the urban night, confined by the impersonal environment around her. Hardened by the callous city, she searches for something real, something she can feel, a connection in an otherwise indifferent and alienating world. With its hypnotizing, stripped-down, and pulsating synths, bass, and drums, “Behind the Scenes” is a seductive invitation into an inner, private world where lovers can let down their guard, be vulnerable, and express their deepest feelings. By the song’s end, the swirling electric synths transform into a pulsing bassline and thunderous drums. What does it mean to finally get “behind the scenes”? Our world is a futuristic one dominated by technology, and virtual communication both connects us and isolates us in ways never experienced before. ILSE’s new single gets us closer to each other, where we can touch more than just the screens of our handheld devices. “Behind the Scenes”, touch is for real.

Buy Now on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id871819826
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/4JVYAuTqdRFuYk3sjSSBS5
WEBSITE: http://www.ilsemusic.com

Behind the Scenes

ILSE, who considers the first lady of avant-garde Kate Bush a pivotal influence and a kindred spirit, has decided to introduce a current, charged up, forceful, heady tribal-electro dancy riff on Bush’s most portentous hit, 'Running up that Hill'. Her spin on 'Running Up That Hill' is edgy, dark in tone and propulsive. If the original was resentful, ILSE’s is cool and callous, like someone who’s already gotten their revenge and wants to explain why. Phrases like 'Let’s exchange the experience', and 'I’d make a deal with God, and I’d get him to swap our places' take on a new meaning. Withstanding bullying and other hardships early on due to her prosthetic left arm, ILSE had to fight for respect and self-love to survive, confronting people on their ignorance and reminding them of her humanity. When ILSE sings 'If I only could I’d be running up that road, be running up that hill', she’s speaking from the heart, and she invites her listeners to share in her challenges and triumphs. ILSE paid homage to Bush’s 'Running Up That Hill' by making it her own. Its symphonic synths, fat 808 drums, intoxicating strings and ILSE’s airy, ethereal voice make this techno-laced version of 'Running Up That Hill' trance inducing.

Produced by Joshua Valleau

Running Up That Hill

After resonant and emotive singles from ILSE, which were about expressivity and opening people’s minds, comes this candy which is a straight out feel-good homerun. A tip of the checkered fedora to golden-age disco, 'Hollywood Hills' boasts club glitz and bombast yet funky horn sections, backed by the latest production whiz-ardry. 

Underneath the lush strings and the textured chords of the electric piano, the cracking snare drum and pulsing bass line propel this brassy club track forward, and the catchy hook and ILSE’s seductive vocals bounce around in your ear long after the song is done.

Utilizing the concept of Hollywood as a symbolic springboard, the song is a barefaced, uninhibited celebration of achievement, all about ‘making it’ or ‘getting there’. 'Hollywood Hills' takes a reflective and proud look at how far ILSE has come, no matter the obstacles. And above all, enjoying the moment with a significant other, for love is that sweet sweet frosting. 

Produced by Joshua Valleau

Buy on iTunes 

Hollywood Hills

With the rising global turmoil, caused by alienation of races and religions, bringing nothing but destruction and grief, healing will begin only with the realization that we are all one, all human.

Pop Diva Ilse and Grammy winning music producer Ricky Kej team up to bring this stirring call for action, spreading the message of appeasement and reconciliation in an Epic World version of Ilse's song 'I Am Human', available as a Bonus Track on her 'I Am Human' debut album.
 
Still a piercing, breathtaking manifesto for diversity and pluralistic acceptance, this mesmeric variation chooses to enchant you with dreamy allures of flutes, chimes and harpsichords as ethnic sounds and mawwals join in to dispatch a noteworthy global message.

Produced by Ricky Kej

Buy on iTunes

I Am Human (World Version)

Déjà Vu brings us an emotive, pensive to the point of haunting ballad, throbbing with suppressed desires, as an unnerving piano countered by sleek drum machines picks up as it goes, swelling up into a heart wrenching, all-out string section howl of surrender, backing a doomed admission of abandoning all defenses.  

Produced by Joshua Valleau

WEBSITE: http://www.ilsemusic.com

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ilsemusic
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/ilsemusic
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/ilserecords
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/ilserecords

Déjà Vu

WEBSITE: http://www.ilsemusic.com

Get the 'I Am Human' album on iTunes: 
http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1047792978?ls=1&app=itunes

Produced by Sebastiaan Vandevoorde

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ilsemusic
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/ilsemusic
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/ilserecords
SOUNDCLOUD: www.soundcloud.com/ilsemusic

More info on www.ilsemusic.com

Hollywood Hills (French Version) produced by Sebastiaan Vandevoorde explores the glitzy side, while a robust bass riff persistently teased by slinky guitars.

HOLLYWOOD HILLS


VERSE 

Tonight we look down on the city lights
Tonight we leave the hard times behind
We're on top of the world, You and I
I'm your girl and you are mine

Tonight we'll make this moment last
From now until the end of time
We're on top of the world, You and i 
I'm your girl and you are mine

PRECHORUS

You're shooting stars so bright
from the hazel of your eyes
I'm hypnotized by your smile
You're so beautiful and you're all mine

CHORUS

We blast the music and dance all night long
Celebrating that we've come so far
It's so unreal, it's the greatest trill
Here we are, on the Hollywood Hills

VERSE

I'd like to pause this moment now
rewind, replay it all night
We're on top of the world, You and I
I'm your girl and you are mine

It feels so right, what you do to me
That's why we can't fight what we feel
We're on top of the world, You and I
I'm your girl and you are mine

PRECHORUS

Two hearts on fire, so alive
Taken by the moonlight
Love takes us through the hours
From sunset to sunrise

CHORUS

We blast the music and dance all night long
Celebrating that we've come so far
It's so unreal, it's the greatest trill
Here we are, on the Hollywood Hills

BRIDGE

You give me some of that magnetic
You give me some of that heat
It feels like it's magic
Hard to believe it's real

CHORUS

We blast the music and dance all night long
Celebrating that we've come so far
It's so unreal, it's the greatest trill
Here we are, on the Hollywood Hills

Hollywood Hills (French Version)

“Living on a Cloud,” the first single from ILSE’S much-anticipated album "I Am Human", is a strong introduction to the singer’s dynamic, part-retro, part-futuristic, chic and style-bending musical world. Opening with her long, sultry notes that drift above dramatic and unrelenting strings, this song is ILSE’s seductive ballad to a lover who occupies her every waking moments and the verse’s entrancing melody and pulsing drums lures in the listener like an incantation. By the time the booming brass and swirling strings come in at the chorus you’re hooked, floating along with ILSE in a soulful and flirtatious fantasy. Influenced by the likes of Adele, Florence + The Machine, and Lana Del Rey, ILSE drops hints of 60’s and 70’s soul, French cabaret songs, and the boldness of current-day hip-hop production. Working with producers Nate and Noble Jolley, ILSE was able to find the creative space to revisit those musical golden years from the near and distant past, commenting that recording the single was “like stepping in a time machine…it was endless fun writing and recording that record." Like the song’s title suggests, the catchy “Living on a Cloud” is a wistful dream but it’s also a tease of something more to come if, like her lover, you’re willing to give in to ILSE’s alluring invitation.

Living on a Cloud

ILSE knows first-hand what it means to hold on steadfast to her dreams. Born without her left arm, she overcame the odds and made her way to center stage, enchanting listeners with her voice and music and touching their innermost emotions. Drawing from childhood experiences in Belgium and her new life in New York City, ILSE sings about loss, courage, self-affirmation, attraction, romance, fear, and hope. 

Music has always been her biggest passion, it runs through her veins. ILSE’s musical roots originate in the music of her father, a former bass player. Initially, it was his love of rock music that inspired ILSE, but the sound and spirit of soul music pushed her to find her own unique musical path. On the way, ILSE quickly discovered her passion for bearing her soul before live audiences and this passion is what makes the stage ILSE’s new place to call home.

After majoring in Psychology, ILSE moved to New York to pursue her dream. ILSE struggled during her first years in New York City, slowly finding her footing despite poverty and rounds of rejection. She gained experience in regular performances at open-mics, where she has shared the stage with Lana Del Rey (formerly known as Lizzy Grant). ILSE’s commitment paid off one day when she was approached by Michael Douglas after a show in Manhattan’s Sugar Bar. Soon after, she had her first sold out show in the legendary Joe’s Pub, The Public Theatre, a venue from the “Best of New York” list (where artists such as Amy Winehouse, Elvis Costello, Adele, Lady Gaga and many others have played). 

The I Am Human debut LP is a spectacular representation of ILSE’s winding journey: a woman-takes-on-world capsule odyssey and very much a small wonder - a transfixing amalgam of alchemic quality: feather-delicate yet diamond-hard; imbued with achingly vulnerable streaks still insists on tough-as-nails, self-worth configuration.  The album offers a unique and multifaceted coverage of the human experience delivered in a fresh and bold sound: featuring both up-tempo hit singles boasting state-of-the-art production gadgetry alongside earth shattering timeless ballads with piano and strings. In between, this profound and non-compromising creation catches its breath with a poetic intermezzo and climates in an epic full size orchestra.  

This fascinating fusion - bruised, throbbing human and feminine emotions delivered in a confident, almost swaggering sparkly lucid sounds and musical production – is well mastered by boldface names behind the consoles in the likes of Grammy-nominated Producer/Musician Joshua Valleau (John Legend, James Blake, BBC), Columbia Records, Sony UK Composer/Producer Sebastiaan Vandevoorde (Moonlight Matters, Arches, Villa; remixed artists such as Adele, Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding, Moby), Violinist/Arranger/Composer Juliette Jones of Jules & The Dirty Collective (Florence + The Machine, Pharrell Williams, Aretha Franklin, Janelle Monae, J.Cole, Nicki Minaj) and even Grammy winning producer Ricky Key. 

With full-page newspaper and exclusive magazine interviews, appearances on national radio stations and a growing presence on television and social media, ILSE is loudly and proudly making people pay attention. 

"Ilse Gevaert displays a talent for turning negatives into unlikely positives." - BBC NEWS 

"The Lady is a Champ" -PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE 

“Singer-songwriter Ilse Gevaert could be about to create a musical earthquake not managed by a Belgian since her countryman Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1841. Her forthcoming album I Am Human could be the best biggest thing to have come out of Belgium after the women’s tennis rivalry between Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters.” SPALDING GUARDIAN, UK

With its bass-heavy, lavishly cinematic sound and undeniable charm, ILSE’s music dances between musical eras while pointing towards the future. Hers is music made for everyone—music made for you to feel. ILSE’s music is made to bring people together.

ILSE

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