Premiere: Skyuka - Birthday Song

Image credit: Isabel Ferraris

After recently releasing her fuzzed out 90s grunge-rock inspired single Houseplants, Skyuka continues her prolific 2023 with a totally different sound on Birthday Song featuring CJ Stranger, out November 8 but premiering on Pilerats today!

Opening with gorgeous fingerstyle acoustic guitar plucks, Skyuka’s vulnerable vocals enter the mix, soon offset by the dulcet tones of CJ Strangers voice, building to an irresistible two-part melody chorus. A gripping, stripped back composition featuring only guitar and vocals, Birthday Song provides plenty of room for Skyuka & CJ’s complementary voices to truly shine.

Speaking on the new single, Skyuka explains “I wrote ‘Birthday Song’ a long time ago. Originally it was penned as a solo song, but when I rehearsed it with my good friend CJ Stranger I really loved the blend of our voices together and felt like it brought a new kind of magic to the song. During this time I was fangirling over Steven Schram’s production work, so we both flew to Melbourne to work with him. Schram (an Aria winning producer known for his work with San Cisco, Jaguar Jonze, Paul Kelly and more) was amazing at stripping it back and bringing out the raw emotion of the song.

I then released it as part of an older body of work under a different name but it was only out for a brief amount of time and then was no longer available (long story)! I’ve had this song sitting there for years, it’s been one of my favourite’s. I’ve always wanted to give it a second chance as the first time round I had absolutely no reach. Now that I have a much bigger following, I can’t wait to share this song with the world, I’ve waited so long.”

Birthday Song rounds out a big year for Skyuka that has seen the release of four singles, a WAM Song of the Year Nomination and countless live shows all around town as she builds to an EP release in 2024.

Skyuka's new single Birthday Song feat. CJ Stranger is out November 8

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