Premiere: Antoine positions himself as one to watch with debut single, One Time

It's not often that we find a musician who floors us from the get-go, but Melbourne-based musician Antoine is here to defy that. His debut work premiering today has been a long time in the making, resultant of an upbringing drenched with musicality - much of his family, spread throughout Mauritius, East Africa and Italy, have musical backgrounds - that in his own work, unites with a palette of influences spread across of hip-hop and R&B to carve something that really stands out from the pack.

Antoine's distinctiveness is something that stands out from the get-go, with his debut single One Time being a burst of refreshing energy that's somehow able to simultaneously capture a rich history of R&B while also peering into its future; his work taking nods from defining artists such as Lil Bow Wow PARTYNEXTDOOR's earliest work, but translating them into a sound that feels definitely Antoine's own. It's a difficult feat, but one he's able to pull of with ease, with One Time being a showcase of his prowess so early on, and how that's able to make itself known through wind-swept R&B that really feels like something refreshingly new.

Sound-wise, One Time owes a lot to nostalgia. It's built off a danceable, sun-soaked rhythm that falls into this afrobeat-esque world rich with percussive rhythms and swirling melodies, in which Antoine uses as an underlay to bridge this gap between old and new; his vocal having the certain smoothness and sensuality you'd expect from someone in R&B's earliest hey-day, but in a way that shows his rich upbringing and the culture that has gone into making Antoine who he is; flashes of particularly African-centric musical stylings teasing us not just through the single's rhythms, but in the way the song carries itself too.

As Antoine explains, the track is a bit of an ode to the music he was brought up on, and the feelings often associated with that summer-y brand of R&B. "It’s reminiscent of the music I grew up listening to with a nice modern touch and just flows real smooth. This is them island vibes my family and friends love," he explains. "We love it cause it’s something that can bump in the clubs at night, at BBQ with the fams on some summertime vibes, on a road trip with friends, jamming out and singing along. It’s just a simple but versatile, fun, feel-good track for every positive mood!"

Continuing, the Melbourne musician explains how the single came about: "My producer (ServidSounds) sent this beat through to me waaay way back," he says. "We were getting vibes instantly and I laid down the first verse and chorus real quick, there was definitely something special about it. But, typically, so many tracks got in the way and it took a long time to finish up the rest. He always loved it and for a while I was pretty so-so, but his persistence got me and thank god he was, because it’s now ended up becoming the first release of this project."

Thank god that ServidSounds was persistent, because One Time really is something special, and you can take a dive into it below:

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