Dida Pelled Announces New Album, Shares Singles “Melody” & “Skinny”

Brooklyn-based artist Dida Pelled has announced her new album Love Of The Tiger and releases her new single “Melody” as well as b-side track “Skinny,” which will both be featured on the upcoming album due out this June. Pelled is widely regarded as the greatest jazz guitarist this side of the Mississippi. As her jazz star rose, she felt a pull toward classic American songwriting, shifting her direction and redefining her voice.

“Melody,” which Pelled herself dubbed as the “make out song”, drips down your spine with a jazz-infused, R&B sound, aglow with the thrill of a big love and features a verse from young rapper KNWLDG. The pairing came together after Pelled was introduced to KNWLDG by her co-producer Andrew Forman, who also happened to be his roommate. 

Pelled shares, “The song started as an experiment one summer in Berlin. I had a moment of rebellion, feeling a need to break away from the songwriting techniques I had grown used to. I escaped to Berlin, recruited two of my favorite collaborators, and spent a week in an Airbnb doing nothing but making random beats and singing gibberish. Inspired by electronic sounds and this new way of writing, “Melody” revealed itself out of nowhere. It was an artistic exercise, an unblocking attempt, without a specific goal in mind.”.

She continues, “A couple years later, early in the pandemic, my band and I were spending time at Andrew Forman’s studio, when Melody came back to light. I was telling KNWLDG what the song is about, “a big love, a ‘real thing’ kind of intimacy”. KNWLDG disappeared into the other room for a while and came back with an entire written verse. It only took one take to realize it was a perfect union.”

On Love Of The Tiger, Pelled’s upcoming album, she writes about obsession and salvation, fleeting love, smoke and mirrors, madness and more. Pelled’s additional song released “Skinny” is a look inward, where she explores the infamous act of losing yourself while trying to conform. The stunning “Sylvia (lost her sense of being a woman),” released in March, will also be featured on Love Of The Tiger. The album is the product of a jazz prodigy gone rogue. It is a love letter to the obscure, weaving across genres, twisting and turning with Pelled’s ever-expanding range of musical abilities and interests.

As a child, Pelled sequestered herself from the world and resolved to master guitar. She quickly made a name for herself in the New York jazz scene, recording with Jazz masters like Roy Hargrove and Gregory Hutchinson and touring the world.

Photo Courtesy: Shervin Lainez