20-year-old artist Ari Abdul releases her debut EP 'Fallen Angel' via Slumbo Labs/RCA Records
Photo Credit: Oswaldo Cepeda
As its title suggests, Fallen Angel is a pop-noir work, levitated by alluring melodies and Abdul's warm, luminescent vocals. Growing up in Catholic School, she became enamored with the story of Lucifer and the "fallen angel" narrative. Ari and her best friend/ producer Thomas LaRosa worked to create a world behind the EP inspired by "loss of innocence and connection with oneself into a distorted, wicked version."
Listen HERE.
The EP's most alluring quality is how it gives you glimmers into who Abdul is, mingling tenebrous fantasy with her personal story. These twisted narratives come to life in tracks like the narcotic slow-jam “BABYDOLL,” the ethereal-pop "STAY," and the shimmering-seductive "TASTE."
Ari describes Fallen Angel like this: “You have like these nice, lovely, innocent sounding songs. And by the end of the EP, the songs get really distorted and heavier, and the lyrics get darker. Maybe there'll be an emotion or a little something that happens in my life in a song, but the EP is completely storytelling. We keep pretty melodies, but still have production and lyrics that completely contradict those pretty melodies.”
Releasing alongside Fallen Angel is the official music video for “HUSH.” The haunting visual is directed by Erik Rojas (Kaskade, Jessie J). Watch HERE.
Fallen Angel Tracklist:
1. “BABYDOLL”
2. “TASTE”
3. “HUSH”
4. “STAY”
5. “CURSED”
6. “HELLGIRL”
About Ari Abdul:
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Ari Abdul has forged her own brand of dark alternative pop. Music quickly became a second language for Ari Abdul growing up in Brooklyn. Her Ecuadorian mom loved Latin music while her Costa Rican/ Palestinian father introduced her to classic rock. Rounding everything out were her brothers who were all about hip-hop and metal. She graduated to electric guitar at 14 and started playing grunge songs inspired by Nirvana. But she was too nervous to share her work - let alone her voice- with anyone. She had friends in choir, but that wasn't the musical direction she saw herself going. It wasn't until LaRosa's mom encouraged Abdul to create her own music in July 2021 that lite the spark to share her voice with the world.
She combines the reverb-heavy swells of your favorite shoegaze artists such as The Neighborhood and Lana Del Rey. Combining an array of visual and stylistic influences, Ari has cultivated a mysterious edge to her artistic endeavors. Earlier this year, she released her debut single “BABYDOLL” followed by the sped-up version “BABYDOLL (Speed).” Both versions garnered viral success with over 83M global streams, 400M TikTok views, and 420K TikTok creations.
To Buy/Stream Fallen Angel:
Multi – https://ariabdul.lnk.to/FallenAngelEP
To Watch “HUSH”:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCghiKjfJb8
Follow Ari Abdul: