Crystal Murray

DEBUT ALBUM ‘SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS‘ OUT MAY 31rst.
New single STARMANIAK OUT NOW

2020’s EP I Was Wrong tipped Crystal Murray as a mercurial star, expanding the boundaries of neo-soul with taut, yet tapestry-like lyricism and intoxicating soundscapes – and one she started writing at only 15. Her 2021 COLORS Studio performance of “BOSS” enchanted audiences, her hypnotic cool and honeyed voice centre stage, as a shimmering love letter to sisterhood. This led into her frenetic second EP, 2022’s Twisted Bases, where Crystal explores her themes deftly – messy relationships, her vulnerabilities, various personas tried on and divested in youth. There is a clear evolution: lyrical maturation, creative curiosity, and a rebellious sonic palette.

Sad Lovers And Giants is the first album of an assured young artist that, though only 22, is done with playing to expectations. “I’m moving away from personas, to make a clear statement that this is me,” says Crystal. “My music can be tragic and theatrical, cinematic and massive – but it is all me.”

She resisted labelling her last EP an album.“It still sounded like I was searching,” she says. “And it’s not a problem to be searching. I always hope to grow and explore! But I’m happy I waited to be in a wiser state of mind. I’m still eclectic in my music, but in a way that I choose to be.”

The 11-track record finds purpose in transposing Crystal’s own personal arc onto the wider world. « In understanding my own emotional power, I hope to give others that strength and release,” she says. “To honour their emotional contradictions.”

Born and raised in Paris, Crystal was exposed to the arts young. Her father was a saxophonist and her mother worked in music production, so she was often accompanying them to jazz clubs and her father’s tours. She grew up listening to Rihanna, Macy Gray, and John Coltrane; it’s her family’s free jazz lineage that she holds closest. “It is such a punk part of African American culture,” she says; “I’m a child of that movement, and I’ve come to understand how that makes me so natural with music.”

Culture caught on: she appeared in Vogue, Dazed and Office, and campaigns for Paco Rabanne and Diesel. She founded her own label, Spin Desire, giving a platform to up-and-coming artist, and kickstarted a residency and club night at Paris mainstay club, Silencio. But with teenage years intertwined with the industry, Crystal felt stifled. “I got pushed in the ‘neo soul’ direction,” she says. “I was contending with this cliche of the ‘neo-soul woman’ – she’s a Black girl with an afro, she’s clean and nice. I loved it, but it scared me too. At 16, I was trying to fit a box that wasn’t mine – I wanted to rock shit out too.”

Her album is a testament “for feeling at my most accepting of all my parts,” she says. “I give my guts and feel sexy doing it.”

« People think they know me,” she says. “But I want to seek out new things, new ways of making art, and own my narrative. For the first time, I feel like I’m starting somewhere fresh.”

Crystal draws on her already rich musical legacy and a vibrant personal life. Themes crystallised with her first break-up. “It showed me feelings I’d never held before.” It was a powerful emotional access point – her first channel was rage. “PAYBACK” had to be the first single because “I want people to hear that you and your emotions, however messy or changing, are powerful.” Acerbic lyrics meet big, syncopated synths for club-ready catharsis.

The break-up became a creative prompt. “I wanted to fight the boy first! Then the breakup stereotypes,” she says. “Then, I wanted to embrace women’s rage.” She dove deeper, into the dualities of patriarchy: “The Madonna and the Whore is the oldest duality – how do you pass through them to find your strength? Imagine if we unleashed all our female rage at once.”

Crystal found kinship in the studio with Eliott Berthault, of post-punk band Rendez-Vous, and Kyu Steed (Amaarae, Kojey Radical). Her biggest challenge: get out of her own head. “I’d think ‘this melody is too pop’, ‘this line is too neo-soul’,” she says. “I wondered if I was just a performer, because I found the studio so tough.” Both producers developed her artistry – with Elliot, they leant into hyperpop sounds and vocal manipulation. Then came Kyu. “He helped me trust my energy.” Kyu taught Crystal to pause. They wouldn’t immediately make music in the studio, but would sit with her emotions first, ruminate, and let the music flow – if at all. Across six months with Kyu, sessions became slower, considered, and cathartic. There were tears and release. Genre was an afterthought, as they glided from soul to slick pop and scuzzy rock. “I feel both comfortable and excited by who I work with now,” she says. “It can feel like speed dating with producers. But I’ve found my collective.”

Another integral collaborator was Canadian artist, Ouri, with whom Crystal had a short but important connection in the past;  she explains; “I wanted more texture in the energy of the music on this album. I really tried to texture the music with different energies, different voices and producers who think differently. I had met Ouri in the past and had a special moment with her where we talked about music for 20 minutes in a car ride after a party. Her energy is so magnetic and sensual, I wanted her to be a part of this project. She did a lot of additional production but also rebuilt some songs like Frenzymess. Despite never meeting the collaboration between Kyu and Ouri them sounds so soft and real”

With a better understanding of her needs as an artist came renewed focus: “My songs are not vibes – I needed to accept that! I have too much things in my heart!”

Crystal has freed herself of ‘pop music’ expectations too. “Pop is talking intimately to people in a global way. That helped me build my album. For me the most universal way to touch people are from emotion, I believe that if you are able to move people and for people to relate you’re doing a great pop album”

 She found new influences: Jeff Buckley, Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack. The playfully genre-melting work of Lil Yachty and Teezo Touchdown also gave her confidence. With Kyu, she crafted an album that percolates across scuzzy grunge guitars and glam metal drums, gospel, drum & bass-y crescendos, and euphoric pop hooks. “Air” blossoms with 80s drums, and big guitar runs bolster “Whispers (so loud)”. At times, the sonics mirror the narrative: “Frenzymess” revels in the emotions an ex will never hear, the manic energy played out in roaring guitars. At other turns, there is delightful contrast: “Eye Candy” pops with big club rhythms, while lamenting a love taken for granted.

It’s also the first time Crystal has worked with other songwriters. “Everything I want to say, I say it,” she says. “I was always super frightened of writing with other people – but it brought deep, personal discussion. I cried a lot.”

“I wrote some songs with the artist called Blessed, and everytime we would write together the discussions would go super far and personal”

“Whispers (so loud)” is her most personal, exploring her own flaws in both French and English to find the most poignant articulation. Confidence abounds in lyrics – « Strangers”  is about seizing back power, while “Magik” plays on an unforgettable sexual experience. “STARMANIAK” is an anthem for anyone who feels walked over. The title track is her “redemption song”. Lyrically, it’s “an adult fairytale”: “I want people to write their own stories, to defy society’s set ways of being a woman. And it’s fun to be defiant!”

The visual aesthetic parallels the vision. The “PAYBACK” video is heavily influenced by Lady Snowblood, a major reference for Tarantino’s Kill Bill. “That question of what you’ll do for revenge really resonated with me, and powerful, strong, violent femininity.”

Next year, she’ll tour the record – Crystal is a leave-it-all-on-stage performer. If you’ve caught any of her shows from Barcelona’s Sonar to Paris’ Rock En Seine, you’ll understand. 

Two years on from her last release, Crystal feels kinetic. She’s ready to enter her next era. “I love being able to follow an artist through their phases. I’m building something very precisely, because I want people to see me exactly. And I want to be everywhere.”