Today's Pick

We haven't heard much from Mikky Ekko since his "Stay" duet with Rihanna and his indie pop tune "Kids," but the singer, born John Stephen Suddath, seems poised for a pretty big breakthrough, thanks to a combination of buzz, genuine talent and the sort of expectations a Grammy nomination can set up. He's back with a new folk-pop single, "Smile." The lead single, off his upcoming debut album "Time," has an accompanying summery video that is the perfect summer send-off, sees Ekko and his on-screen girlfriend lying on a field, just passing the day smiling and cuddling and going back home on their roofless car at night time.
Discussing this gleaming soul-pop song "Smile," the Nashville-based electronic-pop/soul songster told SPIN that he was looking to capture "that moment when you're a teenager and you lose somebody for the first time and you don't know what to do about it," while marching forward to a stomp-along beat. In keeping with the onslaught of contradictory feelings that can grip a person in a time of loss, its big, buoyant chorus revolves around what is perhaps one of the most cynical-sounding lines he's ever pegged: "Smile, the worst is yet to come."
"Time will eventually knock on my door," Ekko sings, "and tell me I'm not needed around anymore." Foreboding! Filled with positive lyrics, the "Smile" clip had to go in line with this mood. Director Sarah Chatfield creates a similar feeling of emotional whiplash, tells a juxtaposed story, tossing and turning between idyllic scenes of Ekko snuggling up with a female love interest on a grassy hill and an ominous police scene. The bittersweet clip, both good and foreboding fresh.

As we see Ekko and his special lady friend in reverse chronological order through a pleasant, lazy day, with some ominous shots of the aftermath of a train-related car accident interspersed along the way. There are scenes too where Ekko is locked up in a windowless somber room and belts out the song chorus. He even "attempts" to cry. I guess this symbolizes the powerful love he feels for his girlfriend. How will it end? Will Ekko and his gal make it?! You've got to watch below to find out.

Mikky Ekko plays pinball in his recently-released moody video for "Kids," the second single from Ekko's forthcoming debut studio album. The first time Yours Truly heard that song it sounded a lot different. Follow-up from the megatronic lead single, "Pull me Down," the 29-year-old Nashville singer displays his indie-epic side on new cut, which is masterful and melancholic, a freight train roaring through nostalgia. As he explains that the song came to him during the London riots, when he was thinking about how different things were when he was growing up. "Kids" is the first sign that, in Ekko's own words, he's "starting the next chapter."

While the original is effective in its own way, this singularly naked and bare-boned version with just piano and vocals is powerful. He recruited Benny Blanco and John Hill to produce this absolutely irresistible anthem that's sure to be an inescapable soundtrack to your summer. "Kids are gonna do what they want!" Ekko sings, tinged with just enough charming melancholy, and you can't help but raise the volume, get a taste of that clattering percussion and those thrumming synths and strings, and sing along. The Southern crooner has the sort of voice that is exactly two notches above James Blunt-esque.
Where Ekko anthem "Kids" grabs you, firstly, with its big, wide-eyed vocal melody, and it reels you in with a pretty minor detail—the crisp finger snaps that he's substituted for the original's chunky digital bounce, echoing into a delicate, almost inaudible infinity. Skeletal and slanted are the first words that come to mind in describing the Vienna-based producer and LuckyMe artist's idiosyncratic version, which chops up the vocal, pitches it downward, and punctuates it with wonky synth chords in a way that almost undermines its melodic momentum, but ultimately ends up doing quite the opposite.
With nothing but his black tee, baggy pants, a crucifix and a shiny, intergalactic-looking pinball machine, Ekko travels from locale to locale in his video for synthy new single "Kids." You'll know the Southern crooner fresh off from his recent stint as duet partner on high-profile Rihanna's mega-hit "Stay," a song Ekko wrote. Here, however, Ekko is front and center, looking angsty while flanked by umbrella-toting women in the desert, knocking a pinball around by the side of a lonely American highway and hanging out on a barren city street at night. Give the video a spin below.