Q&A: George Bone Releases “Yours Today”
ESSEX-BASED GEORGE BONE — released his latest single “Yours Today” on September 13, 2024. It’s an R&B and pop love song that describes an all-in romance through lyrics like, “Now I’m crash landing / Don’t know what to say / Thought I was emotionless ‘till you came my way.”
All of Bone’s releases so far have highlighted his emotional vocals and match the lyrical themes of reflecting on romance and devotion to the other person.
Since his debut release in 2023, Bone has earned Best Male Artist of the year at the 2024 Radio Wigwam Awards and Track of the Week plays on BBC Essex and Cambridgeshire.
Read our interview with Bone about “Yours Today” below.
LUNA: The tone of your voice has a relaxing quality because it’s soulful and the R&B elements of “Yours Today” match that entirely. Did you always gravitate toward this sound? What was the journey like in finding what works best for you?
BONE: My musical journey was not a succinct one! I jumped from genre to genre, completely undecided in what I wanted to do until only a few years ago. Growing up and listening to my dad’s iPod Nano in the car on long journeys, the majority of what I listened to revolved around a balance of old and stadium country music. One minute I was listening to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers — the next, Dan and Shay, Chris Stapleton, or Darius Rucker.
When I went off to university in Durham, I was involved in a large amount of the gospel and jazz performances that were put on. It was between the end of my first and start of my second year at uni that Tom Misch’s Geography came out. It’s still a big influence to me now. Finally, as we were evacuated from university because of Covid, I stayed at home listening to a lot of DIY music (LoFi girl was a staple “radio show” in my house at the time).
From there, artists like Bruno Major Eloise and Lizzie McAlpine—artists with a rougher, less commercial, more introspective approach—took center stage in my inspiration pool. If finding these artists is the legacy that Covid left with me, then I am happy that that process occurred to make me the artist I am today.
LUNA: “Yours Today” is about a no-thinking-about-the-consequences type of love. “I’m not scared of heartbreak,” you sing. What was the process of creating the song? Was it similarly spontaneous?
BONE: The song wasn’t written for my artist project originally, at all! While being brought to life with my co-writer Darcy Poole, it was originally only supposed to be a pop ballad that would hopefully get synced on shows like Love Island and Made in Chelsea. So not a lot of deeper thought was put into the song other than, “We’ve only got two hours left of this session, let’s get something down on paper.” It wasn’t until I listened back to the song a few months ago that I thought it had potential in my own catalog and that the lyrics had a chance to take hold.
From there, I naturally asked Darcy whether she wanted to feature on the song as a vocalist, but she declined, given that it was a different genre from what she was used to singing in. I then asked Josie Beth whether she wanted to sing on it as well, and she declined for a similar reason. In that moment, I decided “Fuck it, I’ll make it my own song instead,” proceeding to then move the song down to semitones to fit my vocal range and rearranged the structure significantly.
LUNA: You found inspiration in Eloise, James Smith, and Tom Misch. When you’re referring to your favorite music for inspiration, what do you look for as indicators of a good song? Everyone always looks for something different.
BONE: I believe that every song released has good elements about it. While I do not produce House, DNB, or metal music, I find the soundscape around those genres to be fascinating [and think,] “What is the story that this artist is trying to tell?” In saying that, that may be the reason why House or DNB music does not resonate with me as much because the usual subject of the songs, like spending a night at the club, is a spent story.
“Drunk Girl” by Chris Janson is one of my favorite songs of all time. It is a country song with a level of subversion in the chorus that I could only ever dream of writing. Similarly, and from a genre that I listen to once in a blue moon, the similes and metaphors used in rap battles to describe the person facing them are so well thought-out that the best of them could dabble with Shakespeare — or at best, comedy writers on HBO!
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