As a follow up to their 2021 debut, 2day i, rising NY artist mikxlea has just released their new single, kountry gurl – a cover of Luke Bryan’s massive hit, Country Girl (Shake It For Me).

Setting the frequency with an astral riser followed by an enigmatic and immersive synth and beat drop, we are already hypnotized by kountry gurl. mikxlea opens the song with the inviting lyrics, “Got a little boom in my big truck, come open up the doors and turn it on…”

Speaking on challenging the status quo of the sound of country music, mikxlea says, “I’ve always enjoyed the rawness and the melodic nature of country music but I’ve also come to learn that the genre itself is somewhat tightly guarded and as a result, the creators and listeners of country music are also limiting in a sense.”

He expands, “With this cover, I wanted to chip away at those guardrails by totally flipping the original vibe of the song with contemporary sounds that I enjoy hearing in today’s world of music – this is my attempt at celebrating/sharing my love for everything country.”

We think it is brilliant, and we are enamoured with mikxlea‘s cover which adds a 2022 sense of dimensionality and redesign of the sonic landscape to appeal to a connected audience. The design of the track is exquisite and we love the nuanced risers and textured details that help amplify the listening experience.

With resolve, the rising artist says, “Finally woke up enough to start making my own music”, when reflecting on his journey. On the specifics of the design mikxlea says, “Contrast was a recurring theme in my production – I wanted to highlight the words from the original track by designing sounds that create an industrial feel and surrounding the traditional country lyrics with these contrasting sounds in order to propel the meaning behind the words/song/genre.”

We have added kountry gurl by mikxlea to our New Music Spotlight playlist and are excited to hear more original content from the artist!

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