THAILAND— Following her much-raved about thrust into the Philippine airwaves and playlists with singles like “Love You Better” and “Really Wanna Know Ya”, Thai-Italian pop star Valentina Ploy braves the scene once again starting with her new single “Drunk Sleeping in Taxis” under What the Duck Music, Thailand’s forward-thinking music label.
“Drunk Sleeping in Taxis” is a song that the musician holds dear to her heart. It’s about how she gets scared and shows the worst part of herself to the person she loves most and is afraid of not being loved the same way. It’s very easy to idealize yourself and like yourself at your best but when you’re drunk sleeping in taxis, irrational, at your worst, would people still feel the same about you?
Image courtesy of What the Duck Music
Ploy wrote this all down and it healed her. People tend to see Ploy as a very happy, positive, smiley person which reflects some true parts of her but, for her, she also has many insecurities and flaws. She is afraid to show those flaws.
“Drunk Sleeping in Taxis” is an act of courage choosing to share this vulnerable part of her life. Normalizing the human side of us all over perfection is something that the singer-songwriter, through the new track, wishes she could always do, where the lyrics could speak for themselves.
Musically, Ploy has kept the soul of the song whilst making it more dynamic than a simple acoustic version. Real piano and acoustic guitar are still the main core structure of the song mixed with heartbeat-like pop kicks.
Image courtesy of What the Duck Music
For “Drunk Sleeping in Taxis”, Ploy worked with producer/songwriter Richard Craker who created magic with it and helped finish the song from scratch. Craker served as a fundamental figure in creating the final song. “He played with the sounds, turned vocal ad libs into samples, made sure to add the little details that made the track very me”, said Ploy. “[Emotions], vulnerability, honesty – that always moves me”.
“This song is actually a weird one. Normally every song I would write would be just guitar, then give to the producer so we can fix everything else together,” she shared.
“This one, I wrote the chorus in my bedroom, it was about 2am. Then the following morning I scroll down my Instagram, you could hear the little clips of me singing the song, and it was just the chorus. And then I originally wrote a totally different verse. Then I got in touch with my producer and I asked him what he thought about it. He was, like ‘The chorus is so great, I love the concept and it’s very nice, but I think you can do better with the verses…’ So I left it there just sitting on my phone memos for, I think two months. Then I thought that I really needed to finish the song.”
Image courtesy of What the Duck Music
She added, “It was actually a very vulnerable night again, I found myself changing everything from the melodies to the lyrics for the first and second verse, and so I had a more complete song. And then with the production I worked with Richard Craker, he’s a very talented producer from England and he definitely put all the sounds and stuff that I was visualizing in my head, hearing in my head rather.”
When asked about the Philippines, the artist shares the country holding a particularly special place in her heart as she has graced a couple of major Spotify Philippine playlists, the charts of the country’s top radio stations, and feature articles in local magazine. She has also done a YouTube performance video of her aforementioned 2020 single “Love You Better” with our very own Alexa Ilacad. Ploy has also joined forces with Jayda, Jona, Kyla, KZ Tandingan, Lesha, Moira Dela Torre, and some of Southeast Asia’s most exciting female recording artists for the charity single “Heal”.
“I’ve never been to the Philippines, sadly, ‘cause it’s a place that’s always been on top of my list of places that I want to visit because I’ve seen so many beautiful pictures of islands and crystal seas,” she bared.
“Before releasing music, I don’t think I’ve had any Filipino friends, but after releasing music and getting more in touch with Filipino people, I’ve learned that you guys are so nice! Now, I get to speak with so many Filipinos on my Instagram, and I can say that a good deal of people who listen to my music are from the Philippines, and that makes me so happy. I find that culturally it’s not very distant from what I am, I guess, warm people, nice, and super-supportive, so I really appreciate that.”
Valentina Ploy’s “Drunk Sleeping In Taxis” is now out on Spotify, Apple Music and all digital streaming platforms. For more updates follow Valentina Ploy on all her social media accounts.