Debrah Scarlett speaks the universal language of music and shares striking debut "Cynical Youth"

“Cynical Youth” is the first single to be taken from Scarlett’s forthcoming EP DYS(U)TOPIA. Complete with strings and soaring melodies, “Cynical Youth” is uplifting transcendental pop with hints of Daughter, Birdy and Florence Welch. There’s a magic in the track’s lyricism that tells a story in similar way to the narratives of fellow Norwegian songstress Aurora.

Born in Switzerland, to a Norwegian mother and Italian-Swiss father, Scarlett moved to Norway at the turn of the millennium, then to Switzerland as a teenager and then back to Norway in 2014, where at 23 years old she's settled - at least for now. The travelling and periodic upheaval meant Scarlett had a hard time fitting in and, as she puts it, felt “like an alien, different from those around me.” Part of this alienation stemmed from knowing so many different languages, but not being able to truly master one or another was a real struggle. As a solution she turned to her music, as “it enabled me to truly express myself”, Scarlett says. “Music became my language.”

From the vocoder intro, to the soft drums and piano of the verses which welcome ethereal backing vocals and finger clicks or the subtle guitar in the second pre-chorus, it’s the soar of Scarlett’s vocals which really transports us to her world.