Milky Day and Denise Julia talk new track 'Let Me' and the beauty of a summer night's drive

Their new single 'Let Me' is out now!

Welcome to Bunni Pop extras! From time to time, I will post updates here with new music and profiles of up-and-coming artists. This week, I’m very excited to introduce readers to a soothing new track by artists Milky Day and Denise Julia.

(Photo credit: Unbound Entertainment)

Summer is the season of parties, catchy dance tunes and gatherings with friends. But once the sun sets, there comes a time when one needs to wind down.

That’s why there’s nothing more comforting than an intimate summer night’s drive around the city while listening to music.

In fact, some of my best thinking and adventures come from the quiet moments I have while exploring the streets of Toronto during these trips.

Now with their new track “Let Me,” Milky Day and Denise Julia have perfectly captured all of those feelings. The melodic R&B track evokes feelings of intimacy and longing, blending Milky Day and Denise Julia’s soothing vocals together.

“I wrote the song ‘Let Me’ with the intention of capturing the intimacy of a summer night’s drive,” said Milky Day, in a recent virtual listening session for the song.

The Sydney-based musician added it was just natural to ask Filipino singer Denise Julia to feature on the track because her voice was “a great fit.”

“I am known for writing really toxic songs,” Denise Julia added, which was met with laughs from the audience.

“I wanted to switch it up a bit by writing something about love — healthy love — and just vibing to it.”

“Let Me” was conceived and produced across global borders. Milky Day started the project in Australia, Denise Julia recorded the track in the Philippines and Grammy-award winning engineers Serge Tsai and Alex Psaroudakis handled the mixing and mastering in the U.S.A.

As artists relatively new to the music scene, both Milky Day and Denise Julia have also been making an impression with listeners across the world.

Korean-New Zealander Milky Day (born Sung-Woo) has produced comforting lo-fi, bedroom pop songs including “You’ll Be Alright” and “Take it Slow” that have since gained traction on streaming platforms with over 47 million combined plays on Spotify.

Meanwhile, Denise Julia has garnered more than 99 million streams on Spotify alone with the track “NVMD”, in which she sings about breaking the cycle of going back to a significant other over and over again.

During a recent listening session of their new track “Let Me”, Milky Day and Denise Julia shared more about their collaboration together.

On what they like to listen to during a summer night’s drive

Because “Let Me” was written to capture a summer night’s drive, Milky Day says he likes listening to R&B or downtempo house music while on the road.

“I really like songs that have a deep bass, atmospheric textures or some kind of nice groove,” he said.

“A couple of artists that come to mind are Alina Baraz, Majid Jordan, that kind of style.”

For Denise Julia, the music she turns to include R&B artists including DVSN, Jhené Aiko and Summer Walker.

Milky Day adds that some of his best ideas for song come at night because “there’s something about the darkness that has a different feeling to it.”

“I think just the whole vibe of riding down a highway with street lights passing by, the moon in the sky, like stars blowing. It does put me in a certain mood that can be really inspiring.”

(Photo credit: Unbound Entertainment)

What they learned from each other through this collaboration

“Let Me” marks one of Denise Julia’s first formal collaborations with another musical artist, and she says she was able to learn how to get out of her comfort zone while working with Milky Day.

“You can tap into different styles and learn to enjoy different styles as well. You end up liking something that you would have normally never made before.”

Denise Julia adds that she also admired Milky Day’s “mellow” style and commitment to delivering on his vision for his music.

As for Milky Day, he says he was really taken by Denise Julia’s soulful singing style.

“I noticed that when she writes, she spaces out her vocals really well and fills a space with rich harmonies and ad libs. It creates a lot of movement and allows for melodies to breathe to create this dreamy atmosphere,” he said.

“I feel like I want to take some of those techniques into my own writing style in the future as well.”

(‘Let Me’ was written with the intention of capturing the intimacy of a summer night’s drive, says Milky Day. Photo credit: Unbound Entertainment)

The story they wanted to tell with “Let Me”

“Let Me” captures the warmth a happy romantic relationship, which is part of the reason why Denise Julia was drawn in the song in the first place.

“When this song came to me, I was still in [a] relationship. I was in a happy relationship at the time,” she said.

While that relationship did eventually come to an end, Denise Julia says the emotions she was experiencing at that time helped the lyrics for “Let Me” come easily to her.

“I was in a high of emotions back then as I was writing,” she said. “It was easy to sing that kind of way because I was in love.”

As for Milky Day, “Let Me” takes him back to the days he was living in LA driving around the city with his friends and loved ones.

“Every time we try to look for a new park, a nice lookout spot to sit there looking at the stars, lights and the moon.”

“I wanted ‘Let Me’ to reflect those kinds of calm feelings. I was hoping that it would help melt away the listeners’ worries and stresses as they hear the song.”

Follow Milky Day and Denise Julia on Instagram!

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