Nineteen-year-old indie folk singer-songwriter Lilly Marshall recently dropped her debut single, “Ocean Song,” a song about accepting that people can love you, only as much as they can.
Lilly explains, “My goal is to never regret. Any opportunity I get, I want to seize. Any place I can go, I want to go. I want to feel everything, from falling in love to gut-wrenching heartbreak. I don’t want to miss out on a thing because one day, I won’t be here. I just want my time here to be worthwhile.”
Co-written by Lilly Marshall, Marc Swersky, and Brielle Brown, the track was produced by double Grammy winner Swersky.
The child of a Nicaraguan mother and Dutch/Irish father, Lilly was born and raised on the New Jersey shoreline. By the time she was seven, her parents had been through a painful divorce.
According to Lilly, “They did the best they could at the time but were just so young. I had to grow up a little faster than most. I was a very independent child. I had two older brothers, but a lot of the responsibility fell on me. Because of it, I adopted qualities that have made me who I am today. It showed me that I can face hard things and that I will always be strong. I longed for a certain upbringing for so long, but now looking back I would not change a thing.”
As a child, Marshall frequented the legendary Stone Pony, with her mother, who was friendly with the club’s owners and accompanied her on road trips to her hometown of New Orleans. The trips kindled her thirst for travel while she soaked in the sounds, seeped in history.
“Music and wonder were infused in my blood,” says Lilly.
By the time Marshall was 17, she had already traveled across the country on her own, the backseat of her Jeep armed with a bed and curtains—like a wandering gypsy.
“Ocean Song” opens on creamy, dizzying tones, at once gleaming and gentle, flavored with rippling piano aromas and cashmere, drifting guitars. Effortlessly luxurious, Lilly’s remarkable voice conveys a slightly breathless sootiness, providing a captivating mood-setting – aglow with soft, nuanced timbres.
Tranquil with the merest hint of melancholy, “Ocean Song” showcases the ooh la la smoky vocals of Lilly Marshall, who has it going on.
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