Feels Like July
I’ve been featuring Jodie Mellor since the beginning of her solo career. I discovered Charlie T Smith through Mellor and their past collaborations. I was actually wondering when they were going to form a duo and it finally happened.
Feels Like July totally makes sense. Their debut single “Windows Down” is catchy and addictive, and it’s the type of songs you’d want to play on repeat. Those melodies are infectious. “Windows Down” is the perfect debut single.
I cannot wait to hear more songs from them. 2023 is definitely going to be a great year for Feels Like July.
“Windows Down” is now available worldwide.
Photo credit: @dreamfactoryldn
Hi, how are you? Could you tell us about your story? How did Feels Like July come about?
Hey! We're both great thank you. Hope you're well. I can't believe you were Jodie's first interview as a solo artist and now you're our first interview as a duo! The idea for Feels Like July has been in the air for a few years. We first met in 2018 at university studying songwriting, got into a relationship and started writing and recording music together. We released two collaborative singles in 2020 and they quickly became our most streamed songs. Every time we played together people asked what our band name was, but we kept putting off forming an official duo. We're not sure why really, maybe the formalities of it, or maybe everyone saying you shouldn't work with your partner. We had a session early 2022 with a friend of ours Fran Morris, and we told her we'd been playing around with the idea of releasing more music together. We wrote our first single in that session and we loved it so much we knew we had to just do it and formed the duo.
You recently released your debut single "Windows Down" - what's the story/inspiration behind this single?
Jodie first had the idea for the song in 2019. It was a really warm day in January which is very rare in the UK, and the idea stemmed from questioning whether it felt like summer because of global warming, or if she was just falling in love. For some reason this idea came back up in the session with Fran and we finished the song soon after. We wrote the lyric 'Feels Like July, but maybe I'm just warming to you' and realised that Feels Like July could be a really cool name for us.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process for this single? Who helped you create it?
So we wrote the song initially with Fran and then finished the second verse and bridge just us two. We both write very differently, Charlie is very melody and production focused and Jodie mostly writes lyrics first. Charlie pretty much had the entire production led out before we had even finished writing the song which is very typical of him. We wanted the production to be a bit different to what we'd done together in the past, so we produced most of it in our at home studio and then recorded some additional vocals and guitars with Katie May to give it a bigger sound. It was mixed by Charlie and Jake Dawes and we're obsessed with how it turned out.
What's your favourite lyric on "Windows Down"?
Charlie: 'It could be a warning that the world is warming / Feels Like July but maybe I'm just warming to you'.
Jodie: 'Don't need to find a reason to get our coffee on ice'.
What made you want to release "Windows Down" as your debut single?
It was the first song we wrote for our duo and it just felt right to be our first release. It spoke about the month of January, and we felt like launching the duo in the new year would be good timing to start something new. We were also just so proud of this song and couldn't wait for everyone to hear it.
As a duo, what is your goal?
Just to keep making music together as long as we can. There's no better feeling than being in the studio together. We also would love to have a sell out debut show.
You both had solo careers before starting Feels Like July - how does it feel like to work on a full project together?
It's fun, and a lot more freeing. We'd built it up in our head as a big deal but have found that there is so much less pressure when there's someone else in the process. Bouncing ideas off each other when it comes to things like artwork and production is something that we've always done as solo artists, but it's exciting to have our ideas come together.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
We both love how much new music there is to discover. It's hard because on one hand we're finding artists that we never would have found before through TikTok, but the industry relies so heavily on it now that it's like you're fighting a losing battle with the amount of new music that's coming out daily. As always, we're passionate about equality in the industry and wish there was more being done for songwriters and minorities.
Could you list a few records that influenced the music you are making today?
Our sound as Feels Like July was definitely influenced by albums like Happy by We Three, Sidelines by Wild Rivers, MUNA, and every Virginia to Vegas song. We both love John Mayer, Holly Humberstone, and Annika Bennett.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
Another John Mayer and Taylor Swift collab. We know it's never coming but we can dream. On a serious note, small daily acts of kindness can go a long way.
What can we expect to hear/see from you two this year?
We've got so much music that's nearly finished and can't wait to put our next single out. It's just about narrowing it all down now. I think a covers album is also something we'd love to do in the future.
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