On June 22, R&B artists Milky Day and Denise Julia had an exclusive release listening party hosted by Unbound Entertainment Group to give a first listen to their new single, “Let Me.” Milky Day is a Korean-New Zealander producer and singer-songwriter that HALSUG had the chance to interview in May. In the interview, Milky hinted at a “pretty exciting collab single” that was to come out in a month or two. Fast forward to today, Milky is releasing a single with Filipino R&B singer-songwriter and producer, Denise Julia. You may have heard of Denise from her hit single “NVMD” which blew up on TikTok in 2022. HALSUG had the opportunity to attend the listening party to hear their collaboration for the first time and ask both of them some questions.

“Let Me” is an R&B song that captures Milky and Denise’s personal experiences while embodying the intimacy of a summer night drive. The song creates a dreamy atmosphere with the R&B sounds and vocals that complement each other. ”Let Me” is a song that can be listened to on a late-night drive on the weekend with a significant other or someone you really like as both Denise and Milky agreed upon. Milky also stated that a good time to listen to this song, and this goes for a lot of his songs, is “if they're stressed or worried about something or they're like missing someone. And I was hoping it would kind of help take their mind off it and cheer them up.” Not only did their voices complement each other in the song, but they both mentioned the collaboration went smoothly and they worked well together during the creative process.

During the creative process, Milky produces the track first about 80-90% of the time. “As I was producing, I wanted something that was easy listening but also had a lot of emotional depth. Of course, I was thinking about the whole night drive concept the whole time as well. So after I had a loop produced, I wrote the chorus idea which I really liked. Then I wrote my verse. And I was about to write the second verse but then thought, ‘Hmm, you know maybe it would be a good idea to tell the story from another perspective and maybe having some kind of soulful female vocalist feature on it would be good.’” So, Milky got in touch with Denise and her management to have her collaborate on the track with him. Along with the creative process, Milky says his favorite thing about the music production was “definitely the drop. I'm a sucker for drops. I’m obsessed with 808s. I just love the way that the first chorus fits with the way of the guitar or the heavy bassline.” 

For Denise, this was her first formal collaboration. At the time of writing this song, she said she was in a “high of emotions,” so it was really easy for her to write. She played the beat once and started humming the melody right away. Denise said her favorite part of the production “definitely was adding the layers to my vocals because I really enjoy that part. I love adding thickness to the vocals, just like adding those little embellishments, that was definitely my favorite part because it's very chill. The song’s very mellow, so there's a lot of room to play with your vocals and all those harmonies at the back.”

Both artists learned from each other during the collaboration, and they admired each other’s artistic qualities. They are excited about the future as they both have much more in store for fans. Denise said she is working on an album that will be her first full body of work, and she will be performing at her first international music festivals in Thailand and Indonesia. Milky has an EP coming out in August that touches on topics he hasn’t brought out before. He also has music video projects coming out and live performances in Thailand and Sydney. So make sure to follow both Milky and Denise on their social media platforms to stay updated on their new single, future music releases, and more.

Milky shared that he wanted “Let Me” to “melt away listeners’ worries and stresses.” Well, this song will surely do that and make fans and listeners melt away with their dreamy vocals and sound. Milky and Denise’s new single “Let Me” is out now on all major streaming platforms. Let us know what you think of the collaboration and new single by commenting below or reaching out to us on Instagram and Twitter. 

Edited by - Martina Yee