‘lie to me’ is the seventh track on lovescene: and features Destiny Rogers, an LA based singer-songwriter. James and Destiny worked on the song together while in LA earlier this year and came to the Philippines to shoot the music video.
As Careless Music’s founder and president, James has always been driven elevate the local music scene by providing exposure on a global scale. After over a decade in showbusiness, James has moved his focus on both his own music career and growing Careless. With the release of lovescene: 5 years after his album ‘Palm Dreams’, James has begun to show a more vulnerable side to himself through his music and the visuals that accompany them.
James met Destiny during a visit to The Stereotypes’ studio in LA last January 2020. By that time, she had already released her EP, Tomboy, and was working on more music and looking for artists to collaborate with. When James went back to LA in 2022 to work on lovescene:, he asked Destiny if she was willing to collaborate with him on a song. Destiny agreed and they finished working on ‘lie to me’ together, and according to James “[Destiny’s] vocals really brought the song to a whole other level.”
Last September, Destiny came to Manila to shoot the ‘lie to me’ music video and experience the music and nightlife scene along with the Careless team. She was also able to perform some songs at HQ, Poblacion. James says “Destiny is pretty much family at this point.”
The life and death cycle of love has been the main message of lovescene:, and lie to me shows the slow burning and bittersweet death of a romance and even hints at an attempt to move on despite it all.
This collaboration between Destiny and James serves as a stepping stone for Careless to even more collaborations with international artists. Working with like-minded individuals such as Destiny opened up more opportunities for Careless to collaborate with other artists, local or international. For now, expect to see more of Destiny in upcoming Careless projects.
“Cry for me. Even if the tears that fall are make-believe, I want you to lie to me.” These lyrics from the R&B focused track produced by De’La express an unconventional way of accepting that the love two people have for one another has come to an end.
From one perspective, there is a fear of growing apart from their partner but they try to make it as painless as possible. On the other hand, the lyrics speak about being used as a source of consolation in the relationship, but they would rather have the comfort of lies than be lonely.
lovescene: was released on all major streaming platforms last October and collectively has over 2 million streams to date. The music videos for ‘u & i’ and ‘lie to me’ are now on the Careless Music YouTube channel as well as lyric visualizers for all 10 tracks.
