Pina Palau — Jupi

Like salt and caramel or chilies and chocolate, Jupi (English: Yippee), the debut single from singer-songwriter Pina Palau, is a perfect blend of tasty contradictions. It’s modern indie-folk wrapped up in sweet melancholy and served with a dash of something 60s and West-Coast – topped off with a mild touch of a fizzy euphoria. It’s the type of jam that sounds like it was cut with the winding drive up Highway 101 in mind: everything around you is shimmering, the car windows are down and salty breeze is knotted in your hair. You feel like laughing and crying all at once. Yippee! 

 I wrote this song on the 29th of December, 2020. It was a dark and cold winter day. Switzerland was still in lockdown, and all of my roommates had already left for the holidays. The end of the year always feels like a vacuum to me. It’s both too late and too early to start anything new. I started to think about the last few years. I finished my studies, but then the pandemic hit. I was technically a doctor, but what I wanted to do was music. I had no obligations and no one to take care of. I was free! I could chase my dreams, but the thought of it confused me. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry. 

The song is about me comforting a broken-hearted friend, trying to convince them that it’s great to be single. But as I heard the words coming out of my mouth, they sounded ridiculous, almost ironic. That’s what I love about this song, that on the surface it’s about having your shit together and helping somebody, but if you read deeper into it, it’s actually a song about being at an existential crossroads.– Pina Palau

Jupi is the first single from the debut album titled Illusion, set to drop in 2022 on Mouthwatering Records. It’s a labyrinthine journey through the various shades and possibilities of indie folk. The material explores the most difficult thing in the world: being human. The record was produced together with Mario Hänni of Mnevis and Trio Heinz Herbert.