“Love Is Still the Same (Happy Holidays)” is available now.
In the spirit of this unique holiday season we – the same friendly humans who ensure your music promotion campaigns reach tastemakers all over the world – wanted to make our own online musical offering
The Play MPE Collective is very much a reflection of our global reach. Primarily based in Vancouver, Canada, our team comes from all over: Sydney, Australia to Rijeka Croatia, Culiacan Mexico to Frimley England, Nueva Ecija, Philippines to Toronto, Canada and more. This song is a gift to our music community and was inspired by the times. The song itself was composed by a handful of our in-house artists, songwriters, musicians and producer. Recorded, mixed and mastered over the course of a few days.
“Love Is Still the Same (Happy Holidays)” is available now in the Player or you can stream it on our YouTube channel.
The Writing & Recording Process:
Zarina: “Given the circumstances of this year, I don’t think I could write your average holiday song, hence decided to centre the lyrics around the ways we have had to adapt over the past year… Although we are currently separated, we are reaching out more than ever and the feelings we receive from these different forms of connection whether it be through pixels on a screen or sound waves through the phone, it’s still the same.”
Alen: “Zarina sent us a demo she recorded with her guitar on her phone. We used that as a basis for the track, then recorded Sean playing guitar chords [and] Zarina’s vocals. In the meantime, Gina and Cate wrote lyrics for their verses, and we recorded them the next day. Once all that was done, I added drums, percussion and some keys to the song, then mixed it. And tried to satisfy everyone’s request for “more sleigh-bell!”
Cate: “I just tried to speak to how it might feel to celebrate NYE in 2020. Even though it will be a lot different, and it will be lonely… I feel optimistic that 2021 will be a year where we can look back and say, ‘wow we survived’, and be grateful. I believe we will appreciate the togetherness more than ever before, when we are able to have that back. And this is an introvert speaking.”
Gina: “I just wanted to add lyrics for the third verse in my native language to spread the beautiful message. This year it was difficult for everyone specially for the ones that are not celebrating the holidays with their loved ones, even though this year is a little different next year this will be in the past and we will move on and be together again.”
A little bit about the creators and performers:
Alen – Director of Operations
Alen started rapping and producing music in 1991-1992 as one of the originators of the Croatian hip hop scene, and released a number of nationally charting songs as an artist and producer. DJing since 1995 as one of the pioneers of the Urban clubbing scene in Croatia, Vitasovic owned an independent record label and music production company, promoted and managed artists, hosted and produced radio shows, organized and promoted festivals, jams, club nights and other events.
Zarina – Operations
Describing herself oh-so-humbly as “just your average bedroom singer”, Zarina grew up singing in school choirs and playing saxophone for her local stage bands back in Australia. She went on to study Sound Design at the University of Technology in Sydney and this is where she learned to record and produce music. Since moving to Canada over 3 years ago, songwriting has become her favorite pastime. She says “Music always has and always will be a huge part of my life and I’m so lucky to be working with a company that allows me to be a part of it, in whatever way I can.”
Cate – Marketing Manager
Cate started playing in bands at age 15 and writing concert reviews for a local paper at 20. A couple of her favourite moments are when her band Junior Major’s music video for “Surface Socket” was featured on MuchMusic’s The Wedge, and the time Narduwaur the Human Serviette handed Carly Rae Jepsen an ultra rare copy of the Quadruple Dare compilation vinyl in an interview. Cate took a decade-long hiatus making music to pursue her career within the music industry. The music muse called her back a few years ago she started writing songs again. A car accident and a second hiatus soon followed, and over the last year she has been relearning how to write, play and sing and has plans to record her first solo project in 2021.
Gina – Operations
Gina has been involved in the music industry since she can remember. Either in choirs, bands or musical theater. She studied music production in Mexico with a vocal major and learned how to play the piano, and started writing songs in her spare time. She then moved to Canada and earned an Arts and Entertainment Management degree. Gina is still making music and working in the music industry and having a ton of fun!
Sean – Operations
Sean grew up playing guitar with friends and in different bands in highschool. He loves learning to play new instruments and collaborating with new people!
