PREMIERE: Malea Drops Dazzling ‘Swept Away’

Los Angeles-based electro-pop diva Malea premieres the music video for “Swept Away,” the title track from her new EP.

Encouraged by her high school music teacher to embark on a musical journey, Malea graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, where she majored in classical vocal performance. While attending school, she was cast in the Broadway premiere of The King and I. Playing the role of Tuptim, her performance led to further acting roles.

In 2014, she released her breakout single “Give,” which hit the Top 20 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. She followed with “One Hot Mess,” scoring the number one slot on Billboard’s Electronic Dance Chart, where it remained for ten weeks. Later, she shared the stage with Shawn Colvin, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Train.

The video, directed by Derek Weissbein, who worked on the film Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, centers on Malea and her mesmerizing otherworldly voice. Malea’s visage floats amidst diaphanous visual effects of dripping liquescence steeped in luminous points of light. Sheens of glowing blue colors ripple and fade to deep indigo, as if Malea inhabits the logarithmic spirals of the Empyrean.

“Swept Away” opens with a delicate piano and Malea’s gorgeous, ethereal voice. The measured flow of the pulsing rhythm provides a wafting superstructure, as streaming strings roll out translucent textures. Malea’s voice infuses the music with opulent subtle timbres, a universal element, like the phlogiston of the ancients, something spread evenly at creation through the cosmos, but prone to accrete into a single scrumptious vocal power. This is a sublime, glorious voice.

“Swept Away” goes beyond excellent, entering the realm of superlative, as the harmonics expand vertically as well as horizontally, immersing listeners in exotically sensuous savors of color and sonic ambience.