Title: “The Bedroom Sessions (Vol. I)”
Artist: Kara Romero, Younghood
Release Date: January 25, 2025
Recorded: Basement Studios, Manhattan, New York
Genre(s): Hip-Hop, Rap, RnB
Length: 27:19
Label: Just Record
Producer(s): Kara Romero, Younghood
“The Bedroom Sessions (Vol. I)” is a collaborative E.P from American/Spanish artist ‘Kara Romero’ and hip-hop artist ‘Younghood’, the pair began teaming together in early 2024 having recorded a track together titled “DTF” for Kara’s 2023 sophomore album “Post-Traumatic” and found that they had an instant connection in the recording studio. They opted to meet up and work on the project sporadically throughout the year, removing any real pressure and commitment to the project and just go with the flow and see what they came up with throughout the process. One of the first songs they finished was “Love Dealer”, which was a track that Kara had been working on prior to the team-up, bringing it to ‘Younghood’ to work on from a producer position, but with some in-studio work, it evolved into a collaborative track between the pair, setting the pathway to the E.P project together.
The two then began meeting sporadically to work on tracks together that would eventually form a collection of tracks that they considered worthy of releasing, put the idea to Kara’s label ‘Just Record’ and began to take on the project in a more serious basis. At the time of recording, ‘Younghood’ was also working on his solo record “Gang Shit” which would become his final release under ‘FREEDOM’ with all the signs pointing to the hip-hop artist moving over to ‘Just Record’ at the end of his recording deal with his current label. This all lined up perfectly with ‘Just Record’ agreeing to the collaborative E.P and eventually the two artists likely to be part of the label for the future, leading to the possibility of this being a project that they could return to regularly over the years, given the chemistry that the two evidently have together.
In discussing the project, Kara described it as a liberating experience and wanting to showcase that as the main selling point of the E.P. Having tackled more serious emotions and themes in her previous two releases “The Therapy Session EP” and her sophomore album “Post-Traumatic”, the singer-songwriter’s main objective was to go into a studio without a weight over her head and just let loose, create something fun and a little risqué which is exactly what helped drive the project along. [i]“Last few projects, people have seen me hint at that Rap style but still keep to that R&B lane. For this one, I wanted to go all out and really give a good taste of what I can do with the chains off. But it was important for me to have a little more fun with it, not so focused on heavy shit and telling a detailed story. Just play around with beats and ideas and see where we ended up and I think that’s exactly what we managed to do. We got a couple of fun tracks about proving we belong and shit and a couple of fun tracks about love and crazy bedroom shit. We talked a lot about what this project is early on and decided we didn’t want it to be anything specific, just open it up and see where it goes. I feel like it’s all over the place, but I think in a good way. I definitely think this is just the start of something more long-term between us. Like fuck, if we had the time to commit to an album together, I’d have been all in for that. I think for me, that’s definitely gonna be a priority some day. We just need to figure out when we can both find the time to go all in on that sort of shit. But for right now, I see this release as a little taster to something bigger down the road.”
Recorded sporadically from May 2024 through to December 2024 at Basement Studios in Manhattan, New York by Kara Romero and Younghood and produced by the pair with Younghood taking the lead production on the project. The E.P will be released on January 25, 2025 via ‘Just Record’.
Artist’s Comments;Younghood wrote:“This was something that has been in the works for some time. I think that we do have a connection to our style and how we think about music and song writing. Also if locked in a studio against my will no one better than Kara to be in there with you right? This was a lot of fun to work on and to have someone to bounce ideas off of and get feedback. From someone that is super talented in their own right hearing their opinion and how they looked at things I think made me better in my craft and how I approach things going forward.”
Kara wrote:”Man, it feels like I’ve known ‘Younghood’ for so long. Maybe that ‘Just Record’ connection makes it feel longer, I know he ain’t been signed there but he’s tight with the guys at the label, so we’ve always been connected in that way. It took us until 2022 to actually get into a studio together and work on something when we recorded “DTF”, but it’s something we talked about for a few years before we actually got around to it. But once we were in a studio together everything just connected perfectly and shit, we’ve been in pretty much regular contact ever since then. We kept it mostly social for a year or more after and I asked him to drop in for advice on “Love Dealer” which I was working on, shit just spiralled from there and within a couple of days it became a collab track and we were already working on all kinds of other ideas.
I’mma always be the hype woman for his work in the production booth and his musical ear, he creates shit that is just so unique and inspiring that you can’t help but go fucking nuts in the recording booth. For me the definition of an inspiration spark, I think anybody creative needs that person to bounce off and I’m so fucking lucky that I’ve become so close with is the guy that can create this shit. Like I’ve got ambitions to take this collab further, with albums and tours and shit but if we never collab like this again I know he’ll always be at the top of my list for producers on my own shit whenever I can bring him into the studio with me. But for me, this E.P is just the introduction to a bigger project together down the road, I’ve got no doubts on that.”
Tracklisting;01. “Toxic Shit” (5:19)
02. “Come Up” (4:47)
03. “Love Dealer” (5:03)
04. “Whatever” (3:59)
05. “Bring a Friend” (4:58)
06. “Dummy Shit” (4:33)
Singles;“Love Dealer” (June 20, 2024) [#1]
“Toxic Shit” (January 8, 2025) [#2]
Credits & Personnel;CREDITSProduced by Younghood, Kara Romero
Engineered by Younghood
Mixed by Younghood
Recorded at Basement Studios, Manhattan, New York, USA
PERSONNELYounghood – vocals, lyrics, composition, production, programming, engineering, mixing
Kara Romero – vocals, lyrics, production
Abella Diaz – lyrics
[*track “Love Dealer”]