Francis Karel Releases His Eagerly Awaited New Single As He Builds On His Huge Viral Success.

Francis Karel has a fairy tale back story. It’s the sort of tale that you’d almost think you’d only see in a movie but this endearing story is a true one and it’s a story that has inspired a huge following for an artist with a wonderful ability to weave a lyrical story with a hugely captivating voice and persona.

An awkward coffee spill in front of a record executive at a Festival in Jakarta led to a chat which led to the opportunity of a lifetime that saw Francis head away from his birthplace and move to the USA to begin a journey which is as inspirational as it is heart-warming.

Having first gained notoriety on TikTok when he started posting Omegle reaction videos of himself singing to strangers in a self-professed mission to bring joy to people in the most unexpected places, he quickly became a viral sensation with his disarming style and stunning voice, often reducing his listeners to tears of joy as they realised just how good this artist is. This quickly led to some quite high profile followers and fans and even one of his own inspirations, Tori Kelly, dueting his song. Even Zane Lowe waded in, telling his listeners that Francis Karel had “figured it out”. This is high praise from someone who has been instrumental in sourcing some of the world’s biggest names during his time at BBC Radio 1.

Now based completely in LA, Karel seems to be going from strength to strength as he builds upon this very modern viral success story by doing that incredibly old fashioned thing of just releasing very good music. The last songs ‘You’re Too Close’, ‘Another’ and ‘Fall’ have quickly established Karel as an artist reminiscent of Ed Sheeran and Jon Bellion, an artist who can bring honest stories to life in a charismatic and charming way. His ability to transport the listener quickly into his world is something he has brought effectively from his social media days and makes his new studio recordings something to take note of.

The new single ‘I Don’t Know How Much I Like You’ was released late last week and it deals with the emotional vulnerability of that moment when you are caught off guard by that rush of emotion and feeling for another human being. That early phase when you are still trying to get a handle on all the new emotions that are flooding into your world.

Karel says:

“I’m not usually one to catch feelings for another, so it really catches me off guard when I end up feeling for someone. It puts me in a place of confusion and frustration, and although it can be a nice feeling, sometimes I wish I didn’t have to feel any of it.”

While he was growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, Karel was a student of pop radio hits and took a huge leap of faith to leave everything behind to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, moving to the States to study at the Los Angeles College of Music. That must seem like a brave thing to do but with this single following on from the success of ‘You’re Too Close’ which premiered on Zane Lowe and built up an impressive 5m+ streams on Spotify, something almost unheard of for an artist at this early stage of his career, it is starting to look like a gamble that might pay off. Honest lyricism, skilful vocal ability and soulful guitar all combine to bring to mind, for me, an artist reminiscent of the incredible Israel Kamakawiwo’ole or Michael Kiwanuka and must surely make Karel an artist to keep an eye on. There will be a debut album next year and I personally can’t wait.