Music
Emily Curtis Reminisces On Childhood “Sandcastles” With Music Video Steeped in History
Emily Curtis is bringing fans a new music video for her recently released single, “Sandcastles.” “Sandcastles” lyrically explores a poetic contrast between childhood and adulthood. Emily Curtis found inspiration in her own childhood, the joy of creating and building sandcastles, simply because it was fun.
Reflecting on those moments of joy, and remembering what it was like to look at the houses lining the beach, Curtis always found herself saying “those are adult sandcastles” and wondering “if the people who own them ever actually enjoy them? Are they happy?” “Sandcastles” witnesses Curtis and her fellow artists lose themselves and their pure motivation in the race to the top. The single witnesses that loss of the real joy of building and creating and tries to remind the listener that oftentimes, this joy is found in the process, “in becoming, in learning and trying and starting over, in working with good people, in watching other people succeed, or taking a break for a little while to enjoy what someone else made.” Shot at the historic 20 South Battery Mansion, the music video beautifully captures that idea with a real-life “Sandcastle” house.
Built-in 1843, the mansion was originally built as a private residence – reflecting the prosperity that was prevalent in South Carolina during that era. The home served as the first preservation society of Charleston – who lead the country in preservation, theatre, art, and music in the renaissance period of the 1920s – and the birthplace of many new societies created by the suffragists, artists, writer-poets, and other creatives that frequently spent time there. Since then, the mansion has seen everything from war to dignitaries gracing the halls, a reminder to Curtis that she never wants to wonder why she ever bothered building and striving for her next achievement, when everything inevitably fades away. Written to remind herself, and us, to remember the “why” behind our building, creating, and striving, “Sandcastles” is an emotional tribute to childlike wonder and joy.
Emily Curtis is a soulful singer-songwriter with a southern flare. The artist began making waves with her guitar and smooth vocals in the Charleston, SC music scene in 2015 and has since released her own music including a crowd-funded EP and a steady stream of singles. No stranger to the stage, Curtis has performed everywhere from local bars to amphitheaters, to radio, to showcases in the Costa Rican jungle, with show credits including national acts such as Parmalee, Sister Hazel, and hometown favorites Hootie & The Blowfish. Collaboration has been the backbone of her career. Her most recent producers, songwriters, and personal mentors include Micah Nichols, Sam “Heights” Garay, Adam McInnis, and Mario Marchetti as she continues to expand her trusted “music family”. At the end of the day, Emily Curtis hopes to lead people to a place of wholeness and belonging feeling empowered to “Leave a Mark” using the unique gifts and strengths that each person possesses
Connect with Emily Curtis:
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Artist Spotlight
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama
Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.
This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.
Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.
Artist Spotlight
“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival
“NO MORE“ carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.
“NO MORE“ is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.
Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.
“NO MORE“ is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.
Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina
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