CARI shares creative video for guitar-driven emotive new single “The Dealer”
CARI - The Dealer : A High Stakes Short
Stream / Download “The Dealer” Here
“One of R&B's most exciting newcomers.” - Wonderland
“Emerging as a modern soul force.” - Clash
West London's alternative R&B artist CARI returns with new single 'The Dealer'. Guitar-led and genre-bending, the track sits within the alternative R&B landscape but plays more like a feeling than a genre, carefully erupting from a soft soundscape into full-bodied energy that unlocks new melodies both vocally and through production from One Hand (Svn4vr) & PRGRSHN (Tiana Major 9, WSTRN, Stormzy). From the opening line, "Truth be told I knew you wouldn't notice, know you're sleeping easier than I," CARI delivers an emotive offering, letting her audience use the lyrics as a mirror for their own healing, more personal than ever. Lyrically it's trauma-confronting yet healing, wrapped in a heart-wrenching aesthetic that speaks to CARI's tight-knit community of fans, growing steadily as her discography widens.
"The first lines of The Dealer were written last year on a solo trip to Mexico designed to heal my broken heart and finished here in London. This song narrates the experience I needed to get out of my system to make space for something lighter and kinder."
West-Londoner CARI is an alternative R&B artist whose inquisitive sound is as rooted in personality as it is in place. Raised in Shepherds Bush on a diet of gospel, rare groove, lovers rock and the R&B titans her mother played at home, her musical foundation was always going to be anything but ordinary. Those influences, spanning The Isley Brothers and Phyllis Hyman through to Brandy, Tweet and Lauryn Hill, coalesced into something distinctly her own, sharpened further by a longstanding creative relationship with producer Melo-Zed and the confidence she found within London's emerging R&B scene alongside the likes of Tiana Major9. Her 2025 debut EP 'FLUX', a seven-track meditation on heartbreak, fluctuating self-esteem and emotional recentering, announced her as one of British R&B's most compelling new voices, backed by PRGRSHN, Melo-Zed and Tendai, and anchored by vocals that feel simultaneously timeless and future-facing. Since its release, CARI's trajectory has only accelerated. A Grammy acknowledgment for her contribution to Destin Conrad's Grammy-nominated "Love on Digital" was followed by a spot on his European tour, before she opened for KWN at BRITs Week in association with War Child and supported Sasha Keable across dates in Paris and at London's iconic KOKO venue. Collaborations with Venna on his debut album "Veranda" and Roc Nation's Ambré on "Laugh Later, Cry Now" earlier this month. CARI’s growing reputation as a sought-after creative force, has been backed with coverage from NME, Clash, the LA Times and 10 Magazine to confirm CARI’s reputation as one to watch.
With 'The Dealer', CARI adds another chapter to a catalogue that refuses to sit still, proof that her greatest creative-work is still ahead of her. It's a release that confirms what her growing list of fans, collaborators and co-signs already know: CARI is one of British R&B's most vital voices in motion.
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