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Vernon D’Souza Pays Tribute to His Uncle on New Ballad ‘Better Place’

The Asansol-based singer-songwriter worked with teenage Mumbai producer Alstan Remedios on the track

Nov 10, 2021

Asansol-based singer-songwriter Vernon D'Souza. Photo: Rohit Das

This past August, Asansol-based singer-songwriter Vernon D’Souza woke up in the wee hours to his mother sobbing only to learn of the passing of his 44-year-old uncle Julius Dias. “He was like my best friend and we had some wonderful times together,” says D’Souza. He adds, “His death was extremely shocking to me and my world came crashing down.” Through the pain, the artist in D’Souza turned to music for healing and sat at his piano and composed a beautiful tribute to his late uncle in the shape of his just-released track entitled “Better Place.”

Talking about how the song came to be, the musician says, “Within an hour I had composed the tune and written the final lyrics. The theme of the song is assurance and comfort, about my faith and that all our departed loved ones go where there is no pain, just an eternity of peace and happiness.”

“Better Place” opens with a hauntingly beautiful piano intro before lush and comforting chords sit under D’Souza’s poignant lyrics and emotional vocal performance while guitar strums, strings and horns elevate the track. The singer-songwriter worked with Mumbai-based 17-year-old producer Alstan Remedios to help flesh out the song. D’Souza says, “Alstan has done the song absolute justice, elevating it to a whole new level, both emotionally and musically.” The singer-songwriter admits that recording his vocals for the song was painful. He says, “All those happy memories with my uncle came rushing back at me. I broke down many times.”

D’Souza has also put together a music video for “Better Place” which has been shot by cinematographer Rohit Das in Asansol. Currently, the musician is working on plenty of new material that he hopes to release soon. He says, “I want to make a mark for myself in the music industry and have made up my mind to never give up on this dream. I try to be as versatile as possible with each track I put out as I enjoy experimenting with and gliding across genres, which makes it more challenging musically and lyrically.”

Watch the video for “Better Place” below and stream the song on Spotify.

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