While many smooth jazz artists create their music as a means of pure escapism, Carol Albert has scored numerous Billboard chart hits over the past five years with songs that powerfully chronicle her evolving personal emotions and thoughtfully reflect upon the world around her. The multi-talented pianist and composer’s latest single, the infectious, deeply soulful mid-tempo ballad “Paradigm Shift,” artfully captures the profound shift of consciousness that’s taken hold of all of us in the wake of the darkest days of the pandemic.


Co-written by Carol, Paul Brown and Shane Theriot and produced by and featuring Brown on guitar, “Paradigm Shift” – going for radio adds August 8 - is one of the lead singles from Carol’s upcoming full length album, whose title Magic Mirror literally reflects the theme of self-reflection in this era of new awakenings. The collection will also include the artist’s most recent singles “Fire & Water” (which reached #4 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Songs chart) and “Crashing,” intended as a digital release for fans only.


While representing a dynamic new phase of Carol’s recording career, “Paradigm Shift” and Magic Mirror follow on the high charting heels of four hit radio singles from Carol’s 2020 album Stronger Now, including three Top 5’s - “Stronger Now,” “Perfect Sunday” and “Femme Flight,” the latter of which featured flutist Ragan Whiteside and saxophonist Magdalena Chovancova and earned Carol a new legion of fans via extensive airplay on SiriusXM’s Watercolors. In addition to their success at radio, “Perfect Sunday” and “Stronger Now” have achieved unprecedented streaming numbers for the smooth jazz genre, with “Perfect Sunday” currently at over 6.4M streams on Spotify and “Stronger Now” at over 2.1M.  


Reflecting on the connected themes of “Paradigm Shift” and Magic Mirror, Carol says, “To me, there has been a profound shift of consciousness as we emerge from the pandemic. It’s like we’re stepping through a mirror, looking more closely at ourselves and experiencing a journey where so many of us are taking stock of our lives like never before. We’re asking ourselves, ‘What’s it all about? Who have I become? And do I like where I am?’ These are the questions that have come naturally to me, and the melody, rhythm and overall flow of the song is a musical expression of the fresh perspective I have on the direction of my life and career.”


One of the unique musical manifestations of these revelations was Carol’s choice on “Paradigm Shift” to play live with Brown (who produced five tracks on Stronger Now) at Carmen Grillo’s Big Surprise Music studio in L.A. (with light edits later) rather than have them record their parts separately and compile them later digitally. The result is a beautiful, freewheeling, largely improvisational conversation that comes across more like a duet between two masterful artists than a solo piano track with a guitar feature. 


“In the past,” she says, “I always played by myself in a little cubicle and added parts later around the piano. It was fun and inspiring to do things differently with Paul this time. Nothing creates that musical spark like the live energy of playing in together in the same room. After the session, I went to the beach in the afternoon on what was the perfect California surf day. I remember wanting the music to capture that feeling of being at the beach on a perfect afternoon and how carefree it felt to be there watching the surfers.” 


With the release of “Paradigm Shift,” the  Atlanta based artist continues to build on the career momentum she’s experienced since breaking through on the smooth jazz charts in 2017 with “Mas Que Nada” and her first Billboard charting single “One Way.”  Carol’s other recent radio hits include the Top 10 “Sun’s Out,” the Top 5 “Fly Away Butterfly” (the title track from her previous album, released in 2017), “Chasing Waterfalls” and “One Way.”

Celebrating #4 for “Fire & Water” on Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart this week with a nice Pinot Noir. Cheers to Jason Gorov Gorov Music Marketing Radio and Fans of Contemporary Jazz:

#3 MediaBase 
#2 GrooveJazz Chart 
#3 RadioWave 
#12 SmoothJazz.com

Carol's latest single, "Fire & Water" hits #12 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Charts. Thanks to all the fans, and radio programmers for promoting this latest song from Carol. Learn more about Fire & Water - click here.

Congratulations to Carol Albert for making the 2021 Billboard Smooth Jazz Year End Charts. Carol's song titled, "Perfect Sunday (feat. Paul Brown)" hit #34. Click here to see the top 50.