Bahari

Bahari weaves a shimmering, harmonically rich strain of pop from folk, AM radio classics, thumping EDM, and aching R&B threads, yielding an unmistakably prismatic texture. The California act’s first EP, Dancing on the Sun, surfaced in 2016 with sultry, shoreline-inflected tracks steeped in generations of pop lineage, while the 2018 breakthrough single “Savage” introduced a harder-edged electro-pop edge. That breadth expanded further through the emotionally direct ballads on 2021’s Forget You EP, the hazy introspection of 2023’s “Kills Me,” and the alluring G-Eazy collaboration “Vampires.”

The project took shape in Los Angeles during 2014 with three songwriters and multi-instrumentalists: Kenya-raised keyboardist Ruby Carr, Nashville-born bassist Natalia Panzarella, and California-bred guitarist Sidney Sartini. Having known one another since adolescence, they began composing together under the shared sway of classic acts such as Fleetwood Mac and Bob Dylan alongside modern voices like Christina Aguilera and Destiny’s Child. Their arrival came in late 2014 via the folk-tinged debut single “Wild Ones,” followed by guest vocals on Zedd’s “Addicted to a Memory” from the 2015 album True Colors. Displaying an affinity for the full sweep of AM pop and girl-group traditions, the trio issued Dancing on the Sun in May 2016 through Interscope Records. The ensuing year brought several stand-alone releases, among them renditions of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and the Youngbloods’ “Get Together.” Soon afterward they exited Interscope, issuing the self-released 2018 tracks “Fucked Up” and “Savage,” the latter embracing a more electronic pop framework that accumulated tens of millions of streams. By year’s end Sartini had departed, leaving Carr and Panzarella to continue briefly as a duo.

Mid-2019 saw the collaborative single “Miles to Your Heart” with Sultan + Shepard and Rock Mafia appear on 12TONE/WEA, the same year Bahari released the independent track “Gameboy.” They also appeared on Illenium’s “Crashing,” included on the soundtrack to To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. An early-2020 tour alongside Elohim preceded the duo’s mid-year signing with Epic Records, which debuted them on the label via a Bia-featuring remix of “Savage.” Additional singles followed—“Waking Up Neighbors,” “bipolar,” and “Jackie Kennedy”—all collected on the sophomore EP Forget You in 2021. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic Carr and Panzarella relocated to a Laurel Canyon residence where they assembled a home studio, enabling them to document song ideas as they emerged. Further independent releases arrived, including 2022’s “Hot Mess” with Yoshi Flower and “Destructive.”

April 2023 brought the reflective, atmospheric single “Kills Me,” signaling a fresh artistic chapter as Panzarella steered the project forward alone. The G-Eazy collaboration “Vampires” appeared in late 2024.