• Artist: King avriel
• Track: Be Cool
• Producer: Cook Classics
• Album: Liberation

Ever been in a relationship that's simply too good to be true, one so perfect that you can't look at the person in question without your heart racing? On new single Be Cool, Booth newcomer Avriel Epps describes just such a situation, and lets us in on a strategy that helps her calm her nerves when things get a little too picture-perfect: she just pretends it's all... well... pretend. (Pre)charged beatsmith Cook Classics mans the boards here, serving up a woozy, synth-driven instrumental in 6/8 as the L.A. singer/songwriter takes a page from my dead homie William Shakespeare's book (“All the world's a stage,” et cetera), reminding herself that “the moon is the lighting, his eyes are the lens and his Benz is the stage.” While I'm not sure if Epps' trick would work for those of us who haven't spent most of their lives as entertainers (the combination of stomach-butterflies and stage fright would probably make me throw up in abject terror), that doesn't detract from this joint's left-of-center catchiness. If you're digging it, you'll be able to hear more from Epps and Cook Classics on collaborative EP Liberation, due out in August.