Ivelisse del Carmen is a Puerto Rican songwriter and trained singer based in London. She frames “Illusion” through bolero and jazz, with Sylvia Rexach named as a lyrical reference point and Billie Holiday named as a vocal touchstone. She also documents process and identity on her Substack, Letters in Melody, and is releasing the track directly through her own website alongside a minimal music film.
“Illusion” opens with slow, sparse high piano notes. Vintage-sounding strings sit in the background of the intro, setting a classic mood before the vocal arrives. When del Carmen comes in, the vocal is upfront and nostalgic, with an authentic classic tint.
The piano keeps a high, airy pattern while the strings stay behind the vocal as a steady layer. The track builds its cinematic feel from that combination: voice leading, piano and strings holding the atmosphere.
Del Carmen calls it an English-language bolero shaped by desire and ambiguity, and describes the production as a conversation between bolero and jazz, with bossa nova and blues in the recording language.
Sync fit: late-night film or TV scenes, quiet dialogue, breakup aftermath, slow city shots, anywhere a close vocal over piano and strings can carry the scene.
https://ivelistica.com/album/3857121/illusion
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