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Draft:The Shades of Dark Purple

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The Shades of Dark Purple is the upcoming debut studio album by South African R&B singer and songwriter Bayley Garden. It is scheduled to be self-released on November 13, 2026. It features production by Bayley Garden, his longtime executive producer and bestfriend Melanie Styles, his closefriend Daphne Vogue, and others. The album draws influence from 1960s soul and 1970s R&B. A deluxe edition with four additional tracks was released on January 11, 2027.

The Shades of Dark Purple
Studio album by
Bayley Garden
ReleasedNovember 13, 2026
RecordedOctober 2024–ongoing recording process
StudioEast London (Quigney, Highway Gardens, Haven Hills, Southernwood, Nahoon, Vincent, Pillow Park, and Winchester)
GenreAvant-garde soul
LabelSelf-released
Producer
  • Soulstars
  • Bayley Garden
  • Melanie Styles
  • Daphne Vogue
  • Jukai Bee
  • Khlorine
Bayley Garden chronology
The Shades of Dark Purple
(2026)
TBA
(2030)

Development

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Background and recording

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Bayley Garden was born on April 2, 2006, in East London, South Africa, to Lauren, a social worker, and Chris, a Policeman. An only child, he grew up in neighboring Quigney. Garden was born half-deaf in his right ear. Garden is half-English and identifies as African English. His paternal grandparents and great-grand parents emigrated from the English, and is family follows English traditions and cuisine. His father has South African and British ancestry. He grew up listening to his grandmother's favorite R&B/soul bands, such as Boyz II Men, Blackstreet, En Vogue, TLC, Brownstone, SWV and 702.

Garden fell in love with making music at the age of 10. He began to write songs and sold them to other recording artists, selling his first song to the band, the Soulstars at the age of 12. The album is inspired by Garden's experience leaving his hometown in East London for Cape Town to pursue a career as a songwriter. Garden moved back to his hometown to pursue a career as a singer. During his journey of self-discovery, Garden navigated unrequited love, heartbreak, and embraced his sexual identity. The album's themes surround Garden dealing with his masculinity, inspired by unrequited love, heartbreak and sexual identity. Garden started working on the album in 2024, recording in his bedroom studio (which he named Garden World) after he left for school, in between sessions he had with other producers, as well as touring with his band, the Soulstars. Garden created most of the album on his iPhone, producing the guitar and piano arrangements and singing his vocals right into it's built-in microphone.

Composition

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Musically, The Shades of Dark Purple is an R&B, avant-garde soul and psychedelic pop record that includes neo soul, soul, brown-eyed soul, and classic R&B influences. The album also contains elements of jazz, funk, chillwave, hip hop soul, trap and hip hop. Lyrically, The Shades of Dark Purple explores themes of masculism, unrequited love, heartbreak, escapism, loneliness and regret.

Title

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The album is titled after Garden's visualization of purple colors during his birthday month due to synesthesia. Above is a possible association of months with colors by a person subject to the phenomenon.

Garden titled the album in reference to his birthday month and experience with grapheme–color synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which an individual's perception of numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors.

Oh, I named it after my favorite color and in reference to my birthday month and experience with the colors. Purple is my favorite color and I love every shade of my favorite color.

Release history

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Release dates and formats for Rosie
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Various November 13, 2026 [1]

References

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https://www.facebook.com/100042190747270/posts/pfbid02sVoBbefgEzzb5qNHezcH7kzGrqM78fj5t5tLFShr186S9yFabKEcepuLfLaMPZ72l/ https://www.facebook.com/100042190747270/posts/pfbid02NPQe1Apqor1cQTJXKfXQcqVGdy3U28CisrWjhViyDuwSyFeh9h1QffYZNkevZgFfl/ https://www.facebook.com/100042190747270/posts/pfbid028ddS3v8HuXp5peUaZNSiyv8Mojg5fSAa3Jrc3VWCrmf2Siz1Rj4s6fHYvYJHEkWcl/ https://www.facebook.com/100042190747270/posts/pfbid03837mcejM7MJz8nXKJQkoSgfSeWZk9FrQ1E5Uj9gLCRMcUVDNK4bVfRMpwy35gRq9l/

  1. ^ "the shades of Dark purple - mixtape by Bayley Garden". Apple Music. 1 October 2024. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.