Kevin Bronson on August 17th, 2016

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Valida Carroll — whom you probably know as Valida — is a KCRW radio host and nightlife maven who has DJ’d worldwide and whose exploits locally have included helming many Los Angeles club nights, including, currently, Wednesday’s Desert Nights at the Standard Hollywood. Her globe-trotting and record-spinning (along with work remixing the likes of Foster the People and Saint Motel), though, have relegated making original music to the back burner for the better part of a decade.

Valida’s new single “Stars” is her first original since 2012, and for the native of Bosnia it represented a challenge. “One time I said to a friend that I could not write a happy song even if I tried,” she says, “but I remember adding ‘Well, maybe if I tried really hard …’” Mission accomplished. The ’80s-influenced pop anthem, co-produced by Timalayo and Joseph August Luisi (who drums for Kauf), serves as a breezy mood elevator, the kind of  happy pill that’s an antidote (if only temporary) to fretting over national and international affairs, succumbing to the malaise of big-city life and obsessing over perceived personal shortcomings.

“‘Stars’ is about letting go,” Valida syas. “We’ve built too many walls to protect us from experiencing each other. Maybe it’s the L.A. way of life of constantly being in a car going through life behind a window. I know a lot of people who can use the extra push in going after their dreams, myself included. I wanted to create a world where love conquers self-doubt.”

||| Stream: “Stars”

||| Previously: “Wild Heart”