Ahead of the release of her new album, Do It Again, Shannon Dooks, lends her supple voice to its earnest and heartfelt lead single, “Doubts” — available now.
When a once-thriving connection turns dubious, acknowledging the signs can be a tough experience — and “Doubts” says it all. Everything from the innocent piano intro to the mellow rhythm sections that follow, the arrangements send the notion of a fond farewell wrapped in a melodic package.
The message within is signed, sealed and delivered by Shannon Dooks’s harmonious and smooth vocal style.
As light as the single sounds, the weight within the lyrics denotes a tipping point in a crumbling relationship. According to the Toronto-based artist, “it’s that feeling of constantly putting in effort into the relationship and each broken promise is that much more devastating as it goes on and then you finally reach a breaking point.”
The introductory lyrics in the first verse of “Doubts” perfectly summarizes the singer’s insight: “Don’t write, don’t text, don’t call, don’t do anything at all.”
Further reinforcing the message are the closing lyrics of the first verse: “You tell me go, you tell me stay, you tell me leave, but don’t tell me what I should believe.”
While Shannon Dooks is known for writing her own songs, “Doubts” was penned by Toronto-based internationally-renowned songwriter, Rosanne Baker Thornley. The single was intended to be a submission for film and television spots, however the voice of Shannon Dooks was found to be a perfect vessel for the tone of the single.
“Doubts” was then adopted to be the lead single for her forthcoming album, Do It Again — a follow-up to her 2014 self-titled debut EP, Shannon Dooks, that has over 150,000 streams on Spotify alone.
In between her aforementioned releases, Shannon Dooks has been active in the meantime; her YouTube channel is sprawling with live-off-the-floor funkified renditions of classics such as Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” among many others, and she also lends her vocals to “Violet” and a cover of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” by JUNO Award-winning R&B singer-songwriter, Daniel Caesar. Her songwriting and vocal feature credits also extend to Canadian singer-songwriter Raff Pylon’s “Christmas in California,” featuring Snoop Dogg.
“Doubts,” and the album, Do It Again, were recorded at the legendary Kensington Sound recording studio in Toronto. Dooks’s team comprises of Canadian producer, Ben Pelchat, Los Angeles producer, Earl Powell and UK producer Will Schollar — with the latter single handedly producing “Doubts” — as well as songwriter Rosanne Baker Thornley.
