Kayla Marque is by and large one of Denver’s most talented vocalists — a true artist among artists.  The R&B standout has been making strides in the Denver music scene for more than a decade, and now the emerging singer has returned to the spotlight with the second single from her forthcoming album, Brain Chemistry. Split into two sides, the album represents the right and left the side of the brain. Her new single “Love Should Be,” a song born from the right side of the brain, follows last year’s “Fold In Half”, from the left. If that sounds clinical, Marque’s music is anything but. Her lush voice and phrasing carve out spaces of vulnerability and power, a lens through which she discusses heartbreak, mental health and life in and of itself. The new song, “Love Should Be” is classic Marque, with the artist assessing past love by way of the future.

“I wrote ‘Love Should Be’ years ago when I realized I actually had no idea what love was. I’m a romantic, so I suppose I had this unrealistic idea that love was this pretty thing at all times, but I discovered this was only true some of the time,” says Marque talking about how “Love Should Be” came into existence. “It isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. When you truly love someone, whether it’s a relative, friend, partner, or most importantly yourself, that means you love them beyond beauty —you love them when things are hard.

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The song, a breathless expanse of airy synths and guitars, hug Marque’s spectacular voice as it ebbs and flows through the speakers. When Marque sings “love should feel like water” you can almost feel the waves hitting the shore. Coming from a place of longing and sensuality, “Love Should Be” isn’t a list of grievances — they’re commands in the same way a lover’s touch commands attention. As beautiful as the song is, it almost didn’t see the light of day.
“Like the majority of my other songs, I wrote “Love Should Be” on guitar and have performed an acoustic version of it on many occasions — two of the most important being a friend’s wedding, and a few months later, a friend’s funeral. It broke my heart. I actually wanted to retire the song after that because it was too painful to sing but then I started working with Glenn Sawyer at The Spot Studios… I was oddly compelled to show him the song, and I’m so glad I did because he brought a whole new life to it.”
Check out “Love Should Be” below.