“Game of Love” - Michellar Ft. Rad Datsun
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
With Game of Love, Michellar step into the spotlight with the kind of chemistry you can’t manufacture, only stumble into by accident — the happy kind of accident that happens at a songwriting retreat in the San Bernardino mountains. The San Francisco duo, built around the creative spark between Michelle Bond and Brad Johnson, take that serendipity and bottle it into a track that feels simultaneously nostalgic, breezy, and emotionally sharp. It’s modern California songwriting with a classic heart.
What makes Game of Love immediately striking is the vibe — that effortless, looping backtrack that Michelle and Brad built the song around acts like a heartbeat, pulling you into a story about love as sport, ritual, performance, and mischief. The song leans into the idea that romance can be joyful and complicated at the same time, that people play games not always to win, but because they’re scared to lose. It’s cheeky, catchy, and surprisingly tender.
And then there’s the story behind the scenes: demos written in two different states, bouncing between San Franciscoand Minneapolis, before being shipped off to Romanian producer Marius Alexandru, who somehow took the pieces, stretched across continents, and stitched them into one clean, polished, cohesive whole. You’d expect a little disjunction — that patched-together feeling remote recordings sometimes carry — but there’s none. Instead, the production is warm and tight.
The distance becomes part of the song’s DNA. You can hear that subtle push and pull — a slight ache, an echo of disconnection, the kind that love itself often carries. But the final blend is so seamless that it feels like the track resolved its own emotional arc through the recording process, coming out congruent, confident, and beautifully balanced.
It’s also a milestone for Michellar: one of Michelle’s first California collaborations, and one that clearly struck a nerve. You can feel the excitement, the artistic compatibility, the delight of finding someone whose energy matches yours line for line.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
Game of Love isn’t trying too hard to be profound, yet it lands with an emotional clarity that sneaks up on you. It’s fun. It’s honest. It’s melodic in that way that burrows under your skin after one listen. And in an industry saturated with overly polished, algorithm-friendly gloss, a track born from genuine creative connection feels refreshing — even a little rebellious.
There are no upcoming shows, no big rollout, no theatrics — just a song made by people who enjoyed the process so much it radiates through the speakers. And that matters. You can hear it.
Michellar may be early in their journey, but Game of Love feels like the moment they stopped experimenting and started emerging — a reminder that when two artists really click, the music practically writes itself.
“Game of Love” is available now on all major streaming platforms
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