Hotel Garuda releases first song as solo project, remixes Clean Bandit & Demi Lovato’s ‘Solo’

When Hotel Garuda announced their split mid-summer, Aseem Mangaokar assures fans he would be continuing the moniker as a solo project while his former partner, Chris “Manila Killa” Gavino, stepped away to focus on his own moniker. How appropriate that Mangaokar’s first release would be a sensual house remix of Clean Bandit and Demi Lovato‘s “Solo.”

“When I heard the original song, I thought the lyrics were way more melancholy than the instrumental suggested, and I wanted to lean into that vibe a bit,” Mangaokar says in a press statement. “It made me think of being alone but not feeling lonely, and of being proud of who you are. I had the ‘dancing on my own’ line stuck in my head for days and once I knew I wanted to make it the focus of the track, the rest of the remix came together organically around it.”

Like any well designed remix, Hotel Garuda leaves the song’s original bearings in tact while laying down his own unique touches on the pop-forward ballad. The result is a compelling composition that is both lively and dark. It’s bouncy but smooth, smokey but clean, offering a fresh take on Mangaokar’s now-solo endeavor.

“This is my first release as part of the new wave of Hotel Garuda music that I’ve been working on, and I’m itching to put out the rest,” Mangaokar says. “As I write, produce and record more and more, songs are coming together in a way that makes me excited to share them … This is just the beginning.”