Sarah Giles Lands the Hook on Instructions on How to Be a Cloud with a Friend's Advice
A Nashville Singer Expert in Vocal Jazz Turns a Card Reading Into Airy Dream Pop
The hook is borrowed advice. In the chorus, a friend says to become a cloud in a big, lonely sky. Then the advice is to rest on the horizon’s sharp edge and simply float away. Sarah Giles built Instructions on How to Be a Cloud around that image. The 2024 single also wraps it in mellow, guitar-driven dream pop.
Sarah Giles has Instructions on How to Be a Cloud in the playlist below, and her coverage across our network gathers on Sarah Giles’s artist profile. The single came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Hit play on the chorus, then read on for the scene around it.
The Soft Dream Pop Line That Sarah Giles Joins With Instructions on How to Be a Cloud
Where the Sound Comes From
Dream pop has always trusted space. For that reason, the style favours slow guitars, a patient vocal and room for the listener to drift. As a result, it has never needed volume to make a point.
Its best-known template is still Fade into You, the 1993 song by Mazzy Star. Above all, an unhurried vocal floats over slow, ringing guitar. Later, in the streaming era, the Montreal band Men I Trust carried a mellower, groove-led version forward. For example, their self-released albums include Oncle Jazz from 2019.
So that is the lane this single steps into. It also blends contemporary pop, dream pop and indie pop, with soft guitars and an easy pace.
What Sarah Giles Put Into the Cloud Single
Instructions on How to Be a Cloud is short and direct. In fact, Apple Music lists it at 2:55 and files it under pop. However, the song reached YouTube first, on 4 June 2024, three weeks before its streaming release on 26 June.
The lyric works like a mantra. Indeed, the verses keep returning to the same reminder: the singer is enough, and everything she needs is already inside her. Then the chorus hands over the friend’s advice about the cloud, and the song floats out on it.
The story behind the hook is gentler still. According to her YouTube channel, the idea surfaced after a spiritual card reading. Specifically, a dear mentor told her to be a cloud, and Giles then turned that guidance into the song.
Where Sarah Giles Fits After Instructions on How to Be a Cloud, From Vocal Jazz to Airy Pop
The Artist
Sarah Giles grew up in musical theatre, studied vocal jazz, and found songwriting while studying music at college. Her channel therefore describes the sound as pop and neo-soul. Moreover, it fuses powerhouse pop vocals with jazz-inspired melodies and R&B grooves. Originally from Akron, Ohio, she now calls Nashville home.
Her catalogue shows the path towards this single. First, Apple Music files her 2019 debut album, Dreaming in Different Colors, under jazz. Next, her 2022 album Burning Letters sits under singer/songwriter, while this single sits under pop. Meanwhile, on Spotify, the Burning Letters title track is currently her most played recording, with 7,443 plays.
The shift in mood is deliberate too. Her channel frames the single as a move towards light and positivity. It comes after two albums of heartbreak, soul-searching and deep dives.
The Acts Around Her
Three names help place the record. First, Norah Jones is the clearest parallel for the training. After all, the jazz-schooled singer carried a soft, jazz-inflected sound into pop on Come Away with Me in 2002. Meanwhile, Mazzy Star explains the pace, and Men I Trust explains the calm, guitar-led texture.
Giles sits where those lines meet. The jazz training sits behind the voice, while the mellow dream pop framing keeps the arrangement light. As a result, that leaves room for the mantra to land.
So this is a single for pop listeners who want something calm, guitar-led and kind. It also suits a slow morning, a walk or any moment that needs a reset. Above all, start with the chorus.
PopHits.News curator team: “Instructions on How to Be a Cloud earns its place on our pop desk because its hook is a coping tool you can sing. Sarah Giles was happily tearing up as she tracked the lead vocal, and that sense of relief is exactly what a chorus this simple needs.”
Follow Sarah Giles on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Her official site links the full catalogue.
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