After more than two decades of composing, performing, and forging an unmistakable voice in the international music scene, HRISTELIN, the Bulgarian-born artist, reintroduces himself with a trio of tracks that don’t just mark a new chapter. They open an entirely new book.
Now based in Dubai, HRISTELIN (born Hristo Vasilev Kirilov) is leaning into the cosmopolitan pulse of his environment, letting the city’s futuristic energy filter directly into his music. “Dubai Star,” featuring the ethereal vocals of his wife Julia Kirilova, is the clearest manifestation of this. The track combines ambient electronic textures, melodic rock guitars, and Arabic tonalities to create a shimmering, celebratory anthem. It’s sleek, personal, and rooted in emotional clarity. “Dubai loves you the way you are,” HRISTELIN says, and it sounds like he means it.
Where “Dubai Star” feels like a city-wide celebration, “One Life” draws the listener closer. With its bright, indie-rock backbone and Balkan soul, it’s a timely reminder of life’s fleeting nature, an anthem that doesn’t push you to run faster but to feel deeper. Its lyrics don’t hide behind metaphor. “One Life is everything you have,” HRISTELIN sings, and you believe him because every note feels lived-in.
But it’s “Life,” the instrumental centerpiece of this trilogy, that truly stuns. Opening with delicate acoustic lines and swelling into a full-force electric climax, the track arcs like a human life in miniature. It’s rich with emotion, cinematic in scope, and unafraid to be sentimental. It’s the kind of piece that invites silence after it ends. This is music that cleanses, and HRISTELIN knows it. “People cried, thanked me, and said the music cleansed and healed them,” he shares.
Where many artists with a 20-year catalog cling to formulas that worked once, HRISTELIN seems allergic to repetition. His discography remains in flux, unbound by genre or expectation, shifting from operatic collaborations to cinematic scores, Balkan folk to progressive rock. The throughline is honesty.
With new material on the way and a growing global fanbase, HRISTELIN wants to be heard and felt.