West London-raised soul singer Olympia Vitalis returns with her opulent new single December Sunshine, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist and producer Charlie J Perry, better known as Common Saints.
December Sunshine arrives as Olympia builds on a breakthrough year that has seen her release her latest EP Lady Luck, appear at major festivals across the UK and Europe, and establish herself as one of the country’s most compelling emerging soul voices.
Olympia Vitalis
Built around the idea of love as a refuge from the cold, December Sunshine captures the particular longing of winter and the warmth found in another person. Drawing on the rich textures of classic soul, the track pairs Olympia’s expressive vocal with Common Saints’ carefully crafted production, creating a vintage-leaning sound that complements the intimacy of its subject matter.
Olympia explains that the song was written during the depths of a British winter, with its central idea coming from the contrast between physical cold and emotional warmth. “December Sunshine was written in the dead of the British winter when I was wearing a couple layers and thermals in the studio. It’s about when the warmth you crave in the winter is in the form of a person you love.”
Written quickly and sitting naturally alongside the material on Lady Luck, the track nevertheless occupies a slightly different sonic space. Olympia and Common Saints drew inspiration from 1960s and 1970s soul, listening to records including Marlena Shaw’s The Spice Of Life before shaping the production into its deliberately vintage sound.
For Common Saints, the collaboration has developed naturally from an ongoing creative partnership. “Olympia and I have been collaborating for a while and this song came about very naturally. We drew heavily upon both our taste and inspirations from the 1960s and ‘70s and she really captured the magic in the vocal.”
December Sunshine follows Lady Luck, Olympia’s July 2026 EP and the most considered sonic statement of her career so far. Produced in its entirety by Charlie J Perry, the record explores the relationship between talent and timing, questioning the moment when preparation meets opportunity and what it means to trust your own instincts.
Rather than treating luck as something entirely accidental, Lady Luck considers the courage required to recognise an opportunity and act upon it. Across the project, Olympia turns the observational songwriting of her earlier work towards herself, creating a record concerned with timing, self-belief and the willingness to back your own potential.
The EP has now surpassed two million streams, building on the momentum of Olympia’s 2025 debut EP People Watching. Her growing profile has also been reflected in an increasingly prominent live schedule, with summer appearances at Love Supreme, All Points East, Good Vibrations and GENT Jazz adding to previous festival performances at We Out Here, Cross The Tracks and St Lucia Jazz Festival.
Olympia’s reputation as a live performer has also been strengthened by support appearances alongside Baby Rose, Teddy Swims and Bilal, as well as her appearance on A COLORS SHOW. Earlier this year, she celebrated Lady Luck with an intimate performance at St Pancras Old Church.
That live momentum continues this month, with Olympia set to play a sold-out show at London’s Kings Place on 16th October.
Raised in West London, Olympia’s musical foundations were shaped by seven years singing in gospel choirs and a broad range of influences that stretches from Aretha Franklin and Amy Winehouse to Nas and Kendrick Lamar. Those influences feed into a soulful approach that balances classic vocal traditions with contemporary songwriting and a sharp eye for the details of everyday life.
Meanwhile, Common Saints brings more than a decade of production and songwriting experience to the collaboration. Charlie J Perry has worked with artists including Jorja Smith, Olivia Dean, Maverick Sabre, Lola Young and BTS, while his work as Common Saints has developed a distinct identity built around immersive production, ambient soul and cinematic textures.
His debut solo album Cinema 3000 established that sound across 14 tracks, while Equinox pushed the project further, demonstrating Perry’s ability to operate as both producer and artist in his own right.
Together, Olympia and Common Saints find common ground in December Sunshine, combining classic soul influences with a contemporary intimacy. For Olympia, it provides another chapter following Lady Luck, while reinforcing the sense that an artist who once described herself as more observer than passenger is now firmly stepping into the centre of her own story.
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