Alice Rowe Releases Single, ‘All Night’ + Announces Debut EP

Urban/pop hopeful ALICE ROWE returns with new single and her debut EP that blends together elements of soul, pop and the classic R&B that everyone loves and needs during these weird times.

Having spent 2020 releasing a plethora of singles, Alice Rowe felt it was time to show off the lushious vocals mixed in with emotional lyricism in this new track. The young creative is known for talking about relationships, whether it’s writing about that spark of meeting someone for the first time or talking about an ex who helps create the mindset of being successful and that being her revenge.

That particular mindset is helped by a number of things, the inspirations of Loyle Carner and Etta James that have helped sharpen her sound as the years have gone on. But the most important part of the mindset has been the success of drawing interest from Radio 1Xtra, BBC Introducing and Capital Xtra as well as the likes of New Music Friday Denmark.

With her debut EP ‘Foreseen’, also released yesterday (4th August), the talented songstress has the belief and courage to become somebody that everyone can admire, which is why when Wonderland classified her as a rising star it was clear to see that the new track ‘All Night’ does just that…Check it out below…

Song of the Day: FWU – Asya

Premiering with Robert Bruce on Capital Xtra as his ‘First Play in the UK’, rising R&B singer ASYA (pronounced Us-yaa) is making her mark on the music industry with a strong introduction to her sound in the form of ‘FWU’. With an accompanying music video, the single is taken from her debut 5 track EP ‘ Love Me Till I’m Me Again’, taking inspiration for real life events that people can resonate with.

‘FWU’ along with the whole EP, was recorded and produced by Patrick at HotMoneyStudios in London, although Asya is originally from Cambridge, she currently resides in Derby where she is pursuing her studies in graphic design. Singing has always been her main passion, from posting covers on Instagram, she found viral success after her videos started getting reposted on Instagram.

Following on from her debut single ‘Come Up’ and following single ‘Right One’, which both feature on the ‘Love Me Till I’m Me Again’ EP, she has accumulated 70k+ streams on Spotify, which helped to drive Aysa to record more and inspired her to work on a collection of songs. Taking inspiration from the likes of Jhene Aiko and Dej Loaf, ‘FWU’ is a contemporary RnB jam showcasing her beautiful voice and dulcet tones.

Marking a perfect introduction to the music game, Asya, is just at the start of what is proving to be a promising career, check out the visuals for ‘FWU’ along with ‘Love Me Till I’m Me Again’ out now on all DSP’s.

Song of the Day: Who Am I (Black Lives Matter) – Rak-Su

In the light of recent events, and in support of the BLM movement – Watford group RAK-SU have delivered a thought-provoking charity single, ‘Who Am I’.

Written and produced by Rak-Su, ‘Who Am I’ samples John Boyega’s speech at Hyde Park. All proceeds from the release will go directly to their charity of choice, mental health organisation ‘Black Minds Matter’. Read more about the charity, take time out and visit their website: https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/.

Speaking on the release, Rak-Su explains: “Who am I is a raw release of emotion from us. We’re fortunate to be living a good life here and have a lot of white friends and fans, yet we felt like it was important to say to them ‘even though you love us, there are people getting severely mistreated or even killed just because they look like we do.’ And whilst it’s not something we’ve ever spoken up about before, it’s not because we never experienced racism; instead growing up we normalised it and just learnt to deal with it. George Floyd’s murder triggered a lot of people including ourselves and this was our way of dealing with it. Ashley’s mother over-heard us working on the song at home and walked into the room crying; this told us that we were definitely saying something important!”

Check out Rak-Su’s hard-hitting video for ‘Who Am I’ below…

EP Review: Random House of Evil – Henny Knightz

HENNY KNIGHTZ‘s self produced/written EP, ‘Random House of Evil’ takes on avant-garde approach to alternative hip hop, alternating between the warped instrumentation with deep 808 thuds, that goes to the core of your soul, and the semi-tranquil melodic bass lines.

Lyrically, Henny – who makes one half of The Knighthood Society with fellow rapper Nicki Knightz unapologetically narrates the darkest moments in his life – his battle with poverty and depression – in the rawest form.

Although this his personal journey, the six-track EP could somewhat offer some comfort for anyone who has been struggling with the aforementioned issues and has came out the other end much stronger and harder.

For anyone who is currently going through depression and/or is stuck in the poverty rut, well think of ‘Random House of Evil’ as your much needed therapy. Have a listen below…

Must Listens: Soul, Pontiac Black

Song of the Day: Sohana – Shamil

Newcomer to the scene, SHAMIL is ready to make a statement this summer with the atmospheric ‘Sohana’ (released through The Orchard). Accompanied by impressive visuals shot in London, the single is gearing up to be a big introduction for the prodigious young artist who is already drawing comparisons to the likes of The Weeknd and PARTYNEXTDOOR.

With his most recent single ‘Cola’ being released at the beginning of May, he immediately turned heads as the infectious guitar laden instrumental combined with his upbeat and catchy melodies breathed a breath of fresh air into the current R&B and pop music scene. This has since seen Shamil being scouted by Bronz of 13 Life (A&R scout of artists including Post Malone and Harmony Samuels) shining the spotlight brightly on the young emerging talent. Already being hailed as the latest potential pop/R&B wonderkid coming out of the US, ‘Sohana’ is yet another strong testament to this.

The single sees the 21 year old Anchorage native in his element, crooning over a trippy and relaxed R&B infused beat, talking on subjects including past relationships and a wild lifestyle in which he was living at the time. Speaking on the content of the single, Shamil says: “Sohana is about a girl that I was talking to at the time that had a wild lifestyle, yet I was more interested in the person she was than the type of life she lived. My emotions and feelings took over the logic of the situation. Even though I wasn’t into the type of stuff she was into, I really didn’t care. I want people to see how lust and attraction can cloud your decisions and judgement when it comes to certain people.”

With his latest project ‘The After Party’ on the horizon, 2020 is looking more and more like Shamil’s, and with this exciting release, Shamil is continuing to push the boundaries, going deeper down his Pop and R&B influenced path with grace and finesse.

Watch the video for Shamil’s ‘Sohana’ below…