The first single from Nilufer Yanya’s second long player, Painless, Stabilise’s anthemic power pop bodes well for the collection, which is the follow-up to 2019’s acclaimed Miss Universe.
The track moves at a whip crack pace, with a pounding rock beat propelling a Prince like groove over which Yanya delivers a half sung, half spoken vocal.
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Prince seems like the key inspiration here with Stabilise recalling the Purple Maestro at his imperious best on tracks like Let’s Go Crazy and When Doves Cry.
The Prince influence doesn’t stop at the backing track, either, as Yanya manages to channel the artist in her vocal delivery too, aping the Purple One’s spoken word/rap style, too.
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Lyrically, Stabilise explores the idea of survival. Here is an example of the lyrics:
‘Said she’s coming
But that don’t mean nothing
Cuz I’m not waiting
For no one to save me’
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“It’s set in the depths of reality in everyday life where we are the only one’s truly capable of salvaging or losing ourselves. Nothing is out there -both a depressing and reassuring statement (depending on how you look at it)” says Yanya about the inspiration for the single.
“I was really thinking about your surroundings and how much they influence or change your perception of things. A lot of the city is just grey and concrete, there’s no escape,” she continues.
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The artist has kept it in the family with the video for the single with her sister Molly Daniel handling production chores on the video.
“The video plays on the central theme in the song of no one coming to save you ever. It’s set in depths of reality in everyday life where we are the only one’s truly capable of salvaging or losing ourselves. Nothing is out there -both a depressing and reassuring statement (depending on how you look at it)” Yanya says of the inspiration for the video.
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Painless will explore these themes further with Yanya describing the release as ‘a record about emotion.’
“I think it’s more open about that in a way that Miss Universe wasn’t because there’s so many cloaks and sleeves with the concept I built around it […] I’m not as scared to admit my feelings” says the singer about the long awaited release.
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Here is the full track list for Painless:
1 The Dealer
2 L/R
3 Shameless
4 Stabilise
5 Chase Me
6 Midnight Sun
7 Trouble
8 Try
9 Company”
10 Belong With You
11 The Mystic
12 Anotherlife
Nilufer Yanya’s Stabilise is out now. The album Painless will be released on the 4th of March 2022. More information about the artist can be found here.
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