INTERVIEW: AKOSIA releases debut EP 'Black Diamond': "It encapsulates everything that I've been through in the last two years, and wrapping it up tightly into something beautiful."
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Michelle G Hunder
Ghanian-born, Melbourne based AKOSIA is emerging as one of Australia’s most promising new talents, the multi-skilled artist not only making her mark in music but also branching into film with a starring role in the Marvel blockbuster Thor: Love & Thunder.
Today she releases her magnificent debut EP Black Diamond. The seven tracks sees AKOSIA “embracing every facet that is me,” from the spiritual and the sensual through to growing into herself with no fear. The EP features a multitude of different sounds and moods, with AKOSIA noting there is no one genre that fully encapsulates her sound.
The EP kicks off with the heartfelt single ‘Help Me’, which AKOSIA wrote to help process the death of her father “I don’t want to fight, can you help me through the pain?” she sings. It is a gentle, R&B track with a subtle, shuffling dance beat. AKOSIA says it is the best song she has ever written. It is followed by latest single ‘The Weekend’ which is almost the sonic opposite of ‘Help Me’. A full blooded dance track, it sees AKOSIA embracing electronic beats which are infused with hints of Afro.
‘BLOOM’ and ‘Simplicity’ are slick, smooth R&B songs with a touch of soul which showcase AKOSIA’s vocal ability but also her sheer class and charisma.
There is a return to the dance floor with the first single released from the EP, ‘Bang Bang’, which is a glorious disco-funk track with an intimate, warm vocal from AKOSIA which makes it feel she is singing directly in your ear. Lyrically it is the complete opposite to its joyful sound and focuses on toxic relationships. “‘Bang Bang’ is a song about the moment you see through all the bullshit lies that are told to you in an attempt to manipulate, shame and make you feel so worthless enough to stay in an unhealthy relationship,” AKOSIA says.
‘Dumbstruck (Black Diamond)’ is a pared back R&B-soul track that feels somewhat experimental with it’s skipping, glitchy beat and dialled back main vocals married with multiple chanting, ad-libbing backing vocals as AKOSIA sings what she says is “a metaphor for what I want to be.”
The EP ends with ‘Hera I Am’, a track that in many ways combines all of the sounds explored in the EP in a single song. There is a strong foundation of R&B but it also has a dance feel with an electronic beat and a shimmering, trancey vibe. The song was written in the wake of Roe vs Wade being overturned in the USA. “That day left me feeling scared for women’s rights, it brought up so many big questions and I started to wonder how I’d find the answers that I need,” she says. It is a powerful way to end the EP, both sonically and lyrically.
Black Diamond may have been written from a place of extremes, both personally and globally, but it is a true calling card for the remarkable talent that AKOSIA is. Her music is that rare thing that hooks you in with its gloriously addictive sounds but also makes you want to listen to every single word she says. It is music expertly crafted and full of the feels and on the strength of this EP AKOSIA surely has a remarkable career ahead of her. We recently caught up with her to chat all about the creation of the EP and her career to date.
Hi AKOSIA you talented, talented, talented creature! I'm so excited that your music is coming out in a collective piece, Black Diamond. First of all, talk to me about the naming and the collection as a whole.
I got the name Black Diamond from one of the songs on the EP called ‘Dumbstruck’ and when I wrote that song, I'd finally moved into a space where I was so happy being alone, comfortable with myself, I felt like I'm growing and I'm developing. And then of course, someone entered into my life and I was like, ‘I don't know, if I want to do this, I don't know if I'm ready to be vulnerable again’, because relationships provide friction and they provoke you into growth. I didn't know if I wanted to do that, I wanted to stay in this place of being comfortable. But I thought this could be something beautiful and it was my way of saying I'm a black diamond, I'm something that's very complicated, I'm also vulnerable, I'm fragile. There's so many facets to me, but I'm also powerful and strong. So that was a metaphor of me, encapsulating everything that I've been through in the last two years, and wrapping it up tightly into something beautiful. I've experienced so much pressure as well recently, so hence Black Diamond was just the perfect label for this EP. It's beautiful, but it's also complex, it's evolving, it's changing, it's a novel, it's rare.
I love that! The EP as a whole plays out perfectly from start to finish, it's so eclectic, but it doesn't feel like it's eclectic in the sense that you are always noticing that eclecticism. You open up with the quicksand of grief in ‘Help Me’, and then beautifully transitions to the dance floor with ‘The Weekend’ - and of course it does, because that's life.
That is life. It was more difficult for me to try and figure out how it would flow versus me writing it. Writing for me is just like breathing. My father passed away during lockdown, and it opened up a void within me and that was what the whole EP was. How do I fill this void? I need help. I’m not doing okay, let me go on this journey. And so from ‘Help Me’ I transition into ‘The Weekend’ - let me fill this with sex and music and bodies and all of that. And then I transition it to something else, and then it goes into the rest of the EP where I'm trying to understand what it is that I'm going through. At the end it ties together with ‘Here I Am’, I understand that I don't understand everything, but I'm still ready to be open, I'm still open to explore a new chapter of joy and vulnerability if I allow myself to do that. I wanted to be honest with myself and accept my flaws, accept all of the difficult things that I've been through recently and just make it flow and make sense and make it something beautiful that is a reflection of life, because the universe doesn't really give us a moment to rest and pause. You might have an amazing day tomorrow, but then that same day, you'll get bad news. It's an ebb and flow of emotion and you just have to allow it. Be aloof and detached, but still immerse so you can experience it.
And that's how it plays out, which I absolutely love. Was there ever any second guessing with switching up those moods so dramatically? Can I go from the grave to the dance floor?
No, not really. I'm someone who doesn’t necessarily fit in anywhere. I'm a Ghanaian woman, but I came to Australia when I was two years old so when I go back home, everyone's calls me a foreigner because obviously my mannerisms and my voice is very Australian. But living in Australia, things are a lot better now. no one looks at me as if I’m Australian so I don't necessarily feel like I fit in and I feel like sometimes I'm a chameleon of sorts. So when it comes to my music, that translates as well. I'm not really good at doing what is popular or what people think I should do, and I actually don't really listen to music like that anyway. I try not to be influenced by what is hot or what's not because then it rings false. You can always hear when someone's trying to be a different artist that they're not. And that's actually not my job, I need to be AKOSIA, I need to not limit myself, but I need to try and be the truest form of myself so that people can listen and be like, ‘Oh, she's different, let me be my unique, different self’. That's the point of artists, we're not supposed to be other people or follow trends, we're supposed to be ourselves, so people can feel free to be themselves and pursue what they are supposed to do on this planet. That's why I'm just like, ‘it makes sense to me, it feels right to me, just let it be.’
Black Diamond comes with such integrity, because these are your words and your experiences. You mentioned ‘Here I Am’ and this was inspired by the horrific overthrow of Roe v. Wade in the US. Can you talk to me about how you process that and how it became the song?
Try not to get emotional about it. This was the last song that I wrote on this EP. I wrote it pretty much straight away [after the announcement]. I had to go into the studio and I forced it to be on this EP, because my team was like, ‘oh, no you've got plenty of songs, some people drop four track EPs’. And I was like no, it has to be here because I just felt like, what is going on in this world? I don't want to feel like I don't have autonomy over my body. It's hard enough being a woman and trying to second guess yourself, let alone I may not have any say over my reproductive rights if I happen to go to a state in America and I fall pregnant and something happens and I can't make that choice for myself. It just felt like it was really messing with my head. I felt so much sorrow for humanity, because it didn't make any sense. It led me on this sort of rabbit hole of determinism and I happened to hang out with my muse that day and we were talking about things and I'm like, ‘What am I supposed to do with myself with this life if everything is predetermined, and I'm just part of a tapestry?’. But I really believe that if we choose radical empathy, we can make something that's beautiful. We can be carried along this wave or this stream, and still be okay. It’s a plea to the universe to sort of guide me through the tumultuous nature of life where everything is so beautiful, but it's still treacherous. I just want to feel like this is a better place for me and younger women without going backwards. We've taken so many steps forward, and then suddenly women can't decide what's good for their own bodies. What's next? It's just so frightening and I had to write something about it. So that's what ‘Here I Am’ is.
It's such an incredible closer. Now, I was trying to figure out what it was, and then I read it that your queen of pop is Sade and I was like ‘of course, there it is’ Because it's al in ‘BLOOM’. Such a good song. It’s beautiful, it’s sensual, it’s powerful, it's incredible. Talk to me a little bit about how Sade played in your musical upbringing, and also how you brought her into ‘BLOOM’.
I fell in love with Sade almost the very first time I heard her songs, I think one of the first songs was either ‘Cherish The Day or ‘No Ordinary Love’. I love the purity and the simplicity of how she sings and she performs. She doesn't have a lot of trimmings with her vocal performance, but it's the truth. And I don't think the truth needs anything extra, so she just stands in her truth. She also sometimes writes from a deep place of sorrow and grief and that speaks to me a lot. It influenced me, it opened the door for me, because sometimes it can feel like you're surrounded by musicians who are doing themselves, but sometimes it feels like it's the most and I wasn't sure where my voice would fit in in this industry. But when I heard Sade and I resonated with her, I was like, ‘oh, there is this place for me. I can just be my own self and I can approach music with simplicity’. I take it to another level with ‘BLOOM’. There's so many vocal layers because I want it to feel like this wave of euphoria, and sensuality and an orgasmic haze of just making love and everything. I really love that song.
It's so gorgeous. Tell me, how did you get from searching for your voice or searching for your place to where you are today? What was your musical trajectory?
I've been writing music since I was a child, but I never thought much about it. I was just like, ‘oh, yeah, I sing at church, that's enough’. Then I joined a few bands, I used to be in a jazz band and I used to sing with the Melbourne gospel choir. But it was really when I hit rock bottom and I ended a very long term relationship [that] I was like, I actually have nothing else to lose, why am I holding myself back because of potentially what someone else's idea of me is and what they think I should be doing with my life? And that's when I just said, ‘you know what, I'm just going to go for it’. That's when I wrote ‘Don't Say’. It's a beautiful song, but it wasn't necessarily the song that I felt was my best song to start this journey with, but it just moved me when I wrote that song, I wrote it within like a couple of hours because I was so heartbroken. I was like, ‘this is how I want to start things from a place of just honesty and brokenness and we'll see where we go from there’. It's so funny, because looking back, of course I was supposed to do this. But for whatever reason, something got in my head, or people got in my way and I thought, ‘oh, no, I shouldn't’. I'm just so glad that I allowed myself and I didn't get in my way anymore. Because at the end of the day, it's hard to hear this, the thing that stops us most of the time is ourselves, and our perception of what other people think we're supposed to do, and therefore what we think we should do. I'm not interested in that anymore, and I hope people don't do that. It's just a waste of time. There's so much life to live and there's so much joy. Everyone has that thing, like right now maybe you've been thinking about that thing. That's the thing you should do - don't hesitate, start it today. Start doing 10 minutes here and there, but do it. If everyone did that, I feel like we'd be so much more content we'd be working less, be happier. You just have to allow yourself. It's not easy, you have to sacrifice, you'll learn what the real situation is, like the music industry definitely has some dark sides but I'm very grateful to be here. And I'm loving it.
That's awesome. It is really hard to let those voices go, the insecurities we gather. You would never speak to a friend the way you speak to yourself.
I see it like a double helix situation. You might have body issues, and then you get over it. Then you go through life, but then you get another body issue where you're in a different environment. It's a continuous evolution, learning how to embrace yourself, love yourself, and just accept yourself for who you are. That's all we've got.
Chase what you want. We have Black Diamond out right now, this is going to be the ride of your life. What else is coming up for you?
On December 15 I am doing my first headlining show for Black Diamond at The Night Cat. It's going to be amazing, I'm gonna have my full band and dancers and I can't wait. I'm just so excited to allow people to step into my world and to feel my energy and hear my story and my heart and experience everything that I've gone through and hopefully be inspired to do what they need to do.
I'm always writing. I wrote a new song two days ago with a producer. And there's a band in Sydney called Mel Blue that I'm writing stuff with as well. I'm trying to learn as much as I can and just do heaps more.
Black Diamond is out now. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things AKOSIA you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
AKOSIA will be performing at The Night Cat, Melbourne, on December 15. Tickets on sale now here.
