Shay Lia's Protects Her Energy On New Dub-Inspired Single 'SOLO'

Singing with a soothing and languish air reminiscent of those Lover’s Rock classics, Shay Lia blurs the lines of genre and reality by making you feel as if you are in a blues dance in 1980s London.

The French-Djiboutian singer follows up the pulsating and electrifying ‘TAKUTÀ’ which broke her two-year silence with the release of funky dub-influenced ‘SOLO’.

Different to what we have heard from Shay Lia in the past 'TAKUTÀ’, is a daring expression of creative freedom that allows the songstress to engage with different cultural influences and sounds, and that same attitude whilst sounding completely sonically different is carried into this new release.

Revelling in this newfound personal and artistic freedom Shay both figuratively and physically closes the door on an ending relationship and thrives in the space created by the departed.

In mid-action we witness at the beginning of the song Shay tiring from her partner’s behaviour and quickly coming to the realisation that the relationship she’s in isn’t fulfilling or meaningful anymore, so no longer serving her she decides on self-love and moves on.

The is a nostalgic reggae feel to the music, with summery undertones of a bassline guitar, and smooth trumpets, layered with synths and held steady by drums compose the perfect summery vibe to two-step to as weightlessly Shay croons “Cause I don’t speak your love / It feels so watered down”.

Speaking about her latest single, Shay Lia says “SOLO is a song I wrote to celebrate my growth and reclamation - confident vocals mixed with the energy of freedom, wrapped in the warmth and the strength of reggae-RnB production by Andrés Rebellón. I wanted to release a song that feels timeless and easy for the summer.”

“I needed to write about a failed situationship where I had felt inconsistency and a lack of effort from my love interest. I had overcome a lot and done so much work to heal prior to meeting him - and I ended up feeling like this newfound self-love and self-awareness was too precious to be wasted on something inconsistent.”

“I decided to move forward on my own in full confidence, solo and free. I felt much lighter after making this decision and that’s why the song feels like a warm classic - it’s meant to relay the softness of my confidence.”

The release signals that yet again Shay Lia is showcasing her versatility as an artist as she moves away from the alternative dance/electronic music she made her name in and leans towards newer sounds.

And with a larger project scheduled to be released, it makes us curious about how far she is willing to experiment and what will the new project sound like.

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