1. Sudan Archives
Sudan Archives (Brittney Parks) is an LA-based 23-year-old vocalist and violinist who writes, plays and produces all of her own music.
She is self-taught on violin and her sound is an extraordinary mesh of R&B and avant-garde electronic music with from influences Sudanese fiddlers.
Growing up in Cinncinati Ohio, Sudan Archives would always ‘’ mess around with instruments at home’’, and eventually taught herself how to play violin by ear in the fourth grade.
As she grew up, she discovered the style of violin playing in Northeast Africa which really resonated with her, far more than classical music had.
She decided to experiment with fusing this Sudanese violin style with electronic music and released her EP Sudan Archives in July 2018.
Although she is at the start of her musical career with Stones Throw records, she has been highly acclaimed by the New York Times as well as Pitchfork.
Her hit single from the album Sink, Nont For Sale, is an extremely empowering song with notes of self-love, girl power, gratitude and a no bullsh*t attitude to life;
‘’Never feelin’ lonely only gladdened, flyin’/ always being constantly reminded/ time is running out don’t waste it up sucker/ this is my life don’t mix that up’’.
‘’This is my life don’t block the sun/ this is my seat can’t you tell?/this is my time don’t waste it up/ this is my lamb (Lamborghini) nont for sale.’’
Sudan Archives also co-directed the video for this song which is breathtakingly stunning and shows her lean into her roots and very creatively shows her dismissive attitude towards anyone who tries to bring her down.
With regards Ireland, she is largely undiscovered but this girl is making her own wave and has a very bright future ahead of her in the music world.
See here:
2. Sa – Roc
Assata Perkins, also known as Sa-Roc is an American rapper who in 2016, became the second woman ever to be signed to Rhymesayers label.
She has carved out her own lane and come to know herself as a woman and an artists so much so that she has wrapped freely about self-harm, self-love, growth pain and what it means to be a female pursuing your career and how easily people label you as ‘too masculine’ and ‘too aggressive’.
Her single, Forever, exploded onto the charts in February 2018 and gained her international praise for the truthful words she speaks to those who listen;
‘’When I wake up, no make-up half-naked I feel like I’m the sh*t/ pardon my language but hang-ups do not define the kid/ no I’m not flawless I’m scarred up and I’m fine with it/ my body art a laundry list of all of life’s unkindnesses.’’
Her empowering and inspiring words have meant that she has been tipped as ‘’one of the most formidable microphone mavens in the game’’ by Okayplayer.com.
See here:
3. Kali Uchis
Kali Uchis, real name Karly-Marina Loaiza, is a Columbian-American singer-songwriter with a voice that is as original as it is beautiful.
At 24 years old, she has achieved so much in her music career.
Her first mix-tape in 2012 was labelled ‘genre-defying’ and her music since has kept that same element of unpredictability and originality.
She did a performance of her song Killer from her LP Isolation for YouTube’s A Colors Show which shows how she defies genre by her very nature as it has reggae and
See here: https://youtu.be/MYESVkUxWxM
Her latest song with Tyler the Creator is called After the storm and in it she talks about what it’s like to experience hard times in life and love.
She was the creative director for this brilliantly quirky and funky video in which she says,
‘’So if you need a hero, just look in the mirror, no one’s gonna save you now, so you gotta save yourself.’’