Free
Landing with suave and classy collaboration ‘Free’, West London’s Safiyyah links up with fellow rising-star RADA for an ultimate feel-good and positivity induced single. I’ve been a fan of Safiyyah for a while now, and I first became familiar with RADA following the ‘Captain Nemo Remix - Conundrum’ with Kish! and SusTraperazzi. I was quite eager to hear what they had conjured up when I first got scent that these two would be on the same record.
‘Free’ is an encapsulation of self-love, being alone and being fearless – the awareness that you don’t need to feel incomplete out of a relationship. The thought process to how the track is perceived goes right down to the colours featured in the press imagery - the intention for this to transpire through the music. Purple represents creativity, peace and independence. Green is the colour of life and represents growth and harmony. Colours are something that do permeate my thoughts when I kick back and listen to music. I guess one contributing factor to consider besides lyricism is key signatures, and their connotations and intentions to audiences when performed. Major keys typically the lighter and happier sounds, then minor being the darker and solemn. We could go deeper, but there’s no need to bore you now.
Produced by Solaariss, ‘Free’ has such a Latinate feel about it. Those quick Ganzá patterns give it that Brazilian energy, with the saxophone infusing the bottom layers of the instrumental - bringing that jazz element to the fore. As a saxophone player myself, this is something I will always connect with and the runs are delicate with controlled and warming crescendos bringing that depth. Needless to say, the amalgamation of sounds contributes to this alt-soul feel. I also want to touch on the fact I feel RADA was 100% the right feature. It was one of those where when I heard it, it all became incredibly obvious why they all linked up. Time to set yourself free from my words and listen.