Our Reporter
British born, Los Angeles based producer, songwriter and singer Aluna has recently released her debut solo album ‘Renaissance’.
The music represented the culmination of her journey from “a black girl in an all-white British suburb back in the day” to launching a rule-breaking revolution where rigid boundaries dissolve between culture, race, gender, and genre.
“The recent ‘Black Renaissance’ is so inspiring to me,” she explains. “There has been a pivot in all creative endeavors from film and television to plays and comics. Black people have begun involving themselves in non-stereotypical things regardless of who agrees. The outcasts have found each other. Renaissance sums up a defiant, rule-breaking, and transitional election of the new culture. To me, this album represents that within its own small, individual world. I’ve gone through the process of owning myself, and this is the celebration. It’s not a party with tables where you’re popping bottles of champagne in high-heeled shoes. It’s in the woods, around the fire, and everyone looks sexy in the bloody fire-light. We might be a minority, but we have power.”
Aluna was involved in every aspect of the process for her album from penning the lyrics, singing, playing drums, keys, guitar, and co-producing the album. Through and through, she guided arrangements and directed the flow.
Speaking to her hands-on approach, Aluna reveals, “It’s funny, but the album’s production is the most personal thing to me,” she goes on. “I’ve struggled with the very core elements of my cultural makeup and almost apologized for it throughout my life. I’m a really weird clash of different musical elements. I unapologetically embraced that. Songs on this record are actual pieces of my existence, especially on the production side.”
Aluna also infused a spice of Afrobeat on the album together with Kaytranada which featured Nigerian singer-songwriter Rema, giving the song an overall late-night club vibe.
2020 has already been a momentous year for Aluna, her latest singles have amassed more than 16.5 million combined global streams, with over 2K global radio spins in 32 countries, garnering global support from some of the world’s most respected radio stations, including BBC Radio 1 (UK), Triple J (Australia), KCRW, KEXP, and Sirius’ BPM Station in the U.S. Spotify’s New Music Friday has championed her in more than 20 countries this year, as well as placing her on the cover of their flagship dance playlist Mint and Massive Dance Hits. Nectar (Amazon Music) and New Music Daily (Apple Music), along with support from radio staples, Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden, continue to amplify her solo project.
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