STACK #229 November 2023

MUSIC FEATURE

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the flow. And this is what life is, from now on. I don't have to be afraid.'” One of the people she found in her new orbit was multi-Grammy-winning, Haitian Canadian producer and DJ Kaytranada, whose fingerprints we can hear in the funky, clinking, off-beat details of Ghost! and Our Way , both of which he produced. “It was really funny,” Tkay smiles of their friendship's beginnings. “When I first moved to LA, I had a period of six months or so where I was partying probably three times

Sweet Justice by Tkay Maidza is out now via Dew Process/ Island.

a week. Not sustainable at all! But [Kaytranada]

I wasn't waking up watching my back, I wasn't paranoid about anything... and I don't have to convince people of what I can do

was one of the people that I would always run into. It kind of became a joke: “Hey, you again, what's up?' The first time he was like, 'What's your name, Tkay? Like, Tkay from Australia?' And I was like,

INTERVIEW

JUSTICE 4 TKAY

'He knows who I am!' “Before we knew it, we had a festival tour. That was really cool, because I think it solidified that

I'm not just some random girl that he sees that parties," she chuckles. Soon afterwards, a friend hooked the two up professionally, "It was really simple, easygoing," says Tkay. "It was very natural.” The elements of Sweet Justice 's universe that hit decidedly not simple are its spectacular visuals; we're blown away when Tkay shares some of her original moodboards and visual decks during our convo. Myriad hair, makeup, jewelry, costume, and mis en scène ideas resulted in the slithering, prowling snakeskin WUACV and, in that same clip, the way Tkay playfully swings her braids like Catwoman does her whip. Sweet Justice 's aesthetic bursts with ideas, and Tkay is a very able ringmaster – but her team have their own ideas, too. “One of them will come in being like, 'Alright, we're gonna push the envelope again. Are you down, Tkay? We're putting worms on your face.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I haven't done that before – that'd be cool...'" fits of Ring-a-Ling , the terrifying mouth stretcher and Hannibal-like face-cage of

Get into the scenic railcar which winds its way through the last two years of Tkay Maidza's life and you'll realise just how many facets there are to the woman's talent.We spoke to the rapper-singer-songwriter about her astonishing second LP, Sweet Justice. Words Zoë Radas

T kay Maidza's second album Sweet Justice blooms with genres bent on their heads, and truly sounds like liberation – as if the artist has spread her arms wide and gathered all the wild, musical flowers she's grown around herself as she discovered how to leave her assigned lane. Tkay attests that it is indeed a rebirth record. “I definitely felt, when I was working on the album, that I have a sense of 'I am who I am' – and I'm accepting it,” the Zimbabwe-born, Oz raised, LA-residing arist says. “There's a sense of confidence – I'm not worried any more. I've made the foundation, and I don't have to convince people what I can do.” That foundation was built through three extraordinary EPs – Last Year Was Weird, volumes 1 (2018), 2 (2020) and 3 (2021). “The whole goal from my EPs was to... get to a point where people understand that I don't really

belong in one place,” she says. “And I knew exactly how I wanted to exist for the next era. I knew how far I could go in each song. It didn't feel confusing anymore.” That reality is on stirring display, in the ominous glitches of WUACV, the deeply latticed harmonies and synths on Monica and Brandy esque Won One , and thunderous lead single with Flume, Silent Assassin. It was a matter of, Tkay knows, “growing up” – and wielding the power to surround herself with the energy she wanted, through a serious reckoning. “I just felt like I had found the right friends,” she explains. “I wasn't waking up and watching my back, I wasn't paranoid about anything. While I was making this album, it was like, 'Every day is nice. I love my friends, my family. We're gonna go to the studio, doesn't matter if we didn't finish the song; we do it again the next day. I'm actually living... This is

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In late November 2013, UK boy band One Direction dropped their third album Midnight Memories – and the world frothed over with 1D love as the release broke record after record. It became the fastest-selling album in Amazon UK

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history (breaking the record set by 1D's previous LP, 2012's Take Me Home ) and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 – which made the fellas the first-ever group to debut in the US's top spot with their first three albums. Most incredibly, Midnight Memories became the best selling album of 2013, even though it was released just five weeks before the end of the year.

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The 1D boys as their alter egos in the clip for Best Song Ever (2013)

28 NOVEMBR 2023

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