Late last week, GRAMMY-nominated vocalist-songwriter Somi released her soulful third single “So You Want To Be A Woman (feat. Lakecia Benjamin)” from her upcoming album What Does It Take to Bloom?, set to release on Friday, 7 August via Salon Africana.
The single examines the unspoken expectations placed upon all women and the burdens they are expected to hold. Speaking directly from the embodied realities of Black womanhood, Somi’s commanding vocals alongside a fiery solo by GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin take the listeners on a powerful sonic journey.
While reflecting on the song, Somi shares: “So You Want to Be a Woman” is a conversation with the younger version of myself who could never have imagined the beauty and burden that would accompany becoming a woman. While the title of the song poses a question, I hope the answer is one that offers women everywhere a future shaped by greater freedom and possibilities.”
Pre-Save What Does It Take to Bloom?
The song follows the first two singles from the album – “Sometimes Love (feat. The Cavemen)”, a groove-heavy love song that transports listeners to the intoxicating heat of Lagos where the song was recorded, and “We’re All Falling,” one of the project’s most affecting songs that confronts mortality with striking clarity.
For Somi, every album is an act of place-making. Her catalog reads like a map of migration and memory – traversing the cultural bridge between Africa and America with records rooted in Nigeria, in Harlem, in the spirit and political inheritance of Miriam Makeba. On Somi’s forthcoming album What Does it Take To Bloom?, the terrain shifts. Written and recorded between Dakar, Lagos, Paris and New York City, this time the place being mapped is not a city, country, or collective memory. It’s the self.
Having spent years navigating the global jazz scene while also standing adjacent to it, Somi defies categorization – embracing a hybrid of jazz, soul, highlife, spoken word, and her African heritage. What Does It Take to Bloom? marks an evolution of Somi’s sound, and finds her taking greater vocal risks while trusting her instincts more deeply. Abandoning the need to fit inside any artistic box, that refusal in itself is a form of blooming.
Ultimately, the album is grounded in finding belonging – recognizing that the journey towards wholeness is rarely linear and always unfinished. From the many experiences in life beyond our control to the embodied realities of womanhood, Somi explores the many facets of self-discovery that make her bloom. She hopes listeners will find themselves within the music; and if not, she offers the chance to witness her coming home to herself.
TRACKLIST
- Throw Something
- Sometimes Love (ft. The Cavemen.)
- What Does It Take to Bloom?
- Mama On Blooming
- So You Want to Be a Woman (ft. Lakecia Benjamin)
- Aiwah
- Sugar
- Mama On Tradition
- Ngayaya
- Lay It Down
- Interlude: Skin To Skin
- We’re All Falling
- Love Could Be Anywhere
For all the latest updates on Somi, her upcoming album release and her current tour schedule, follow her on social media, and let’s spread love and healing with one song at a time.
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