LAYA has been noted as one of the R&B artists bringing ’90s R&B back with her music and creative aesthetic, but she turns the clock back a little further on her latest single. The visionary artist blends an ’80s groove with a contemporary message on “F’d Up.”
The reading room is open on “F’d Up,” and LAYA makes it clear that she’s not the one, the two or the three to play with. She lets the object of her disdain know just how much they’ve got her twisted, confused and mistaken throughout the infectious tune anchored in ’80s-style synths, bass and percussion.
“Got me thinking what’s good / You don’t understand what’s understood / Out your face you’ll say to me / Some s**t that you know just can’t be,” she confronts the one who has her f’d up on the first verse. LAYA quickly gets to the point on the chorus to let ’em know, “You got me f**ked up.”
“You ever have somebody try you?” LAYA asked via press release. “It’s time to stand your ground and fight back,” she continued, ready to knuck if someone bucks. “Time to put haters on their back and tell ’em, quit with all that cap — because you got me f**ked up!” And that’s that on that!
The song is accompanied by a fiery lyric video. LAYA is draped in red from head to boots as she stands in front of a computer-generated mansion and vintage car in the background. While the lyrics crawl at the bottom of the screen, she sings and poses in her striking look. Over the course of the clip, we first see smoke start to rise behind her before flames start to rage. Soon the whole estate is engulfed in fire to signify the scorched earth that LAYA leaves behind at the end.
“F’d Up” is LAYA’s first single of 2023 and the first listen from her forthcoming new EP Bet That. There’s no release date set for Bet That yet, but her label Warner Records has indicated that it’s coming later this year. After this blazing introduction, trust and believe that we can’t wait to get this new project into our hands.
Get into LAYA’s latest vision when you listen to “F’d Up” and watch its lyric video below.