Like many Black people in the UK, singer-songwriter Mahalia can trace her roots elsewhere. In her case, the Leicestershire, England native’s maternal grandparents hailed from Jamaica. After spending some time on the tropical island, she returned home bearing a musical gift in the form of her new EP Luvergirl. Heavily influenced by the sounds and culture of Jamaica, she infuses a strong dose of dancehall into her R&B style throughout this project.
Luvergirl isn’t Mahalia’s first foray into dancehall — in 2019 she made a splash with Burna Boy on the Beenie Man-sampling jam “Simmer” — but it’s a deeper dive into the genre. She began her Luvergirl era in earnest with the release of the EP’s lead single “Pick Up The Pace” late last year followed by a steady drip of singles culminating in the release of five in total from the seven-track set. This gave her fans ample samples to feel the new wave she was on and left them anxiously awaiting the complete collection.
One thing Mahalia does on this EP is give well-deserved shine to Jamaican artists. The set begins with “Different Type Of Love” featuring up-and-coming reggae/dancehall artist Masicka. The pair unite over a hypnotic drumbeat to describe their infatuation with each other while they party into the night. Mahalia rides the rhythm and sells the track with an infectious hook that gets stuck in your head.
She links with veteran reggae artist Tanya Stephens on the track “Pity,” which interpolates Tanya’s 2004 song “It’s A Pity.” The lyrics tell the age-old story of a single woman finding herself entangled with a married man atop an intoxicating beat. Mahalia makes getting down and acting bad sound way too good.
Emerging dancehall artist Bayka joins Mahalia to “Pick Up The Pace.” The smooth, mid-tempo bass-driven tune showcases the contrast between his deep, rough voice and her sweet, cozy vocals. She is ready and willing to engage romantically but wants her partner to make a move with the quickness.
Mahalia does in fact pick up the pace musically on “Instructions.” The up-tempo song features the artist Dupes toasting in the beginning and giving movement cues throughout the song. The thumping beat grabs you from the first note as Mahalia hits the club looking for companionship. Once she hones in on her romantic target, she shoots her shot with confidence and a few sexy dance moves.
“Testing” is the most R&B-style track on Luvergirl with just a dash of island spice. The song starts with a mellow keyboard followed by a solid bassline to set the tone with an electric guitar solo mid-song that really sets it off. The sound bed is perfect for Mahalia to lay her troubles down as she laments about the communication issues she’s having in her relationship.
For the final feature on the EP, Mahalia teams up with contemporary reggae singer Lila Iké on “Pressure Points.” Their voices mesh well together over a thick bassline and booming low end on the reggae track sprinkled with acoustic guitar riffs. The ladies apply pressure while reminding their respective men that their love is precious and not to be played with.
- Advertisement -The set concludes with “Farewell (Pretty Jamaica),” which serves as Mahalia’s loving ode to Jamaica as she heads back home to the UK. It’s evident that the island had a profound impact on the songstress and captured her heart and soul. She’s down bad as she sings to Jamaica like its a person who she’ll miss immensely.
Luvergirl is a sun-drenched, sexed-up, speaker-shaking sonic exploration for Mahalia that demonstrates her continued growth as an artist. She adds dancehall and reggae to her toolkit and does an excellent job of building on her contemporary R&B foundation. We don’t know what direction she’ll go in for her next audio trip, but we wouldn’t be mad if she took us back to this musical paradise.
- Advertisement -Mahalia Luvergirl [Amazon][Apple Music][TIDAL]
