LOS ANGELES, CA- Whoa. Have you heard of Raissa? Neither have we. But her music slaps. Pay attention.
Raissa is a London-based artist who has only released three singles, but each of them (each self-produced and self-written by Raissa) are all dope as hell. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but all three of her tracks, “Bullying Boys”, “Valentine” and the latest single “Angel Energy” are all decidedly modern, edgy pop, but it also got me feeling some real strong nostalgic 90’s R&B vibes. That coupled with her light yet determined vocals make for a perfect combination. For some reason, thoughts of Aaliyah kept popping in my head. And her beats…. which, I want to reiterate, SHE PRODUCED HERSELF, are pretty freaking dope.
If you can’t already tell, we’re already excited about this new artist.
We’ve been spinning her latest single “Angel Energy” nonstop. Of the accompanying music video—which Raissa directed and edited as well … what doesn’t this young lady do?… Raissa explains:
“Two people made me feel small and question my worth/abilities/sense for the better part of two years and it really ate away at me. I eventually got the courage to distance myself from them and wrote ‘ANGEL ENERGY’ when I realized that the whole reason they treated me so badly was because of their own shit, and not anything I could change […] The song is about coming to terms with that and moving on. It’s bittersweet but empowering, getting through the pain of letting people hurt you for so long. I had also been listening to a lot of Eurythmics, and the feeling Annie Lennox describes in “There Must Be An Angel’ was something I felt I needed and wanted in my life, which I reference in ‘ANGEL ENERGY.’”
Per her publicist, Raissa was “born in Spain to a Spanish mother and a French father, Raissa grew up between Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, and Sydney and is fluent in French, Spanish and English. Now based in London, Raissa attributes her inspiration to start writing songs at the age of 11 to Leonard Cohen. With much more music arriving imminently, Raissa finds inspiration in dialogue and narration from movies and cartoons in addition to everyday conversations between people.”
I for one don’t care where gets inspiration from as long as she keeps dropping these dope jams.
Follow Raissa on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
