MEAWW's Basement Tapes: Gaidaa blends genre-bending style with political lyrics in music suited for the times
Gaidaa's first solo single, 'Falling Higher', revealed an extremely gifted artiste with a signature style just waiting to be discovered by a more mainstream audience. Her forthcoming debut EP, 'Overture', out on July 24, is set to make her rise to the top and place her in the ranks of artistes like HER, Arlo Parks, Amy Winehouse, Nao, and Ari Lennox. So just who is Gaidaa and where has she been all our lives?
Gaidaa is a 20-year-old Netherlands-based Dutch-Sudanese singer and songwriter who has tapped into her natural gift, one that accesses soul in its purest form through organic R&B punctuated by acoustic instrumentation and lyrics laced with raw vulnerability. But it goes beyond a simple gift with Gaidaa: the singer's multicultural and multilingual backgrounds bring a sense of authenticity and freshness to her sound that truly sets her apart from her contemporaries. Blending English and Arabic lyrics with measured instrumentation that allows her vocals to shine through, all perfectly backdropping lyrics speak to the singer's varied experiences, Gaidaa's sound is one that is wonderfully representative of what it means to be an artiste in a globalized world.
Gaidaa has already racked up millions of streams independently and garnered support from top international publications. In 2017, Gaidaa's Kehlani cover caught the attention of producer Full Crate. Together, they cooked up 'A Storm On A Summer's Day', a stunningly haunting track built on the theme of love and loss that features on the EP 'Still Growing'. After leaving university, she dove headfirst into music, constantly writing, recording, and taking on any little gigs eventually leading her to perform backup on tour with trap house/jazz fusion artiste Masego over the summer and giving her the ability to demonstrate her wonderful genre-blending style as well as deliver her hard-hitting politically-charged lyrics.
In 2019, COLORS invited her to record 'Morning Blue' at their studio as part of a bigger project shedding light on the political/social climate in Sudan. Clad in traditional attire and looking absolutely ethereal against the show's plain blue background, Gaidaa delivered her ode to Sudan flawlessly, conveying what her home truly means to her as she advocated for unity. On the heels of 'Morning Blue' came 'I Like Trouble', a track that The Fader dubbed a "Trojan Horse for disobedience." And that's certainly fitting, given the singer's propensity to balance her authentic commentary with her zest for life. Gaidaa, it would appear, is not here to make a singular bold statement, but instead, seeks to convey the complexities of life.
Following her previous stints, the rising songstress is ready to go from releasing beautifully-crafted singles to holding absolutely nothing back on her 2020 debut EP, 'Overture'. 'Falling Higher' gave us a steady beat paired with Gaidaa's lush vocals that stretch from laidback verses into a falsetto-driven hook, beautifully illuminating the scope of her scorching signature style. But the track was but a mere teaser for so much more to come from a promising new artiste on the block.
