Here we are. We made it! My tenth and final blog post about underrated artists is here, and I’m ready to go out with a bang. Of course, to keep on trend with my previous post, I’m here to introduce you to another talented female artist: Tkay Maidza. An Australian singer and rapper originally born in Zimbabwe, she has gained serious popularity in her native country and is now taking the rest of the world by storm. Originally, when she first released music back in 2013, she made her music more techno/EDM paired with her amazing singing. Now, she looks to expand her style, combining contemporary R&B, hip hop, and pop to make some seriously good songs. Currently sitting at over 500,000 Spotify listeners, I have no doubt that this will increase drastically soon, especially with the recent release of her new album Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2.
As I stated earlier, Tkay used to keep her sound and music style more strict. Pitchfork explains that the original label she signed to back in 2014 wanted to keep her on brand with the EDM style music. Now, with her contract up, she is free to make whatever kind of music she likes, and she is taking full advantage of this. Taking inspiration from modern day pop, reggae, R&B, and much more, Tkay has combined them all to make a sound that is all her own. You can definitely hear this in her newer music, making it sound all the better!
To begin, I first want to recommend her most popular song off of her newest album, Shook. A catchy bop that has a pop style vibe while also not sounding like something I’ve ever heard in the mainstream media before. That’s what makes Tkay so cool, she is redefining such a popular genre her own way to create unique music. Tkay, herself, describes the meaning of the song as being “about exceeding people’s expectations and them not expecting it.” My favorite part is towards the end, where she includes some cool chanting from kids that adds to the nature of the song. Overall, the vibes are crazy and I’m going to be listening to this song on repeat until I get completely tired of it.
Fig 2. Tkay Maidza
Next up is another song off the same album, called You Sad. This one incorporates more of her talented singing, while the previous song had more rapping and talking. It gives off a chill, mellow vibe, but still has a little underlying catchy, pop sound. I love this song so much, especially paired with its music video because it gives off such flower child vibes. Tkay is straightforward when explaining the meaning of this song, saying it’s “about making fun of people who are petty and who try to cover up their emotions but it’s just so obvious how they feel about a situation.” The fact that that’s her interpretation of her work makes me love it even more!
Finally, my third and final recommendation, is Flexin off the predecessor to her most recent album, Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1, which was released back in 2018. This song features another of my favorite artists, Duckwrth. Both of their sounds mesh perfectly together in this song as it gives off serious hip hop sounds. As you could probably guess, this song is all about flexin’. She talks about being comfortable in herself, and that she “won’t act responsible” for just being her. The song has such a unique sound, but one that suits her style perfectly.
And that’s it, both for this blog post and this entire blog. I hope you’ll give these songs a listen, as Tkay is a seriously talented artist and deserves more hype. Thank you all for tuning in for so long, I’m glad I’ve been able to introduce you to some new things!