SIRA* (Zina Saro-Wiwa), courtesy.

This week’s edition oozes femme energy. We’re bopping and moving with Winny and BLOND:ISH, SIRA* offers an enchanting debut, Fousheé, Davey and Miso Extra explore new sounds and Sarah Klang puts us in our feels. We round out the list with Tab Benoit, who returns to music with a bluesy new song.

Winny, “Take me” – A fusion of Afrobeats with elements of Amapiano over sexy and dreamy lyrics, this song was an obvious hit for me. As a fan of both genres, Nigerian artist Winifred Ohili Aduna fused them together so well without either one overpowering the other. Winny’s silky voice is the cherry on top. She has the vocal range of a superstar and “Take Me” solidifies that. Building up from her breakout self-titled EP, “Take Me” has the same energy as earlier releases “Pretty” and “Operations.”

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Miso Extra, “Slow Down” – My favorite thing about Miso Extra is that she thrives on unpredictability. You never know what to expect from from this artist, who’s keeping her name a secret but has said her she created her moniker to reclaim the racist, sexist taunts she faced growing up. With beats produced by DJ Boring, “Slow Down” is a psychedelic bop with the energy and tempo of U.K. garage. “Body feeling numb now/ Need it on a slow down,” Miso Extra sings. She wrote this song during lockdown, when she was feeling discounted and isolated from friends. The isolation translates in the video, where we see the London-based artist alone in front of a screen. The video imitates this movement of life passing by and the artist trying to catch up with it all.

Sarah Klang, “Beautiful Woman” – This ballad is a love letter to womanhood. Apart from Klang’s euphonic voice, the honesty and rawness in the lyrics are what make the song. The Swedish singer maps out the complexities of being a young girl and the insecurities that come with it. Klang points out that “Beautiful Woman” centers on her own sexuality, and we see that unfolding in the video for the first single from her upcoming album.

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Tab Benoit, “Why Why” – Returning from a 13-year hiatus, Tab Benoit serenades listeners with the first bluesy taste from his upcoming album, I Hear Thunder (Aug. 13). Over raspy guitar riffs and his Otis-Redding-esque voice, the four-time Grammy-nominated artist asks big questions like, “Why do we can feel so helpless, turn around and be so selfish/ Why, why/ We have to hit rock bottom before we realize the problem.” The video, a sort of newsreel and tour diary, creates urgency.

BLOND:ISH and Steve Appleton, “Never Walk Alone” – This song transmits good vibes. Vivie-Aan Bahos (BLOND:ISH) is a Canadian DJ and producer who uses her music to spread positivity and community. “Never Walk Alone” (which is not a Gerry & The Pacemakers or Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune cover), is a club banger with a powerful message that “Love is all we need/ If you want it then it’s infinite.” When she’s not making bangers, BLOND:ISH is an environmental activist advocating for the elimination of single-use plastics. Talk about being a badass.

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Fousheé, “still around” –  From the frenetic hand percussion to the skittering bass, “still around” snatches you from the first listen and holds you ’til the very end. I dare you to not bop your head when listening! It’s frenetic but laidback at the same time thanks to the soulful vocals. The song is from her next album, Pointy Heights (Sept. 13), titled after her home in Jamaica. The lyrics foreshadow a new chapter for the New Jersey artist. “This could be the biggest hurdle I’ve had/ But to love is so much greater than to have,” she sings.

Davey, “2 Chants” – The first half of the song sounds like a typical electro-club track, but something mystical and enchanting happens when Davey layers an introductory chant by kids at a soccer match with a Farsi-language sample, juxtaposing the two and creating a new dimension to the song. L.A. artist David Ansari (of Vallis Alps) points out that the challenge of bringing together opposite ideas into one cohesive piece of music is what compels him most as an artist.

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SIRA*, “Cosmic Shebeen” – For many African cultures, clapping and chanting along with drums, iron bells and shakers is used as a form of communication with the ancestral and spiritual world.  On “Cosmic Shebeen,” British Nigerian musician Zina Saro-Wiwa (who performs as SIRA*) fuses all these elements and brings them into the modern world with existential lyrics and striking beats. There’s something eerie and ritualistic about the song that I find captivating and very close to home.This is the first single SIRA* has released from her debut album, Songs for End of The World. I am so curious and excited about what comes next!

Dumi’s pick: “Cosmic Shebeen” is a powerful debut. It’s enchanting and African and carries a very powerful message. I love when visual artists and filmmakers tap into other mediums so well. SIRA* does this on “Cosmic Shebeen,” from sound production to the visuals, she’s asking us to pay attention. Well, I’m wide awake.

Follow Dumisani Mnisi at Twitter.com/nairobi_1899 and Instagram.com/nairobi_1899.