3 hours ago
2
From London
Recommend if you like Rochelle Jordan, Ragz Originale, Sailorr
Up next New music due later this year
Natanya tears genres open and rebuilds them in her own image. Her drums swing loose and jazzy over heavy 808s; synths drift dreamily before snapping into gritty guitar riffs. Writing, producing and arranging all her own work, she weaves together neosoul silk, R&B groove, indie edge, and flashes of grunge, all carried by a buttery falsetto that nods to Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson and early Destiny’s Child.
Born in north-west London to a Nigerian father raised on Motown and gospel, and a Trinidadian-Indian mother spinning calypso and funk, Natanya began learning classical piano at the age of four. She grew up absorbing church bands, the fruits of YouTube rabbit holes, wrestling entrance themes, and late-night bedroom beats made on whatever gear she could get her hands on.
Her 2023 debut EP Sorrow at Sunrise read like torn-out diary pages, filled with raw heartbreak and uni life confessions layered over lush, experimental production. In 2025, she swung bigger with Feline’s Return and its Act II extension, pairing bolder pop instincts with soulful depth.
Cosigns from SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Doechii and Janet Jackson show she’s turning heads as she’s carving out her own lane. With a short break planned to let her reset for the rest of 2026, Natanya has her growing fanbase (known as the felines) wrapped around her finger. Sik Frydas
This week’s best new tracks
Mei Semones – Koneko (ft Liana Flores)
With lyrics in three languages, and the same rhythmic nimbleness as a prog or math-rock band, Semones and Flores craft a dizzyingly lovely song rooted in classic Brazilian bossa nova. BBT
Roy Montgomery – Pyromantic Ideation
The sublime New Zealand guitarist recorded the excellently titled Guitars Infernal in 2016 against various personal griefs, but waited until this aptly hellish moment to release it: bask in its ecstatic, splintered static. (Available only on Bandcamp.) LS
Knocked Loose – Hive Mind (ft Denzel Curry)
Rap-rock gets a bad rep, but this linkup shows how thrilling it can be, with Denzel Curry unloading ratatat lyrics as he races between Knocked Loose’s explosive groove-metal rhythms. BBT
Upsammy and Valentina Magaletti – Superimposed
The Dutch producer and Italian drummer mind-meld on the first taste of a new album, where shearing resonance, glassy tingles, fidgety percussion and fragments of childlike chatter vibrate as a kinetic whole. LS
Molina – Golden Brown Sugar
Much of the shoegaze revival has been an unimaginative retread, but this Danish-Chilean musician’s inventive loosie makes the genre’s dense guitars sound warped and asphyxiated against her serpentine vocal melody. LS
Galcher Lustwerk – Shorty Out
Very little in this life is as satisfying as Lustwerk’s rhythmic, subtly melodic hip-house vocal flow: it’s relaxed yet coiled with anticipation, measured out here at a steady tempo over warm chords. BBT
Sir Spyro – Diagonal
Ten years on from his grime-dubstep crossover classic Topper Top, Sir Spyro returns to the Deep Medi label with his new EP 2nd Sq. This is a high point, all air-throbbing bass and minimalist swing. BBT
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