Following the release of her three well received singles over the past few weeks, GRAMMY-nominated vocalist-songwriter Somi recently released her full album aptly titled ‘What Does It Take to Bloom?’ via her label Salon Africana .
Her first collection of original songs since her award-winning turns as playwright and Broadway actor, the multiple award winning artist explores the ongoing process of staying faithful to oneself amid life’s dissonance. Co-produced by Somi and Benjamin James (of Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen), the album was written and recorded between Dakar, Lagos, Paris and New York City, the album weaves global sensibilities into an intimate meditation on uncertainty and change — asking whether growth is something we recognize as it's happening, or once we've already been transformed.
While reflecting on the release, Somi shares “I wrote this body of work while traversing many places and losing many people,” goes a line from the album’s mission statement. “This album is a mirror of searching for where and how to take root in spite of that. I pray these songs offer each listener a sense of Home or, at the very least, a witnessing of me coming Home to myself.” The full album kicks off with the dynamic opening track “Throw Something” that leads us into the dazzling musical world initially shaped by the album’s three singles, each providing a different angle into Somi’s introspection – “We’re All Falling,” one of the project’s most affecting songs that confronts mortality with striking clarity, "Sometimes Love (feat. The Cavemen),” a groove-heavy love song that transports listeners to the intoxicating heat of Lagos where the song was recorded, and “So You Want To Be A Woman (feat. Lakecia Benjamin),” a commanding statement on the unspoken expectations and burdens placed upon all women.
For Somi, every album is an act of place-making. Her catalog reads like a map of migration and memory – traversing the cultural bridge between Africa and America with records rooted in Nigeria, in Harlem, in the spirit and political inheritance of Miriam Makeba. On Somi’s forthcoming album What Does it Take To Bloom?, the terrain shifts. Written and recorded between Dakar, Lagos, Paris and New York City, this time the place being mapped is not a city, country, or collective memory. It’s the self.Having spent years as a part of the global jazz scene while also standing adjacent to it, Somi defies categorization - embracing a hybrid of jazz, soul, and her African heritage. What Does It Take to Bloom? marks an evolution of Somi’s sound, and finds her taking greater vocal risks while trusting her instincts more deeply. Abandoning the need to fit inside any artistic box, that refusal in itself is a form of blooming. Ultimately, the album is grounded in finding belonging – recognizing that the journey towards wholeness is rarely linear and always unfinished. From the many experiences in life beyond our control to the embodied realities of womanhood, Somi explores the many facets of self-discovery that make her bloom. She hopes listeners will find themselves within the music; and if not, she offers the chance to witness her coming home to herself.
TRACKLIST:
- Throw Something
- Sometimes Love (ft. The Cavemen.)
- What Does It Take to Bloom?
- Mama On Blooming
- So You Want to Be a Woman (ft. Lakecia Benjamin)
- Aiwah
- Sugar
- Mama On Tradition
- Ngayaya
- Lay It Down
- Interlude: Skin To Skin
- We’re All Falling
- Love Could Be Anywhere
