This week’s Artist of The Week comes all the way from New Zealand. Miss Leading is a songwriter, producer, and poet who creates powerfully poignant music with an important message. Her latest single “Woke” is in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The single is an evocative slice of experimental pop channelling the likes of FKA twigs. The music is dark, brooding, and ambient, complimenting Miss Leading’s distinctive vocal style and emotive lyricism perfectly.
The single also features a video where we see Miss Leading cutting off her hair in a white room. Of the video, she explains, “the symbol of haircutting is that of ‘a thousand tiny cuts’—that accumulation of constant prejudice and its impact. It is also about pulling back the nice dressing to reveal something that makes people uncomfortable.”
Miss Leading is of Indian and Scottish heritage. She has founded the Eastern Sound Collective, a network of Wellington musicians who aim to support Asian artists who are underrepresented in western music. Pretty impressive stuff if you ask us!
