Samsaya

[Pretend 367]

 

Bombay Calling, the sophomore album from Norwegian singer Samsaya, isn't just a genre-busting set of songs drawing from pop, dance, hip hop, funk, soul and Bollywood. It's a long-distance call to the singer's heritage, one that augments modern pop with traditional Indian sounds that'll still fill any club in Miami or Los Angeles, but won't sound like the same clichéd Top 40 songs you've heard for years.

On Bombay, one hears the uptempo funk of "Stereotype" and bubbly synths of "Superhero" clash against the grinding, industrial pop of "Good With the Bad" and R&B synths-meets-Indian percussion of the title track.  Produced by multi-platinum-selling Roc Nation producer Fred Ball, the album fits alongside your favorite Rihanna, M.I.A. and Amy Winehouse records, with a twist.

"I like to make music that comes from an emotional place, and sometimes, that may not sound pretty, and I don't think it necessarily should," says Samsaya from her home in Norway. "It's okay for it to sound a little ugly. The music is about pureness."

This extends to Bombay Calling's lyrics, which draw on the singer's experiences "growing up feeling Norwegian but not looking stereotypically Norwegian." "A lot of people are run by fear and I try to infuse so much love that you don't have to fearm" the singer says. "Music is an architect with the power to build bridges. It meets you at the dance floor but it still makes you think and connects your heart."

Influenced by everyone from Mary J. Blige and TLC to OutKast and famed Indian singer Asha Bhosle, Samsaya, whose name means "doubt" in Hindi, has "always questioned everything," writing reactionary, iconoclastic lyrics as a child. "At 12, I heard Dinah Washington's 'I'm Mad About the Boy' and hearing that trumpet-type voice, something happened to me," recalls the singer. "Religious lyrics and traditional music didn't touch me. This moved me." Eschewing her parents' pleas to play classical Indian music in favor of more beat-driven tracks, Samsaya released Shedding Skin, her debut album, in 2004, and has released a steady stream of singles since.

When major labels asked the singer to fix a three-millimeter gap between her two front teeth, she refused and named her own record label 3MM Records. "I thought my teeth were the prettiest, coolest thing about me," the singer says. "It later became a big symbol to me of self-perception and not compromising."

This extends to Samsaya's live performance, which always features a heart painted over the singer's left eye. "It's a reminder that everything I meet and see, I will look upon with my heart and see it with an open mind," says the singer. "The first thing people see is the face and I was always hoping people would see beyond that. I started wearing what was inside of me on the outside."

"Bombay Calling" out April 29th (April 28th in US and Canada, April 13th in Norway) - tracklisting:
1. Kushboo
2. Stereotype
3. Bombay Calling
4. Beginning at the End
5. Love Maze
6. Good with the Bad
7. Breaking Bad
8. Jaywalking
9. Superhero
10. First Time
11. U & Me
12. My Mind

 

[iseeyouupsidedown 931]

I'm listening to Bombay Calling right now and I dig this so much omg

[Pretend 367]

Her new single, "Beginning at the End", is being premiered on Norwegian radio tomorrow: https://twitter.com/samsaya/status/570314759075180545

[Pretend 367]

According to this interview she's finally releasing Bombay Calling on April 13th

https://m.facebook.com/134416216621282/photos/a.321348697928032.76578.134416216621282/850475015015395/?type=1&source=46&refid=17

[drewby 9,246]

 

Tracklisting:

Tracklisting:

1. Kushboo

2. Stereotype

3. Bombay Calling

4. Beginning at the End

5. Love Maze

6. Good with the Bad

7. Breaking Bad

8. Jaywalking

9. Superhero

10. First Time

11. U & Me

12. My Mind 

[Pretend 367]

Four days until the album is released in Norway 

[Sucker 7,912]

 

 

Tracklisting:

Tracklisting:

1. Kushboo

2. Stereotype

3. Bombay Calling

4. Beginning at the End

5. Love Maze

6. Good with the Bad

7. Breaking Bad

8. Jaywalking

9. Superhero

10. First Time

11. U & Me

12. My Mind 

 

 

The font looks an awful lot like The Family Jewels. 

[Pretend 367]

The font looks an awful lot like The Family Jewels. 

Mat Maitland designed both album covers; he uses that style of writing in the majority of the album covers he designs (Ultraviolence being one exception).

 

 

You're buying the album on Monday, right? 

 

 

[drewby 9,246]

yeah we need a LB user from Norway to DL it I wonder if any of the i+ blogs will put it up

[Sucker 7,912]

Mat Maitland designed both album covers; he uses that style of writing in the majority of the album covers he designs (Ultraviolence being one exception).

 

 

You're buying the album on Monday, right? 

 

 

yeah we need a LB user from Norway to DL it I wonder if any of the i+ blogs will put it up

 

weeeeeell, I'm broke, so. and I'm really not that much of a fan. she's been to my school couple of times, and we've tweeted back and fourth. she's cool tho

[Pretend 367]

Two new songs with Slick Shoota as part of his 48 Hour Mixtape for Noisey:

http://soundcloud.com/noisey/marselis-riddim-slick-shoota-x/s-MaZT7

http://soundcloud.com/noisey/intro-slick-shoota-x-samsaya/s-MaZT7

[Sucker 7,912]

Two new songs with Slick Shoota as part of his 48 Hour Mixtape for Noisey:

http://soundcloud.com/noisey/marselis-riddim-slick-shoota-x/s-MaZT7

http://soundcloud.com/noisey/intro-slick-shoota-x-samsaya/s-MaZT7

 

they're down???

[Pretend 367]

they're down???

For some reason they play fine on Noisey's site but they refuse to load on SC 

http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/videos/48-hour-mixtape-oslo-with-slick-shoota-presented-by-pepsi-max

 

I also managed to find a physical copy of Bombay Calling that actually ships worldwide 

[Pretend 367]

Her new single "Like Me" was released two weeks ago (yet I only found out yesterday  ) and the music video premiered earlier today: