Rising star Beckah Amani returns with new single 'Lebeka Leka'
Image: She Is Aphrodite
Rising Australian singer-songwriter Beckah Amani has released her first new music in over a year with the single ‘Lebeka Leka’.
Expanding her sound from the more acoustic vibes of her previous singles, ‘Lebeka Leka’ has a distinctively pop beat teamed with gorgeous melodies and Amani’s stunning voice which is a thing of beauty and is capable of everything from deeper, call and response chants through to an angelic higher register.
Written by Amani and co-produced by Josh Fountain (BENEE) and Tony Buchen (G Flip, Troye Sivan), the lyrics are a razor sharp plea to realise you are enough and to not let that guy get to you anymore. “You don’t need closure / You key his car in the dark you burn it all to the ground…Lose his number for real / Your more than enough,” she sings.
“My mum calls me Lebeka because that’s how you pronounce my given name Rebeca in my language Kirundi,” Amani says. “She always says 'lebeka leka’ which means ‘Rebeca, let go’. I was particularly thinking about fear, how we often get so caught up in it that it kind of distorts everything that we want.”
Also out now is the music video for ‘Lebeka Leka’ which features Amani’s family farm in the Mount Tamborine area of south-east Queensland.
“I wanted to create a visual push and pull between my fears, how they distort my safe places, my dreams and warm moments with my loved ones,” she says. “I wanted the music video to show how it's the interaction with family and friends that override the presence, weight and pull of these fears; because their voices are the ones that truly matter. Music began with family for me. It was so special and emotional to have them be a part of the music video and to film on location at my family's farm as well as my family friends’ farm. The filming process felt like a big hug from the most important people in my life. ‘Lebeka Leka’ is a love letter to all the people in our lives that make living worth it. Reminding us to remember what is truly important.”
Amani moved to Australia from Tanzania with her family when she was eight and first released music in 2018. She has steadily gained critical attention for her warm, authentic, organic music, winning the QMA Award for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2021, two Gold Coast Music Awards, a prestigious Billy Thorpe Scholarship and an invitation to deliver a Ted Talk on the subject of vulnerability in songwriting. After spending most of 2021 working in the studio with local and international writers and producers, she kicked off this year receiving the the 2022 APRA Professional Development Award for Popular Contemporary.
With a move to London pencilled in later this year to be the next step in her career, Amani promises to be one of the big breakout stars we should all keep out eyes on in the coming years.
‘Lebeka Leka’ is out now. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things Beckah Amani you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
