East London teen talent Leyma has shared new single 'ExtraExtra' – tune in now.
The 18 year old talent blazed a trail last year with his opening singles 'Lavender' and 'bumpintheroad', two bewitching pieces of scuzzy DIY pop.
New single 'ExtraExtra' is about growing up amid the incessant glare of the internet, the impact that social media can have on self-esteem.
Leyma explains: "I liked the old imagery of newspapers and taking a step back from being in front of the screens that we surround ourselves with every day. Becoming 18 and seeing how much Instagram or whatever rules the people I know, me included, sort of opened my eyes a bit. I think the way we rely on our phones and constant communication with everyone’s a bit jarring. I'd be a hypocrite to say I don't use my phone all the time, because I do, but 'ExtraExtra' is asking whether it's helping us or hindering us."
"These topics aren't really vocalised enough," he continues. "We all 'wake up and (I) say nothing', but I do think that everyone sort of knows what's happening isn't healthy. With the line 'I wonder what life was like on a landline…', I can only really imagine that everything was different. That mental health among the youth wasn't as prominent. That you had more time to go do things 'instead of focus on the timeline'. I won't ever know, but it's mad thinking about how recently that was."
"I know how comparing yourself to other people can fuck you up, talking first hand. The thing is, that's just what social media is now just a bragging platform, where we all take ourselves too seriously, a toxic place to be."
He finishes: "Being adolescent is difficult enough, without this constant judgment of who you are and what you're doing. I feel for the people who are 14 right now, dealing with all that stress."
A slinky ear-worm that rides a hip-hop leaning beat, 'ExtraExtra' is fuelled by Leyma's soft but dynamic vocal, half-spoken word and half-sung.
Tune in now.
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