JOHANNESBURG: Layzee Ella’s ‘Medusa’ featuring fellow Nigerian musician Khaid has been her biggest song to date, reaching over 905K streams across platforms since its release in July this year. A little less than three months since then, the budding superstar offers fans its visual companion piece filled with Greek symbolism but told through Layzee Ella’s gaze.
Directed by Pink of Pinkline Films, the video draws inspiration from Greece’s classical and mythological character, Medusa; visually established by molded statues with snakes for hair. It goes further to paint the picture that Layzee Ella aimed at creating with her vocals on the feel-good record.
The video opens with Layzee Ella wandering through a gallery permeated with many versions of the ‘sometimes beautiful, sometimes repulsive’ Gorgon monster Medusa, with a head of serpents for locks.
The gallery and its artifacts are intriguing and as the video progresses, it isn’t long until both Layzee Ella and Khaid discover that there is more than meets the eye in this mysterious place. The tale of Medusa is a tragic one that Layzee Ella uses to describe a past relationship. In the song she raps, ‘Know you cause a problem when you talking / you walking / you say we been sorting it out / you f*cking my mind / wicked in your eyes / gimme many reasons not to trust you again’, revealing confidence lost in a partner. The music video is appealing in how it merges story and performance in beautiful colors, bringing its subjects alive.
Crucial to Layzee Ella’s songwriting is her devotion to love and how her relationships, both romantic and platonic, have influenced her music. Equally essential is her exploration of sounds that are true to her curious spirit. The tail-end of October will see the Nigerian rapper, and singer-songwriter released two remixes of ‘Medusa’ with Canadian artist Ikky and UK alternative band Sleepwalkers, giving fans an opportunity to enjoy the song anew. Later still, ‘Chemical’, a fan favorite on the Feel Everything EP, will be reimagined by Latin artist Mendoza and is set for release in November.
The music video for Medusa is out, watch here: https://youtu.be/2GlbO_TOELU
ABOUT LAYZEE ELLA
Nigeria’s next superstar, Onose Emmanuella Bagudu, better known as Layzee Ella, is an exciting rapper, singer, and songwriter hoping to grab with both hands Afrobeat’s’ promise of prosperity. Although her journey seems to have started on social media through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Layzee has been writing music since she was all but 8 years old. The self-proclaimed introvert drew creative inspiration from her love of reading and began her own process of storytelling through writing songs.
Honestly, when I am not speaking, I am thinking – like always. I am hardly ever speaking and when I was younger, I was mostly in my head too and so from very early on I learned to express myself through writing.
After doing covers of popular Afrobeats songs on social media and growing her online community of supporters, the singer-rapper released her debut single “Sober” which had people talking, and listening. The following year she had a lot more to say, rolling out her debut EP When The Lights Go Off which spawned the hits “Deep Into You” and “Body On Me” along with four other boisterous tunes.
Her songs speak of a desire for sincere companionship, a passion she shares not just with young people but with music listeners of all ages. Love is an important part of her messaging. To Layzee, being in love and consequently being in love is the greatest superpower a human being can embody. She makes it a point to show why the freedom to express love is ever more important today in the human experience – it is strength, unrelenting, uncompromising strength.
While the superstar has admitted that she is in the process of carving out her sound and the kind of music she wants to make, sonically she borrows from genres such as R&B, Dancehall, and Reggae in addition to Afrobeats. This has helped Layzee mold her own vibrant soundscape which fans have come to love.
Layzee Ella is creating a world with her music where she hopes to inspire creativity, freedom, and connection.
When I am in the studio creating, I am always truly myself and fully expressive and I would love for my listeners to have the same energy. I want to inspire people to honor themselves in their everyday lives.
Follow her journey here:
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