Hailed in 2017 by Vogue as “Nigeria’s Coolest Front Row Star”, a profile inspired by the uniqueness of her fashion style and her artistic versatility, multicultural singer, Falana knows the importance of disrupting the often one-dimensional view of women that we’re constantly shown by the society. “I love fashion because it’s another form of expression. But for me, I think one of my main motivators is just being a different reference point -for African women, and women, in general, ,” she explains, “I’m sexy, but I’m not selling sex. I’m different, but I’m still beautiful. I’m strong, but I’m soft. I care about how I am presented because what you see is what you know.” Her distinctive braid pom-poms have fans tagging her in fan art and pictures of their own hair: “I feel like it’s become this signature for me that’s so powerful now.” It is on this canvas of worth and meaning, she maps out her latest EP, Rising, a seven-track appraisal of her experience as a black woman who defies boundaries and literally, dances to the tune of her own music.
Off the back of her first single of 2021 Joy, Falana details a journey through different emotions and stories that we all experience, but told from a woman’s perspective even as she stays true to a central theme of women empowerment. A product of worldwide collaborations that started before the global pandemic, Rising tracks a process of healing and self-discovery, for Falana and listeners who can relate. According to her, each trip unveiled a new layer that allowed her to write from a different perspective and the resulting stories of self-love, personal struggle, romantic love, and self-perspective woven with genres that have influenced her own journey; from soul and pop to R&B and Afrobeat.
Falana has been able to hit the balance she’s been searching for her whole life and what better way to detail this than in a body of work rife with metaphors, right from its title, that appraises this.