Kenyan-Ugandan songstress Xenia Manasseh keeps her foot on the gas with her soulful new offering, Phases. As the first insight into Manasseh’s sophomore album LOVE / HATE Pt. 2, Phases poetically highlights the push-pull of understanding and being understood.
Across mellow R&B production, Manasseh’s mellifluous vocals tell a deeply intimate story about the fear of loss and the hope for reconciliation: “Do you really stick around just ‘cause of pride? Or do you really think you couldn’t love me right?” Manasseh delicately asks in the song.
Since releasing her debut EP Fallin’ Apart in 2019, Xenia Manasseh has slowly but surely been winning over listeners around the world. Initially honing her skills at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Manasseh’s carefully curated soundscape of neo-soul and jazz is rooted in core R&B influences. This sets the scene for her vulnerable confessions, reflecting the complex interplay of emotions that define human connections.
Speaking about Phases, Xenia Manasseh said:
“This song speaks to my current understanding of unconditional love and compassion. It revolves around the hope for a requited love with a purity I hadn’t discovered before. My hope for love used to be rooted in not being able to see myself but here, I have all the cards laid out on the table and can finally see things for what they are. The willingness to truly be patient rests on the sole condition that I’m met with unfiltered honesty and the realization that unconditional love can only function where truth is the anchor.”