INTERVIEW – B-ahwe ‘26% MIXTAPE’
11 December 2023
Scotland’s rising R&B and neo-soul star Becky Sikasa released her EP ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’. This is her second EP after her 2022 debut ‘Twelve Wooden Boxes’, for which she received a nomination for the Scottish Album of the Year award.
‘Twelve Wooden Boxes’ was praised for Sikasa’s soaring vocal range as she searched for belonging, identity and love. ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’ shows Sikasa’s disillusion with unbelieving ideas about love following her first heartbreak.
The new EP features singles ‘Hard To Love,’ Wait Up,’ Work Of Love,’ and ‘Crashing And Falling’. Sikasa wears her heart on her sleeve in ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’, as her angelic vocals interweave in the unworldly production. She opens up to her listeners through her unguarded lyrics, from feeling hard to love to her anxiety about making mistakes.
The EP opens with her 2023 single ‘Hard To Love’. Relating to her experience with ADHD, Sikasa states on her social media that a lot of qualities associated with ADHD are often categorised as annoying and disruptive, leaving a tear in her self-esteem. Backed by soft piano chords, Sikasa’s heavenly voice and pure songwriting convey her vulnerability from start to finish as she translates the thoughts in her head into this single. ‘Wait Up’ is the second track of the new EP. This resounding single featuring Sikasa’s soulful vocals reminds her listeners they still have time, as everything will come together at the right moment.
‘Nothing To It’ is the third track in the EP about escaping the cyclical nature of life and making the same choice. Sikasa fears losing herself and voices that making the same choices feels like watching herself from the outside, walking into a trap. With the support from her celestial vocals and the delicate arrangement of the piano chords, Sikasa wonders whether learning is ever linear. ‘Nothing To It’ reveals that Sikasa is still a work in progress, as she constantly enters the same cycle of making the same choices and learning from them.
‘Work of Love’ ties the EP together, as ‘The Writing And The Pictures And The Song’ is a line from the widely praised 2023 single. Sikasa enunciates with her supernal vocals and her pure lyricism that the work of love is not for the weak and is not an easy process. The song stemmed from Sikasa’s first heartbreak, a heartbreak that was not only broken from the love but love in general. Sikasa opens a new path from this feeling towards a new perspective with the backing of heartfelt music arrangements.
‘Of Lightness And Nicotine’ is the penultimate track in the EP of her finding the balance between ‘lightness’ and ‘nicotine’ through her unearthly vocals and intangible production. The EP closes with ‘Crashing and Falling,’ Sikasa’s heart-rending single about her fear of making mistakes and “doing things wrong.” Sikasa embraces love and tenderness to pull her out of her fear, as her seraphic harmonies intertwined with the vivid music arrangements support the beautiful message that love can rescue you from your fears.
Through unlearning ideas and embracing love, Sikasa is a work in progress. Siksasa demonstrates her work of progress by moving through her fears instead of living in them and finding new perspectives of love whilst also exhibiting that love itself, from loving others to loving yourself, is also a work in progress. Most known for writing emotive songs about belonging, identity and connection from scenes from life, art and literature, she dived deep within herself and her experiences to compose grounded lyrics harmonised with her empyrean vocals and backed by the dainty composition. She invites her listeners to experience her process and inner thoughts whilst reminding them that they are also a work in progress.
Following the release of the EP, Sikasa received a nomination from BBC Introducing for Scottish Act of the Year. She also announced a tour in Scotland, due to begin in Autumn. With this soulful EP, her gift of lyricism and heavenly, warm vocals, Becky Sikasa is the next effulgent star of neo-soul and R&B.