NYC born punk-chic discodelic funk trio, Say She She has released “Under the Sun,” the second single from their upcoming third album Cut & Rewind.
The single was written by the band’s three harmonizing vocalists, Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown, in Hollywood during the 2023 Writer’s Strike. “Under the Sun” is a dreamy and dance-like, pro-labor anthem. Originally inspired by the strike, the track takes on an expanded meaning today in the wake of Los Angeles’ recent ICE crisis.
Musically, the track triumphs in groove and atmosphere. It opens strong, immediately grounded by steady, anchoring drums that lock the rhythm into place. From there, “Under the Sun” flows in an airy, light and hypnotic way. The trio’s harmonies are a central force as they effortlessly intertwine throughout the track, creating a lush, dreamy texture that feels both nostalgic and new.
The band experiments with melody and musical texture in a way that makes the song feel expansive and alive. It’s undeniably catchy, but there is depth in the details. The song pulses with a bright energy while delivering something profound.
The outro lyrics repeating, “Under the sun/ Under the gun” mirror each other in sound but carry contrasting meanings. One evokes freedom, warmth and nature; the other, tension and danger. The juxtaposition encapsulates the song’s core theme of finding joy and strength amid pressure and adversity.
‘Under The Sun’ is our summer ode to standing up to the man and is about the irony of living under pressure in a beautiful setting. We wrote it in Hollywood during the writers’ strikes about the posited power of the union, but it also feels just as much of a tribute to people protecting their neighbors from military henchmen. It’s meant to remind us that collective power, if harnessed in the right way, has the capacity to help us thrive and not just ‘survive’ in this beautiful land under the sun.
Say She She
Say She She came to be as Malik and Cunningham heard each other singing from different units in an old tenement building in the Lower East Side. They later met Brown at a rooftop party in Harlem and started singing from the moment they met.
In the three years since their debut album, Say She She has gone from friends and neighbors to playing at Glastonbury and Bonnaroo, sold-out shows across the US and UK, NPR Music calling their music “perfect” and KCRW ranking their sophomore album Silver the Best of 2023, and earning praise from the likes of Nile Rodgers and a recent shout out from Questlove. They have played The Kelly Clarkson Show, CBS Saturday and Later … with Jools Holland, and have been profiled by Anthony Mason on CBS Mornings.
Since its release in June, the title track has received heavy BBC airplay, alongside the album announcement. On Cut & Rewind, Say She She’s music crackles with unforgiving grooves, whistle tones, and three part harmonies capable of opening up the heavens.
Cut & Rewind, both politically-charged and dancefloor-crushing, is the band’s most expansive and ambitious work yet. Across its twelve new, original songs, the band evokes progenitors like Minnie Ripperton, Rotary Connection, Liquid Liquid and ESG while incorporating elements of Lonnie Liston Smith and the Lijadu Sisters, and channeling the spirit of contemporary peers like Lambrini Girls and Amyl and the Sniffers. The new album contains an ethos of “consciousness dressed up as a good time.” Cut & Rewind is available for pre-order now.
Say She She continues on their international tour as they performed at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles on August 7 and their biggest show to date in London (O2 Academy Brixton) on November 26.
More information and updates on Say She She can be found at their official website.
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