Bakar continues to deliver timeless classics. Tonight (September 22), the British singer-songwriter has dropped his sophomore album, Halo. But day-one Bakar fans may notice that the album’s tracklist boasts a familiar fan-favorite.
On the album is a remix of “Hell N Back,” a track that was originally featured on his 2019 EP, Will You Be My Yellow?. On this special updated version is Summer Walker, who, in her special way, revives the song, carrying its way through the treacherous love Bakar first depicted in the Yellow cut.
Bakar’s first verse remains the same as that of the 2019 original, but Walker’s verse continues the story, as the two sail on toward love.
“Life been lifin’ lately, so I save you if you save me / I was up and out, I had enough, then I found you / I was no doubt, stressed out without you / All we got is us, when nobody does, I got you,” she sings on her verse.
While the original song is over four years old, its jazzy production and fresh new remix give the song an evergreen feel.
You can listen to the “Hell N Back” remix above.
Halo is out now via Epic Records. Find more information here.
The video finds Bakar with his band in an abandoned warehouse. He’s casually sprawled on the ground until it’s go time. From the first kick snare and taste of Bakar’s unique tone, it’s impossible to sit still. Bakar seamlessly melds the past (“We tried everything, ain’t got much more”), present (“I’m your muse at heart / Peddle me like I’m your drug”), and future (“I can’t wait ’til you’re right here”), all while dissecting a relationship.
Bakar is fresh off performing at Lollapalooza 2023 in Chicago on August 6. “Right Here, For Now” comes nearly two months after “Alive!” Per a press release, both singles are on the tracklist for his upcoming sophomore album, Halo.
Watch “Right Here, For Now (Live Session)” above, and check out Bakar’s upcoming headlining The Halo Tour dates across European and UK below.
11/09 — Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
11/12 — Berlin, Germany @ Kesselhaus
11/14 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
11/15 — Cologne, Germany @ CBE
11/16 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
11/18 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ DR Koncerthuset
11/21 — Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy
11/22 —Dublin, Ireland @ Academy
11/23 — Belfast, Ireland @ Limelight
11/25 — Paris, France @ Le Bataclan
11/28 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
11/29 — Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
11/30 — Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Halo is out 9/22 via Black Butter. Find more information here.
The genre-bending Bakar is back with a vibrant new single. On his new single, “Good News,” the UK singer celebrates a special love in his life, finding joy in the small, intimate moments they share.
The track opens with a soft-acoustic guitar, as Bakar delivers his signature crooning vocals. A kick drum then sets in, giving the song a punchy, heart-thumping feel.
“All along I was feelin’ nothin’ / ‘Til you came along, I started feelin’ somethin’ / Man, I’m just glad you put me amongst it / This feels like good news / I can’t lie, man, I thought I lost it / Then you came along, made it feel like justice,” sings Bakar on the song’s opening verse.
Bakar previously premiered “Good News” at Givenchy’s Fall/Winter 23 Men’s show during Paris Fashion Week, where he served as the show’s music curator and composer.
Last year was a big breakthrough year for Bakar. On top of releasing his second album, Nobody’s Home, he opened for Travis Scott in London and released a fashion collaboration with the late Virgil Abloh. He is gearing up for a busy 2023, as he is set to perform at Coachella in April, as well as drop new music throughout the year.
In the meantime, you can check out “Good News” above.
It’s hard to nail Bakar down — in terms of genre, style, and, in his early days, even by a name. With each of the London-bred singer’s songs, he wants the listener to cherish the moment in which they are hearing and feeling it. On Bakar’s debut album, February’s Nobody’s Home, each track unfolds like the pages of a book, detailing his most cherished moments, lining in Hampstead, Camden, and Chalk Hill.
We get a glimpse of Bakar’s day-to-day life in the video for “NW3,” the title of which refers to the postal code of London’s Hampstead district. Whether he’s alone on a rooftop, enjoying a meal with friends, or smoking in his flat, Bakar finds solace in each moment, often getting lost in time, dancing throughout.
But before Bakar, born Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr, “found the answer” in “NW,” he released much of his music on Soundcloud beginning in 2015, anonymously. Oftentimes, he would upload vocal freestyles over samples of King Krule and Bombay Bicycle Club, many of his raw, unfiltered lyrics opening windows to his soul. One of these tracks is 2016’s “Sharing Is Caring,” on which, he reels over a love lost.
“Hope that you believe like how I believe / Gave you my love, you sold it back to me / Play with love too much, you might lose it / Smoked my last Camel but we can twos it,” Bakar sings, as adlibbed hums and coos give the song a forlorn and haunting element.
The influence of Kid Cudi and Dev Hynes is present in Bakar’s work, the latter of which Bakar has been a fan of since Hynes’ Lightspeed Champion days. Hynes released his most recent album as Lightspeed Champion in 2010, and Bakar says Hynes and Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke were among his favorite artists during his adolescence. As Bakar is wont to live in the moment, these are probably the closest hints we’ll ever get in regards to his actual age. In a 2018 interview with Wonderland, following the release of his debut mixtape, Badkid Bakar said his age was “infinity.”
A year after that interview, Bakar would release an EP called Will You Be My Yellow?, which contained the breakthrough hit, “Hell N Back.” Like Bakar himself, his music is ageless, as he remarks on a tumultuous relationship over jazzy horns and subtle drum patterns.
“Could you tell where my head was at when you found me? Me and you went to hell and back just to find peace,” he sings, delivering soft, silky vocals, with his soulful, British accent still audible throughout.
“Hell N Back” became a sleeper hit in the United States, reaching the top of the Adult Alternative Charts 27 weeks after its release, breaking the record for the longest climb to No. 1. Bakar had actually begun the process of writing Nobody’s Home before he wrote Will You Be My Yellow?, but the timing of the ideas he had conceived and the work he wanted to put out just wasn’t right.
“Will You be My Yellow? started picking up — you know, that song ‘Hell N Back’ started going crazy,” Bakar said in an interview with Document Journal. “It bought me some time, basically, to figure out the record. A couple songs [from my first try] were really potent. They stood the test of time. When I came back to Nobody’s Home in 2020, I was ready, long story short. I was so ready — the way the world was, all the topics, Palestine, this, that.”
On his proper debut, Bakar offers a collection of tracks that are both timely and timeless. He shares anecdotes of love and heartbreak, both romantic and familial. On a particular track, “Youthenasia,” he explores the dark parts of fame, and how his status has affected his role in his family.
“It’s like lately feel the pressure, I’ve been feelin’ nauseous / Lately like my mama has become my daughter / I wouldn’t change it for the world, man, this sh*t is awesome / I ain’t seen my dad in fifteen years, who would’ve thought it?,” he rap-sings over a thumping drum loop.
As the son of an immigrant mother from Tanzania, Bakar examines racial injustice on the track “The Mission,” while expressing a desire to create wealth for the generations of his family after him.
“All I ever hear is people talking about how bad nepotism is,” Bakar says in the song. “Do you know how badly I want some nepotism in my life?”
Since his breakthrough, Bakar has found fans in collaborators Dominic Fike, Kenny Beats, and Benee, as well as the late Virgil Abloh, the artistic creative director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection. Abloh even designed a special edition cover for Bakar’s Nobody’s Home. Though Bakar’s rise in the US may seem less rapid compared to that of the TikTok hitmakers of our time, his music, both old and new, still sounds fresh and timely, whether you were to have your first listen today, or months from now.
A big part of being a music fan is keeping up with the music of the moment; There’s a reason popular artists have gotten to where they are, after all. Another equally important aspect of being an informed consumer of music, though, is maintaining an awareness of the up-and-coming artists who are primed to shape the industry in their own ways.
That’s what Uproxx’s new Next Up series is all about.
Over the course of ten feature profiles, you’ll learn about artists currently laying the foundation for some major things to come, things that will both establish themselves as forces and influence those who come after them. Before those features start rolling in, keep reading for a rundown of who we decided needs to be a part of this conversation.
Dove Cameron
Getty Image
The pipeline from Disney Channel star to music icon has been fruitful over the years, as folks like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande have started on the network and gone on to tremendous musical success (also Olivia Rodrigo if you count her High School Musical series on Disney+). Now it’s looking like Dove Cameron, whose lengthy acting resume includes the lead role in the Disney Channel series Liv And Maddie, could very well be next. Her debut EP, Bloodshot / Waste, arrived in 2019 and she just recently had her biggest hit yet in February with the dramatic single “Boyfriend,” which was her first, and likely not last, song to grace the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Saya Gray
Jennifer Cheng
With her recent signing to Dirty Hit, Canadian-Japanese singer-songwriter Saya Gray finds herself in great company: The label’s esteemed artists include The 1975, Beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, and Rina Sawayama. Her first album for the label, 19 Masters, is on the way in June and based on songs like the recent single “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???),” it’s easy to see why Dirty Hit brought the innovative young artist on board, who’s adept at switching genres not just between songs, but sometimes right in the middle of them.
PinkPantheress
Getty Image / Brent McKeever
TikTok has become a real proving ground for up-and-coming artists as the young generation gets exposed to a lot of new music on the platform. PinkPantheress managed to stand out above all the noise and earn herself a record deal with Parlophone. Her music definitely embraces the fast-paced nature of TikTok: Most of the songs on her 2021 debut mixtape To Hell With It are shorter than two minutes. That didn’t stop the multi-genre project from performing particularly well, as it landed in the top 20 of the charts in PinkPantheress’ native UK.
Kali
YouTube
Speaking of TikTok, Atlanta rapper Kali also found success on the platform and now she’s breaking new ground beyond it. As Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes, she’s moving into a space traditionally dominated by male rappers, one that is “marked by passive aggression, avoidant attachment, and audio gaslighting, with rappers and singers delighting in keeping their significant others guessing in the narratives of their songs.” Kali parlayed her breakout single “Mmm Mmm” into a debut EP, Toxic Chocolate. The Yung Bleu-featuring “UonU” is a highlight, on which she turns the tables and asserts dominance, rapping, “It’s a two-way street, we in the same lane / Play you ‘fore you play me, that’s just my mind-frame / But you still mine, babe.”
Tobi Lou
Empire
Odds are you’ve already heard Tobi Lou working with one of your favorites, as the Chicago-via-Nigeria rapper has collaborated with some of his biggest hometown peers, like Chance The Rapper, Dreezy, and Saba. He was on the ballot for the 2020 XXL Freshmen list and while he didn’t make the cut, he’s on to bigger and better things, like his recently released new album Non-Perishable, which mostly features Lou shining on his own but also alongside guests like T-Pain and Chika. All the name-drops are to illustrate that Lou has support from folks in high places, co-signs that show Lou is worth consideration.
Omah Lay
Uproxx
A lot of things have been going right for the 24-year-old Nigerian afrobeats star lately. Since landing a record deal a couple years ago, Omah Lay’s ascent has been quick, as he had a social media hit with “Bad Influence,” dropped some EPs that landed on Apple Music’s charts in Nigeria, and caught the attention of Justin Bieber, with whom he recently released the collaborative single “Attention.” Furthermore, Lay’s status as an afrobeats favorite was cemented with the launch of Billboard’s new US Afrobeats Songs chart in March. On the inaugural ranks, he had two songs in the top 30, including “Attention,” which graced the top five. Basically, Lay’s on an upward trend, so if you haven’t been paying attention so far, now’s a good time to start.
Bakar
Epic
Like many artists before him, Bakar got his start uploading songs on SoundCloud. That’s really one of the few ways the experimental UK indie rocker is like other artists, though. He gradually worked on his craft, forged a distinct aesthetic identity, and had himself a bit of a hit in 2019 with “Hell N Back,” which popped up on multiple rock and alternative Billboard charts, including a No. 1 placement on Adult Alternative Airplay. Things have only gotten better since then, as he had a feature on one of 2020’s most esteemed indie/pop albums in Benee’s Hey U X and released his debut album, Nobody’s Home, in February. He got some hometown love for that one, as it was a top-40 album in the UK. Now it feels like just a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up.
Horsegirl
Cheryl Dunn
Chicago trio Horsegirl formed in 2019, when its members were all teens. While many teenage endeavors are best left forgotten, Horsegirl has built on their start in a major way. They’ve since signed to Matador Records and so far released two singles for the label: 2021’s “Billy” and this year’s “Anti-Glory.” As for the sound, the group falls somewhere between post-punk and shoegaze, a zone that has clearly worked for them given the aforementioned examples of their success. It’s the kind of music that begs to be heard live, so there’s good news there, as one of the year’s buzziest bands has a slew of tour dates set for this summer.
Caracara
Maria Daniela Lynn
The 2019 EP Better was big for Caracara, as the rocking effort landed them on many people’s radars. That includes renowned producer Will Yip, who has worked with everybody from Lauryn Hill to Keane to The Wonder Years. He also linked up with Caracara on their recently released album New Preoccupations (As The Gods Descend), which is highlighted by the single “Colorglut,” which features Circa Survive’s Anthony Green. The company a band keeps can say a lot about them, and so far, a lot of top-tier folks have found their way to Caracara’s corner. Now that the new album is out and music fans have something fresh to sink their teeth into, the Caracara corner is about to get even more crowded.
Zack Fox
YouTube
As social media has become a primary method of fan interaction for celebrities, a lot of musicians have emerged as legitimately hilarious social media personalities. Then there’s Zack Fox, who’s approaching things from the opposite direction: He was a comedian first, but in recent years, he’s found some solid footing in hip-hop: His debut album, Shut The F*ck Up Talking To Me, came out last year and he’s touring with Freddie Gibbs this year. On top of all that, he’s still acting and has a recurring role in one of the most acclaimed comedies of the moment, Abbott Elementary. He’s even an accomplished visual artist, as he illustrated the album sleeve of Thundercat’s Drunk. Basically, Fox has done something you’d probably enjoy in just about every artistic medium, which is something very few people can say.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In this new monthly column, we’re taking a look at five artists who are steadily rising and positively need to be on your radar this month. Our February picks are from across the musical spectrum, touching on hip-hop, pop, soul, jazz and R&B from all across the globe. These are artists who made their presence felt in January, have more in store in February, and genuinely merit your attention.
Raveena
A welcome Indian-American voice in R&B and pop, Raveena recently announced her major label debut, Asha’s Awakening, out February 11th. Whereas 2019’s Lucid, saw her sweet voice shining over shimmering, sugary bedroom R&B, she’s exploring new artistic horizons in pop on the new release. She further embraces her roots on “Rush,” a cinematic Bollywood-inspired song that came to her on a psychedelic acid trip through a museum. On the sexy “Secret,” she’s joined by Vince Staples for a provocative turn, on a tabla and sitar-soaked beat. And all her accompanying visuals have been can’t miss as well.
Bakar
Chances are you’ve likely heard Bakar’s hit “Hell N Back,” with it’s jazzy upbeat soul swing that’s tailor-made for the happy-go-lucky moments of the Euphoria generation. The Camden native said he’s “always wanted to be an alternative for the Black kids who don’t fit in,” and his approachable and uniquely energetic tunes have cross-cultural appeal no doubt. Speaking of Euphoria,Dominic Fike even collaborated with Bakar on the wistful “Stop Selling Her Drugs,” but it’s his latest output that hint at the bright road ahead for him. There’s the anthemic, “The Mission,” the reflective “Build Me A Way,” and the hopeful latest offering, “NW3,” that show the promise of his upcoming debut album, Nobody’s Home, out February 25th.
Lady Wray
Atlanta’s Nicole Wray is living a new life. In the late ’90s she was discovered by Missy Elliott (as “Nicole”) and scored a modest hit with the Elliott-featured sumptuous R&B jam “Make It Hot.” But life is anything but linear, especially in the music industry, and she is now re-born as Lady Wray. On her latest album, Piece Of Me, Lady Wray is a muse of sorts for the dynamic canvases laid down by retro soul producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair, The Carters) and it’s one of the coolest, purest expressions of soul music you’ll hear this year. “Through It All” is uplifting soul nostalgia perfection and “Come On In” is tinged with gospel a lean that lets Wray’s booming voice soar. She performed the latter on Colbert last week and it sure as hell felt like the full circle moment she’s worked towards for over 20 years.
Central Cee
Central Cee is poised to be the next big UK rapper in the shape of Dave and AJ Tracey. This past November, the West Londoner got a major look, hopping on FKA Twigs’ “Measure Of A Man,” for the film The King’s Man. His breakthrough track, “A Day In The Life,” got a shout out from Big Sean when it first dropped in 2020 and now he’s high up on the newly announced lineup of the Parklife festival. His style has morphed from grime to drill as he spells out his rise in the ranks. “Take that risk and go independent, I just turned down six figures /
On the phone you was loud, now we’re in real life and you’re soundin’ timid,” he spits over drill bass and East Asian strings on “Pinging (6 Figures).” He’s been building a steady catalog, including 2021’s excellent Wild West mixtape as he continues to drop tracks from the upcoming 23 tape, out February 25th.
Moonchild
LA jazz and R&B trio Moonchild make distinctly warm and embracing tunes, led by Amber Navran’s angelic voice. They’ve been able to break through artsy jazz circles through collaborations with Robert Glasper and Rapsody in the past, and now have a stacked slate of guests on their upcoming album, Starfruit, out February 11th. On “Tell Him,” Navran and Lalah Hathaway dazzle on a beat awash with breezy bass, keys, and synths. Theirs is music to fall in love with, fall in love to, and make love alongside. Beyond Hathaway, the new album features Alex Isley, Tank & The Bangas, Rapsody, Ill Camille, and more.
Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
