ELSY WAMEYO The Nairobi-Born, Adelaide-Based Singer, Rapper And Producer Shares New Single “CONQUER”
DEBUT ALBUM SAINT SINNER OUT JULY 26TH VIA AWAL
Nairobi-born, Adelaide-based singer, rapper and producer Elsy Wameyo has shared the fourth and final preview of her debut album Saint Sinner, due out July 26th. Infectious and danceable, “Conquer” see’s Elsy push through difficult times to emerge stronger. “It is I, the most divine, here to make a mockery of all your false perceptions,” she says “Refined by a fire you all fail to discern. Ego. My subconscious mind forcefully feeds me with the possibilities of the impossible. My success lies solely in my hands as spoken by God almighty. What a joy it is to know one’s worth, that even through the trials and tribulations I trust and know that I will come out on top. I pray you experience this revelation one day.”
Saint Sinner comes on the heels of a momentous 2023 for the rising artist, who supported Genesis Owusu across Australia, appeared at Falls Festival and Lost Paradise, and took home six awards at the South Australia Music Awards for Best Studio Engineer/Producer, Music Video, Song, Solo Artist & Release of the year for her debut EP Nilotic. She capped off the year with Triple J Unearthed’s Artist of the Year accolade.
The success came at a cost, with the grueling touring schedule resulting in exhaustion and disillusionment with her creative path, adopting a misanthropic worldview which in turn led her to crisis of faith. Wameyo made the decision to retreat to her ancestral home in Kenya, resting and reconnecting with her creative self. She built a team of close confidants and collaborators, including Polycarp Otieno, Wuod Omollo and Ywaya Tajiri. The group locked away in Kenya’s Naivasha region, writing, sharing, and recording ideas. The result is a powerful exploration of personal identity, spirituality, and the struggle to exist in this modern world.
Born in Nairobi and hailing from the Nilotic tribes of Kenya, Adelaide-based Elsy Wameyo embraces her cultural heritage through her musical offerings. Early singles like 2019’s “Outcast” showed promise, and garnered cosigns from Tyler, the Creator and Tierra Whack. Her self-produced debut EP Nilotic was hailed as a game-changer and praised by The Guardian, Acclaim, NME, Fashion Journal, & Complex for its incisive lyrics and impressive production. A bilateral journey of spirituality and personal growth, the EP sought to claim back, fix and uproot the world’s evil while processing frustration and sadness through music. Informed by an Adelaide upbringing and singing in church choirs from an early age, Wameyo posed questions to her heritage and the equity of societal structures as she unraveled her self-identity across six self-produced tracks. The EP’s success propelled her on to tours with Grammy award-winner Printz Board, Maségo, Sampa the Great, Genesis Owusu, Ruel and Adrian Eagle, among others.
Honing her production over the course of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement had a profound effect on Wameyo’s writing. In an interview with NME, she shared “It’s one of those things where as much as it’s happening in the US a lot of these things are happening in Australia – Australia just knows how to hide it.”
Following on from 2024’s virtuosic “Sinner,” and the hypotonic single “Piny Lara,” lead single “Umva” sees Elsy expand on the theme which is to dominate her debut: the temptations of our material world, the push and pull of external forces on our spiritual and emotional wellbeing, and the struggle to maintain ‘saintliness’ or purity when surrounded by degradation and grief.
Saint Sinner Album Art
Tracklist:
1 Repercussions
2 Quagmire
3 Sinner
4 Umva
5 Ler
6 Selah
7 Slowly Slipping
8 Wonder Horns
9 Piny Lara
10 Conquer
11 Journey
12 Saint
13 Thank You
Connect with Elsy Wameyo