New Music: SAADI – Gotcha!

Inventive and eclectic, Gotcha! and its accompanying video reveal ever more glimpses of beauty as you explore them.

The spiritual and hypnotic nature of the vocals and melody are surely intentional, as the song seeks to impart a message of its own, drawing us closer to it. As entrancing as SAADI’s vocals are, she never seeks to entrap, only enlighten.

“Gotcha! explores the seduction of organized religion and its perks, as well as our complicity in the daily horrors that come out of this cult of faith,” says SAADI of the song from her Birds of Paradise album.

“The song is musically inspired by the Sierra Leonean Bubu music of Ahmed Janka Nabay, who was a very influential musical collaborator until he passed in 2017. I had access to a variety of analogue synths at Chris Coady’s studio in Glendale, California, and was lucky enough to use them to create the tapestry of sound underpinning the beat.”

Says SAADI of the new album, “Birds of Paradise is a post-apocalyptic record for me. It was culled from the ashes of so much destruction. I had lost some mobility and the ability to tour. My collaborator and friend had passed away unexpectedly. America was pivoting to the right. I was disillusioned about everything: art, music, politics, religion, relationships, justice, family.”

“After dramatically disavowing art and music, I enrolled as a biology student at CUNY. The hard sciences rocked me! I was underweight, underslept, and miserable. I met Chris Coady, who saw my accomplishments and said, ‘You’re an artist. You’re a producer. Magic encouragement!”

“I knew he was right. I came running back to music, song by song, moved to LA, writing and recording wherever I could. It has been over 4 years. Post-truth, post-pandemic, post-mobility, but also post-person, Birds of Paradise describes and is born of a quest for meaning in our disintegrating world.”

Birds of Paradise is out now and can be heard on Spotify and Bandcamp, where you can also pick up a limited-edition multicolour version of the LP. Head to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to learn more about SAADI and Birds of Paradise.

Header photo by Joe Holt