The last time we spoke to anaiis more than three years ago, she was presenting the video for her single, juno, and in the chat we had then we talked about important topics such as mental health, honoring our legacy and roots through art, and what love means. Now the French-Senegalese artist shares her new mini-album, anaiis & Grupo Cosmo, out now in digital format, with vinyl scheduled for December. This is a carefully crafted project created in collaboration with Brazilian artists Sessa and Grammy-nominated Luedji Luna, which is born from an immersive, transformative experience.
“It’s a sonic emergence of the person I was becoming,” she tells us when asked about her latest project, anaiis & Grupo Cosmo. This is a musical diary loaded with meaning where she notes her emotions throughout her self-discovery and artistic evolution, and she explores themes of Black identity, motherhood, and the natural world. From Toda Cor, the album’s opening track in collaboration with Luedji Luna, to Finding Toda Cor, which puts the finishing touch to the project, the seven tracks included in this new work show the good vibes that everyone who has been a part of this project has felt when creating it.
“We spent days on the beach, sharing meals, stories, and creating together,” anaiis recalls of the recording retreat. “Every track was recorded live to tape, no computers. By the end of the week, we had an album that truly captured the spirit of that moment.” Encouraging all listeners to slow down and reconnect with themselves and treat themselves with kindness, the project that emerged from the collaboration between anaiss and Grupo Cosmo, who add a vibrant blend of Brazilian musical traditions, is a perfect synergy that radiates sensitivity and vindication.
Not only is she releasing the mini-album, but she also debuts today the video for B.P.E., co-directed with Ronan McKenzie and Tayo Rapoport. This track celebrates Black identity and draws inspiration from global liberation movements and perfectly portrays the message she wants to send. “I wanted the film to explore the ways in which tradition and culture are passed down in this very universal and iconic way but also to invigorate the viewer with joy. The song is a celebration of Blackness, and it was important for me that the film captured the power of our spirit as a collective.”