September 4, 2019
Harleighblu & Bluestaeb
Beat-heavy empowerment anthem "Queeen Dem" by UK R&B/soul singer Harleighblu and Berlin-born, hip-hop beatmaker and producer Bluestaeb is the third single off their collaboration album "She" (dropping on October 11th). The song was inspired by the popular poem "This is for the women who don't give a fuck" by American writer Janne Robinson. Harleighblu took the fierce manifesto of the feminist activist and interpreted it her very own way: "I tried to capture the strength of the poem, with a nod to Janne, and then elaborate with my own take on completely owning your own womanhood. Within writing the first few lines, I entitled the piece Queeen Dem. Queeen gets 3 E's to accentuate the fact you are a queen." "Queeen Dem", dropping on September 6th, is the key song of the two artist's joint album: "The song's message is something I've wanted to write about for years, but never felt able to, until now. This track embodies the theme of the album - "She". It's empowering, punchy and hopefully inspiring for young women. It's also unapologetically feminine and strong... everything I try to represent as an artist." The empowering lyrics are driven by Bluestaeb's production for the track, which is highly inspired by the era of boom-bap hip-hop during the 90's. Harleighblu heard Bluestaeb's music for the first time in London's Jazz Cafe in 2016 and approached him to work on an album shortly after that. The multinational duo decided to search for new ways to express their common love for uncompromised hip-hop and R&B. Bluestaeb's soulful approach to beat making complements Harleighblu's performance perfectly as she stakes her claim on the neo soul and hip-hop territory she always identified with as an artist. Speaking about the collaboration Bluestaeb says: "When I got the first demo recordings from Harleighblu, I was blown away. I've worked with multiple singers before, but this time I felt that somebody finally really knew how to handle my beats properly and turn them into songs." Their debut project "She" achieves a distinctive sound that merges old school aesthetics with a new school attitude and organic instrumentation, progressive neo soul and beat heavy hip-hop, whilst Harleighblu's unique vocals push through the sonic boundaries of R&B. Harleighblu introduced herself in 2013 with the charismatic, beat-heavy soul of her Tru Thoughts debut LP "Forget Me Not", which was championed by 1xtra's Mistajam and BBC 6 Music's Don Letts. Since then she has not looked back, garnering critical acclaim for her unique style from the likes of Complex, Dummy, The Line Of Best Fit and Clash to name but a few. She has performed at prestigious festivals such as Glastonbury, Bestival, Kendal Calling, Boomtown and Gilles Peterson's Worldwide festival. Hailed as an up and coming 'queen of soul' with references to Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse, Harleighblu's signature sound has matured into a frank, self-possessed voice that pulls no punches and makes no apologies. Bringing us honest, feminine, yet unrepentant lyrical touches and establishing herself as one of the UK's most promising young artists. On the other hand, Bluestaeb made his name through his releases via German tastemaker label Jakarta Records, where he released alongside Kaytranada, Ta-Ku and Mura Masa. His solo efforts 'Rodalquilar' (2015) and 'Everything Is Always a Process' (2018) and his collaboration project "LIT - Lost In Translation" with rapper JuJu Rogers have been internationally praised for their warm characteristic sound receiving airplays on Soulection, BBC 1, Rinse.FM and many more. His works have amassed more than 20 million streams and Bluestaeb has played shows and festival all over Europe, including Melt Festival and splash! Festival.