Listen to Nardeydey’s “FreeFalling” and stay positive

Nardeydey, a.k.a. Shirley Tetteh, only dropped her debut single “Speedial” in late 2018 but she is fast developing a reputation as one of London's most versatile and exciting musicians. Having cut her teeth as part of the city's vibrant jazz scene with all-woman collective Nérija, Nardeydey allows Tetteh to channel that same energy into off-kilter pop. Today, via The FADER, she debuts new single "FreeFalling," a melodic ode to keeping positive.

Lyrically, "FreeFalling" skips between romantic visions of the sun's "golden beams" and the down to earth ackowledgement that "Maybe because it's midday sitting on a train I'm romanticising the fuck out of you." These words sit on top of an instrumental packed with detail, skipping as it does between a minimal drum beat and a crunchy electro-pop moment.

Speaking to The FADER via email, Nardeydey said: "Freefallin' started when I was asked to make something to play at the Black photographers gallery for London Jazz Festival. It was originally meant to be an instrumental but then I thought, 'actually lyrics would work great on this'.

"The words were a way of me finding a palatable way of writing about falling in love with being happy, hence the sun metaphor - it's actually a bit of a clunky metaphor so I don't normally tell folks about it! I remember I was getting the [London Underground] Northen line train back to Totteridge and Whetstone a couple years back, it was a beautiful sunny day with the sun shinning through the leaves and the windows, the train had just come through the tunnel out into the open, and I started writing."