iKeda’s giddy bubble riddims will make you dance

iKeda has been on a steady rise in 2026, from opening for PinkPantheress on her European tour to recording new music for her upcoming EP Bangs N Braces, due out August 28. Her music might recall Santigold or M.I.A., but iKeda’s fusion of electropop and dancehall is distinctly her own. On her latest single “Go!” the British singer-producer wines across a ridiculously brash thumper produced by Tailtiu. Check out the new music video, which just dropped today.

iKeda stopped by The FADER offices in late June for a quick chat about being a musical perfectionist, her friendship with Oscar Scheller, and why she calls her music “bubble riddim.”

The FADER: Can you tell us about the first song you ever made?
iKeda: The first song that I ever made, technically, was "Love Drunk." I feel like that was the first song that I discovered my love for writing and my actual ability to write. 'Cause for a really long time I was like discovering what all of these terms meant and what the writing umbrella was. I'd always be like humming melodies and whatnot, [but] I didn't realize that was essentially what toplining is—really just over a beat, and you're like, [humming] "Mm, mm, mm, mm," you know? I feel like "Love Drunk" made me discover pen-to-paper writing.

We talked a little about being a perfectionist before. How do you feel when you listen back to your early songs?
When I listen back to that song, even though it was almost DIY, I feel like it was quite ahead— it could probably fit onto my new EP. Production-wise, Tausha ate. She ate with the hook. The other ones are still a little bit more like they were being birthed, you know? They was still a little rough around the edges, but that's the charming part.

If you could remix any song, what would it be and why?
It would be someone from a completely different genre [...] a dancehall artist or something. Maybe CeCile "I Wanna F***." I love that song, and I love that song so much because it kind of inspired this made-up genre that I have for my music, which is called "bubble riddim" music. That's just like a genre I've called my music.
CeCile "I Wanna F***"— basically in like dancehall music, usually loads of people will make a song [where] they'll record their own versions over like riddims. So, she did that song over a bubble riddim. So that's just got a really big place in my heart.

Can you tell me more about bubble riddim?
Bubble riddim. I'm half-Jamaican, so I'm really inspired by a lot of Jamaican dancehall, classic reggae, and stuff like that. But then I feel like I also have this other part of me that's so obsessed with electro-pop. In my head, bubble riddim is this fusion of the two. There was a lot of artists, not really right now, but more in 2010 to 2012, where there was a lot of German and Dutch producers working with dancehall artists. And also Major Lazer and stuff like that, where they were making this fusion of dancehall and electro-pop.

We saw that you were in the studio with Oscar Scheller here in New York. Can you talk a little bit about that session?
Oscar is so amazing. He's such a versatile producer, songwriter. I can really appreciate when a producer can make the beat in the session and not take up the whole session doing it, and we're making it as we go along. 'Cause that's something that I do a lot with Tausha, who I collaborate with [on] all my music.
But yeah, Oscar, just instantly comfortable with him, and we already know each other, have some history together. We did a photo shoot together like a million years ago. [laughs]

Can you tell us more about that shoot? Where were you guys?
Oh my god, there's a fan page of mine, I think it's called kedaarchives. It's a small fan page, but they were digging up all of my old pictures. Some of them are a bit cringe, but I'm like, whatever, history. [laughs] They're really sweet, and they found the shoot. It was for this brand called Baracuta. Hate how I looked in the shoot! Woo! But yeah, me and Oscar met then, and we were just both modeling, and he was just starting to do music then. And he was producing for this artist called Girlie. And I was really shy, I was really intimidated by Oscar, 'cause I thought he was really cool. He's really tall, he's cute, and so I was like, "Oh my god, I'm scared!" So we got along, but I just couldn't talk to him properly.
And then we saw each other properly when I was working in the Heaven by Marc Jacobs store in London. He came in to buy a hat for a friend, and so when he came in, I was like, um, "Oh my god, Oscar!" cuz we hadn't seen each other for so long. And then finally we've gone in the studio, and he was like, "Oh my god, you're doing music now!"
It just came so naturally, and he just gets all of my references for the new music I want to make and the direction I'm going in, because he's a London boy, you know? He understands loads of random [stuff] like old-school Grime artists. He just gets the vibes, and I don't really meet that many people like that. And I'm really scared of doing sessions with people that I don't really know. But yeah, obviously it's a bit different with Oscar. But we have a fabulous song on the way.

Your upcoming EP is titled Bangs N Braces. What was the inspiration for the title?
Bangs N Braces is an evolution from my first EP, Pretty Little Problem. I'm really obsessed with shorts with braces – I think you call them in America, uh, suspenders.
I like to have fun when naming my EPs. I don't really take it too seriously. Whenever I'm thinking of a name, it will just come immediately, and I'm like, "Right, I'm doing that," and I'll stick with it. But I've been working on this EP for a really long time. I think a lot of people thought I wasn't releasing or doing anything since Pretty Little Problem, but I've been working on them for like a year.
[But] Whenever people hear about the braces, they think I'm talking about the teeth braces! It's not that! [laughs] 'cause a lot of my music is inspired by nursery rhymes and stuff like that. So some people are like, "Oh, is it braces because of that?" And I was like, "No, it's literally just because I'm obsessed" with the preppy [look]— I just wear a lot of them. And especially when we were in the studio, I was wearing them every single day. And then "Bangs" was because I had like a thick, thick bang. But also 'cause bangers, like big tracks.
I feel like my look plays a big part in my music as well so I was like, I got to include my braces, honey.

Is there anything you can tell our readers about the music on the upcoming record?
All of the songs are inspired by a lot of nostalgic things for me, so with the track "Tiger Tiger," that one's inspired by this children's book that I used to be obsessed with called The Tiger Who Came to Tea. I'm obsessed with the old English books my grandma used to give me. It's the same as like, My Naughty Little Sister and The Famous Five by Enid Blyton.
It's just like really traditional British books. I think they were made in the '60s or the '70s. I think Enid Blyton might have been the '50s. She's a bit messy, actually. But I just love the quintessential, drinking cups of tea, having picnics, and like a Teddy Bears' Picnic sort of thing. [And in my music], having these nursery rhyme melodies, games of cat and mouse, and pairing it with these super loud, bassy samples.