TiKA releases captivating single and video for Soothing Love
Toronto, ON (December 3rd, 2020) – Today Canadian multi-disciplinary artist TiKA, has released the video for “Soothing Love” the second single from her forthcoming album Anywhere But Here available on Next Door Records February 26, 2021. The Montreal-based TiKA has once again teamed up with collaborator NASKADEMINI, who she worked with on her past visual for “Sideways.” In terms of the creative process, TiKA says, “I shot my visual ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ with Victoria Long in Toronto, but it was getting difficult to travel and maintain my own wellness, and of the people I’m working with. NASKADEMINI, the director for “Soothing Love” is a genius and really cares about maintaining safer spaces. Espace Gris is NASKADEMINI’s almost 4000 sq ft studio in Montreal, so we decided to continue to shoot there. I felt it was best to keep the team contained and to keep us working in the same space for one vision.” For the video, TiKA was inspired to create the image of Blackness in spaces that have historically excluded the Black experience. Delving into the world of Black fantasy is one of the more important themes that TiKA loves to explore in her art and cinematic pursuits. Her driving force, she explains, is that “when Black people are represented in the media, it’s rarely as the hero or heroine.”
“Soothing Love” is an ode to Black fantasy, Black femininity, and Black sensuality – themes that are not common, particularly in Canadian media which lacks examples of what that looks like. “For us to really accept ourselves, we need to be seen, otherwise our dreams of being included in these spaces remain just that: a fantasy. And where else can we be most free than in Africa, where we are most seen? To me, that’s the destination outside of the fantasy,” says TiKA referencing the lyrics from “Soothing Love”: Can we make this magic last forever / Hopelessly I’m falling into you / Take my hand, let’s run away to Africa
“For that soothing love in my own fairy tale, depicted in Soothing Love, my muse Tina represents Prince Eric. Through her eyes she envisions three mermaids – my way of showing the possibilities of what it could look like to be desired as a Black fantasy character. This image is furthered by the two other mermaids, who are my own heroes in life. Elle Barbara is a trans activist and artist, and Tali Taliwah is a journalist and one of the members of Nomadic Massive. It’s important for Black people, especially Black womxn, to see what is beyond the archetypes that have been laid out for us. I think of my mother, who after watching my video for Sideways, said to me that she would have never considered wearing something backless (as I did in the video), but now she would.”
Opening for RnB greats like John Legend and Nao set the tone for the potential of TiKA’s career. An integral part of the Toronto music scene before relocating to Montreal, TiKA, a former promoter, introduced audiences to Daniel Caesar, Jessie Reyez, and Haviah Mighty
