French international sensation Jain has just released details for her upcoming UK tour to support her much anticipated sophomore album Souldier, which is due on August 24th. The album was recorded in Paris and produced by Jain and Maxim Nucci (who also produced her debut album Zanaka).
Jain says about this new album: “Souldier is an album which was written on the road, crossing various countries and inspirations during its time of writing. I wanted to release it as quickly as I could, to make sure it resembled me as much as possible. Having mostly highlighted my teenage years and Congolese rumba on 'Zanak'”, this time around I wanted to show a bit more of myself. The aim was to broaden my influences, both those from my childhood and my current ones. I’m a big fan of Kendrick Lamar’s flow, Tito Puente’s softness, Fairuz’ elegance and Bob Marley’s melodies and, amongst all this music that I so love, I tried to find my own. That’s how Souldier was born, of the desire to combine what I like, and of the desire to talk of both timeless and contemporary subjects. For this, I was lucky enough to work with a team of incredible music-lovers with great musical knowledge, with my manager as well as with the great musician and artist Maxim Nucci.”
Earlier this week Jain released the official video for 'Alright'. The video was directed by Greg & Lio, the same successful creative team who directed her first video trilogy ('Come', 'Makeba', 'Dynabeat') which now boasts over 150 million views altogether. 'Makeba' won the award for Best Video at the 2016 French Victoires de la Musique and was nominated for best video at the 60th Grammy Awards this year.
Souldier follows Jain’s debut Zanaka, a concentrate of that joyous, sun-soaked, rhythm-driven sound which had been brewing for years. Collecting influences from multiple countries and a myriad of musical genres including Arabic percussion, African rhythms, electro, reggae, soul and hip-hop, the album swiftly introduced her as an international star on the rise.
She is currently on the road for the summer festival season and has announced a 2018 European headline tour including Manchester on November 26th. Tickets go on sale Friday 6th July via Gigs and Tours.