Hunnah has it all; a strong pen game (immaculate songwriting), beautiful emotive vocals (and ethereal vocal layering), a sophisticated aesthetic, clear point of view, vulnerability, and most importantly, something to say. The Ethiopian-Canadian singer-songwriter uses her songs as a cathartic process, “a diary” as she calls it, using her distinctive voice—which sonically encapsulates an eclectic mix of musical genres from new-wave alt rnb, neo-soul to jazz—she crafts songs that are radically honest, often pouring her own experiences into her music. That raw sensibility—coupled with that smooth voice—makes the “Stay” singer standout in a midst of virality. For her new track, “Appreciate”, she taps into that same emotive space, touching on how unappreciated and unseen Black woman often feel, generally moving through the world and more specifically, in the realm of dating. Both the song and visual, tell a story of “this desire to be desired, to be seen and appreciated is something that I often run from” says Hunnah. “But this song and the project overall is me diving into this vulnerability and exploring these often unvoiced desires.” The result is a tender, piercing track rich in production—with thoughtful background layering, sharp piano, distorted vocal effect and an Aaliyah/Timberland-esque through-line—that captures Hunnah’s humanity.
GRAZIA spoke to the Canadian singer-songwriter all about her new single—and accompanying visual—“Appreciate”, her writing process, her upcoming EP Unloved and those amazing, sculptural pink braids.
GRAZIA: What’s the overall mood of “Unloved?” What are some of your sonic references for this single & EP?
The narrative is really what made this project come together for me. I realized I was writing a bunch of songs on the lack of romance in my life and reflecting on all these emotions around love and desire and it just all came together organically at that point. The mood is definitely very introspective, sometimes pleading (I often joke that my favourite genre of music is desperation), but I definitely wanted to balance that with some lighter energy sonically. I’ve dabbled in sounds that are more pop in other singles but with the sound of this project I’m definitely leaning more into a soul/r&b space because that’s what’s speaking to me right now, but there’s still touches of pop on the tracklist. I’m bad at identifying references, I more often have an idea of what I want to talk about rather than what I want a song to sound like when I sit down to write or go into a session with a producer, so I definitely let the narrative drive where I go with melodies and building a song and go with the inspiration of that moment.
With titles like “Appreciate” and the EP title “Unloved” and reading that they take inspiration from how unappreciated and unseen you feel as a Black woman moving through the world, you’re making music with a message. Can you touch on that more?
I think I make music about the things I feel, my frustrations or desires and about the conversations I have with the people I love. And because my songs are about my experiences, they’re going to reflect moving through the world as a black woman, and also as someone with vulnerability issues, as someone with a lot of fear and anxiety in romance and social situations. They’re going to be a reflection of everything that makes me who I am. I hope people can connect to that and can feel seen in some way, also so that I can feel less alone myself. Appreciate specifically came from a feeling of invisibility and this desire to be desired that I was finding hard to articulate and that frankly I was embarrassed by. I remember sitting on the couch with my friends in my apartment, just kind of commiserating on dating in LA as a Black woman and them talking about their different specific experiences, whether dating as a dark skin femme, or as a curvy girl—and in those conversations validating each other, the things we’re searching for and giving each other the praise, adoration and appreciation that we often go without.
I love the pink braids! Especially in this conceptual, abstract style for the song cover. It’s giving me Janet Jackson Velvet Rope era, meets Medusa, meets a dope anime character. Where do you draw your aesthetic inspirations from?
Thank you so much!! As the music was coming together I wanted to have some kind of cohesive look when it came to my hair because I change it so often and I was drawn to pink because I felt like it aligned to the narratives I was exploring. So all I knew was my hair was going to be pink for the duration of this project and its visuals, and then at that point it was song by song, what do I want this to feel like. I usually throw a bunch of things on a pinterest board that inspire me, I knew I wanted a bold monochrome look for Appreciate, sitting in front of some kind of cloth background and I really love the mirror table look from Whitney’s It’s Not Right But It’s Okay video so I pinned that as well. I sent the board to Janine Anne Uyanga who shot the cover art and directed the video, and they were drawn to a particular image on the board of a model with individual wired braids kind of sticking straight out into the air. I doodled some mock ups of how I could do my hair with some kind of wired structure, I got some pink wire from a party store and practised braiding wire into my box braids and then twisting the larger braids into shapes and then day of I was liking the idea of rounder ends, almost like infinity shape coils and we went with it. Janine helped lock down the shape on set and I’m really proud of what we ended up with. I’d say usually it starts with me closing my eyes and imagining what the visual story of this song could be and then building a board, with Appreciate we definitely landed in this late 90s/early 2000s space. The EP cover is in another space completely but hopefully just as impactful.
What was the inspiration/concept for the visual?
For the video, I had a very basic treatment; I wanted bright colors I wanted to have Black femmes on camera with me, out in the sun and I wanted a celebration of all of our beauty and differences. The director really took that and expanded it into the full video treatment and shot list and came up with this idea of starting the video in this draining, dreary space that I’m singing about in that first verse of just feeling invisible and left behind. Then moving out into the sun where we come into ourselves and celebrate our beauty, softness and power. Janine and Ryan Deforeest our DP, Derek Redwine our drone operator and the amazingly beautiful cast really made that visual come together on the tightest budget so I’m so grateful to everyone who had a hand in it.
“Songwriting is very much about releasing, articulating and sorting out what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, maybe why I don’t want to be feeling it, why I don’t want to talk about it, if I should be talking about it. I’ve brought songs up in therapy as well, so it really is a diary for me”
I must say that your pen game is strong! There’s a poetic, storytelling component to your music. What inspires you to write?
Thank you so much! Writing has and will always be my favorite part of this process. I think it’s the thing that comes most naturally to me and it’s really about expressing things that I tend to keep bottled up, or feel conflicted about or ashamed of. Oftentimes it’s not even a choice, I have to get it out and songs are how I do that.
What else can you tell us about your “Unloved”, upcoming EP?
Unloved is an exploration of this super uncomfortable realm for me. I don’t like talking about romance because it’s uncharted waters and it requires vulnerability in a way that’s really scary to me. Sonically, I’m really proud of the vocal arrangements on it, I tracked most of the demos at home because of the pandemic so I could sit there by myself and really flush out harmonies and layers and backings and the effects I wanted to hear and know how I wanted those pieces to fit together before I did final recordings so I’m proud of that for sure—and then I worked with great producers. The next single after Appreciate is My Man and it’s the only co-write on the project, I wrote that with some super talented friends and there’s an amazing feature on that song that I am -SO- excited to have as the only feature on the EP. I’m just excited to keep sharing!
So, what’s next for Hunnah?
I want to keep making music that feels like me, that feels honest and cathartic and that hopefully people connect to. And hopefully when it’s safe some kind of tour!
Get into the emotive visual, directed by Janine Anne Uyanga, below:
“Appreciate” is available on all streaming platforms.
