Add to playlist: the bullish confidence and versatility of JayaHadADream and the week’s best new tracks

A breakout star of the underground rap scene shows vulnerability and wit in her genre-bending tracks

From Cambridgeshire
Recommended if you like Manga Saint Hilare, Kojey Radical, Little Simz
Up next Happiness from Agony out now

“One of the coldest writers but man don’t say it ’cause I’ve got vagina,” JayaHadADream raps on her recent track Bug, calling out those who underestimate her talent – and laying bare her lyrical confidence. In a fertile underground rap scene, the Jamaican-Irish, Cambridge-via-Nottingham artist has cut through thanks to her command and vulnerability, as well as a sharp eye for bullshit. The track Main Characters (featuring Big Zuu), also from her recent mixtape Happiness from Agony, is a critique of the fake love and hollow posturing that saturates the music industry.

She has the talent to cut through that kind of noise: on Happiness … she’s equally at ease going head-to-head with grime veteran Frisco on Hideout or trading verses with Keeya Keys on the hypnotic Yoga. And her genre-bending sound shifts nimbly from the urgent tension of State of the World to the UK garage pulse of The Bank. It’s a mixtape that refuses to settle, giving Jaya space to flex her versatility.

There’s a softer side to her, too, one that marries the personal with the political. At the Abbey reflects on memory and identity over a shadowy MF Doom-like instrumental: “Poverty is relative, UK hoods looking dirty / One thing I gotta claim’s a mindset that’s sturdy.” Meanwhile, Nothing’s Changed closes the mixtape with unresolved yearning: “Shame that I don’t really know what I’m searching for / But still I keep searching.” It’s a snapshot of an artist still navigating her ascent – and a gripping trip to join her on. Sik Frydas

This week’s best new tracks

Keyah/Blu – Rudolph
Christmas’s blearier side comes through in the south Londoner’s sad-EDM thumper, which interpolates and updates Dancing on My Own as she observes “hot girls in the rave … he used to call me bunny”. LS

Kali Uchis – Muévelo
After a demo of this uptempo dembow dancefloor hit-in-waiting went viral, Uchis has gone and done a full version: sure to bring a jolt of tropical heat to any woozy, boozy Christmas party you find yourself in. BBT

More Eaze – Bad Friend
The first taste of Mari Rubio’s forthcoming LP is about alienation and inappropriate crushes – but the beatific warp of her processed pedal steel guitar and the fizzing, milky chimes offer a welcoming embrace. LS

Niontay – Mark William Lewis Flow
The underground US rapper unexpectedly namechecks the British dream-pop singer-songwriter on this track from new mixtape Soulja Hate Repellant: relentless bass is offset with delicate Lewis-style guitar. BBT

Sleaford Mods – No Touch ft Sue Tompkins
“Do you miss me?” sings the Life Without Buildings frontwoman on an extremely rare musical outing. Yes! Kudos to the Mods for luring her out with this sweetly groovy number, with subtle nods to the Ones’ Flawless. LS

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ – Oh, What a Feeling
Thank God the holidays are nigh: the London producer has casually dropped a new 40-track album, led by a characteristically throbbing rush of delirium that feels like the come-up to end all come-ups. LS

Alice Costelloe – Anywhere Else
Over trudging yet tenacious organ chords, and with spirited melodies played on recorder, Costelloe muses on her estranged father’s addiction in a riveting ballad reminiscent of Cate Le Bon. BBT

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