Rising sensation, Ghanaian-American songstress Moliy, today released her highly-anticipated full EP Honey Doom, October 19th. The eight-track project is the follow-up to her mini-EP “Mahogany St,” and the first full release since 2020’s Wondergirl skyrocketed the artist to virality, via her hit track “Sad Girlz Luv Money”, featuring Amaarae and Kali Uchis, which has amassed nearly 250 million streams to date. Honey Doom features some of Moliy’s most vulnerable, raw storytelling to date, and tracks her personal development as a young woman unpacking love and relationships; alongside her own experimental journey with her sound, which remains otherworldly, airy and optimistic, while expanding to include more of her influences globally.
Moliy teased the project back in February, when she dropped the first single “Love Doc,” featured in PAPER Magazine, who described it as “smooth, effortless, tender and bewitching…an easy, glistening single that captures a moment in her life when she was heartbroken.” The follow-up single, “Hard,” is a lo-fi, sparkling, staccato anthem, unapologetically crafted for sexually liberated women (and people) globally. Moliy uses the hypnotic track to flex her expanding prowess, experimenting with her rap flow alongside South African star Moonchild Sanelly, who is widely known for her major contribution to Beyonce’s Black is King album.
The project also features legendary Ghanaian-British producer Juls, considered a pioneer in the African music diaspora, and best known for his production work with the likes of Burna Boy, Mr. Eazi, Stonebwoy and more. Juls produced Honey Doom’s opening track “Together,” Moliy’s up-tempo, wistful ode to her first love, and came to Ghana to record with Moliy in person.
The painfully honest, and ostensibly upbeat “Freak” is another vulnerable standout, the delicate, self-reflecting work of a young woman confronting her own demons, and the toxicity that has plagued her past relationships. She croons, “won’t be a punching bag just because you can’t communicate…I’m not your freak anymore, got put on the floor, you probably should have acted right, cold to the core.” She’s defiant, she’s growing up, and she’s not embarrassed by the ghosts of her past – she’s empowered and confronting them, and she wants to talk about what’s happened to her, and hopefully be a conduit for other women to share their own stories.
The rest of the project features hypnotic dance tracks paired with intentional, sometimes heartbreaking storytelling, buoyed by Moliy’s classic sound, like her floating, airy vocals on the haunting “Prisoner,” or “Body on Fire.” The experimental “Banana” also showcases her undeniable maturation – the singer has been working hard, she’s more confident in the upper-register pocket that buoyed her to stardom than ever before, and she’s pushing the boundaries of her own sound, and what fans have come to expect from her.
2020’s Wondergirl, was highlighted on BBC News This is Africa, Apple Music via Ebro Discovery, topped Billboard charts, and led to her becoming a new member to the Recording Academy Class of 2022. The superstar also dropped surprises for fans in the meantime, like her mini-EP Mahogany St., including Love Doc, also featured on Apple Music’s Global Chart show, where Moliy was featured as an emerging talent in February. She also premiered visuals for the reggae-tinged “9-5,” which you can view here. As one of Ghana’s foremost rising artists, the alté and afrofusion singer has been on a consistent rise since the viral celebrity of Sad Girlz Luv Money, and was recently featured in Spotify’s Equal Africa campaign, including a featured billboard in Times Square. Her original track The Place was also highlighted in Apple Music’s 2022 Juneteenth Freedom Songs playlist, in which Moliy was the only African artist featured alongside artists like 6LACK, Kranium, Lupe Fiasco, and more.
And this is only the beginning — the further Moliy goes, she’s hoping to open more doors for other women in music throughout her native country of Ghana. “They need to know there is no limit to what we can achieve, regardless of our background,” Moliy says. “I would love for all women to feel confident and empowered, even on the saddest and hardest of days.”
© 2022, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
