Annahstasia will release her debut album Tether on June 13th via drink sum wtr. Today, she shares the track “Villain.” “We are all made of both shadow and light. From some angle, we have all been the villain of the story, we are all trying our best, negotiating survival,” says Annahstasia.

Born Annahstasia Enuke, the LA-based artist first learned about the importance of artistic resilience and creative intention at the age of 17 after being discovered and later propelled into the entertainment industry and the stifling pressures that accompany it. “I’ve come into the power of my voice as a medium,” she says. “As a tool of expression, I am able to shape the emotional space around me.”

“Villain” is paired with a video directed by Adam Davis and featuring the Black rodeo community in Tulsa and across the state of Oklahoma. Annahstasia conceived of the visual as a story about learning. More specifically, it illustrates the process of Annahstasia committing to herself and dispelling ego to embrace each moment in the process of learning something new, mistakes and all.

Tether came slowly and with deep intention, letting the early iterations of each song germinate in the world and find their true meaning before they were cemented on the album. “The song is written, and then I have to live with it and see if I really believe what I’m saying,” she explains. The recording was instinctual, done only in live takes to capture the feeling of the room and the community surrounding the music. Recorded at the storied Valentine Studios in Los Angeles, Annahstasia was joined by producers Jason Lader (ANOHNI and the Johnsons, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey), Andrew Lappin (Cassandra Jenkins, L’Rain, Luna Li), Aaron Liao (Liv.e, Moses Sumney, Raveena) and a range of musicians, including featured guests Obongjayar and aja monet.

Tether examines the aftermath of the “romantic war” she incited with her prelude EP, Surface Tension, ruminating on her own evolving relationship to love across the breadth of the album. Her vocals are bare and boldly up-front on each track, exploring the power of her voice and its ability to direct the listener on an emotional journey with newfound latitude, as an expansive palette of instruments color the spaces in between.

pre-order Tether HERE