We Speak Music

4Play Shapes the Sound of NSG’s The Big 6

Published

1 year ago

March 2, 2025

UK-based production trio originating from Ghana and Jamaica, 4Play has stamped their sound across NSG’s new album “The Big 6,” producing 13 of the 14 tracks. The longtime collaborators continue their strong working relationship with NSG on this project.

The album’s only track not created by 4Play is “Sacrifice.” For everything else, the production team handled the beats.

The Big 6 boasts an eclectic mix of global collaborations, featuring artists from Ghana, Nigeria, the UK, France, and the Netherlands. With 4Play at the helm, the album delivers dynamic beats and rich soundscapes across standout tracks like “Venus” featuring UK singer LYVIA, “Tell Me” with French artist Tayc, and “Tesco” alongside Ghanaian rapper Medikal. Other notable productions include “Council Flat” featuring Jay Bahd, “Coi Leray” with Jeriq, and the electrifying “NFA” with Nigerian rap heavyweight Phyno.

4Play has been a long-time collaborator of NSG, and their growing impact on the group’s sound reinforces their position as one of the main drivers of its distinctive sound. With The Big 6, the group maintains their position as an influential group in the booming UK-Afro music landscape, spanning continents with inventive production and tracks that merge genres.

We Speak Music

Mané’s ‘The Goddess in the Room’ Turns Self-Discovery Into Sonic World-Building

Published

5 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Philomena Marie

There is a remarkable sense of intention running through The Goddess in the Room, the latest project from Swiss artist Mané. Blending alternative electronic pop with ritualistic percussion and spiritual symbolism, the album presents itself as both a personal statement and a carefully constructed narrative. Across its nine tracks, Mané explores identity, healing, queerness, and empowerment with impressive clarity of vision.

The opening track, “The GODDESS in the Room,” functions as both invitation and thesis statement. It introduces listeners to a world where intuition and self-trust become guiding principles, while establishing the atmospheric production style that shapes much of the record. The song’s spacious arrangement creates room for reflection, a quality that becomes one of the album’s defining characteristics.

That introspection deepens on “perles de sang” and “sappho.” The former grapples with inherited pain and bodily experience, while the latter offers a moving celebration of queer identity. Throughout these songs, Mané avoids reducing complex themes to slogans, instead allowing emotional nuance to emerge through carefully crafted songwriting and evocative imagery.

Musically, the album reaches some of its most intriguing moments on “)O(” and “moonstones.” Both tracks highlight Mané’s growing confidence as a sonic architect, blending electronic textures with organic rhythmic elements inspired by shamanic practice. The resulting sound feels immersive and transportive without losing its emotional immediacy.

Meanwhile, “j’serai tjr là” and “chocolate con sangre” provide some of the record’s most vulnerable moments. Here, Mané strips back some of the conceptual grandeur to focus on connection, memory, and emotional endurance. These songs reveal an artist equally capable of intimate storytelling and ambitious world-building.

The penultimate track, “Witches,” injects a surge of collective energy into the album’s narrative. Drawing on themes of resistance and feminine power, it stands as one of the project’s most direct statements while retaining its atmospheric sophistication. It is both politically resonant and emotionally charged.

By the time “ALIGNED” closes the record, the journey feels complete. Not because all questions have been answered, but because the search itself has become meaningful. The Goddess in the Room succeeds through its commitment to authenticity and vision, establishing Mané as an artist unafraid to follow her own path, wherever it may lead.

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