Empress Of has been experimenting on the peripheries for a few years, but this year’s breakout album Me has seen her move closer towards stardom. Drawing on R&B, post-dubstep and disco, it’s the kind of auteur pop that merges skilled song-writing with a production palette that could only come from 2015.
‘Icon’ is the latest single to receive a video, showcasing the Honduran chanteuse retreating into the woods as an escape from the city. It’s a perfect fusion of audio and visual, as Empress Of sings of creating her own refuge in fantasised moments of self-actualisation. Over minimal percussion and a bassline straight from 80s house, Empress Of delivers her lyrics with the archness of Lorde, the dryness of Nite Jewel, and the idiosyncratic flair of Bjork, before succumbing to synth washes that echo acts like James Blake. ‘Nobody knows I’m their icon,’ goes the chorus, but it seems more a warning than a cry of resignation.
