REVIEW: Frya Empowers In Her Latest Album, Balance
A rising talent within the industry, Frya is one to watch this year. Zimbabwean-born singer and songwriter, Frya’s music career took a new, more committed turn in 2020 when a producer contacted the singer after seeing one of her covers. After this, opportunities rolled in with Frya’s music being featured on TV shows and now, she is adding to her repertoire with her debut album, Balance. Already establishing herself as a diverse and talented artist, four of Frya’s tracks from the new album Balance are included on the soundtrack for Netflix’s series Blood & Water.
The album has a wealth of variety in its styles and tones, showcasing different emotions and feelings and creating an “empowering, versatile and powerful soundscape”. Frya’s potential is fierce and this anticipated power comes through in Balance, where the singer seems unafraid to share some new approaches with her fans. Including stripped back, beautiful ballads such as Changes as well as slower, more gentle songs like Fall On Me, Frya demonstrates her smooth voice and artistic ability to manipulate new sounds.
Frya also worked with producer, Mr. Kamera, for a number of the songs on the album, allowing her to take her music to the next level. Specifically, Changes altered from her previous sound and is one that Frya holds “very dear to [her] heart” as she explains, it is inspired by her mother and the “realisation that loss of any kind is simply love preserving”.
For anyone who also keeps up with the Marvel Universe, this phrase is similar to that featured in WandaVision last year where one of the main characters reminds the audience, “What is grief, if not love persevering?”2 I don’t think it is a mere coincidence that the music and film industry have featured this comparable crossover countless times. We tell stories through the narratives of films and TV series, but also through our music. Frya has captured this concept exceptionally well in highlighting the ways we develop our methods of thinking and perspectives of a given situation.
As humans, we are driven by so many different feelings and it can be hard to articulate what we feel and think at any one moment, yet there are songs that provide the perfect soundtrack for these moments where words are unfathomable. Many of Frya’s tracks in her new album have achieved this.
There is a rich culture interwoven through this album, amongst the array of styles from the slower, more soulful touchstones to contrasting “party-centric” and “reggaeton sounds” in Chandelier and BDE which will have listeners wanting to sway and dance along to the faster beats with a tonality that compliments Frya’s voice very well. She describes this album as a collaboration of all her different sides, creating the perfect balance of who she is: “tough, sassy, soft, bold and vulnerable”. These five words describe this album perfectly.