It has been a whirlwind January for HAWA. First, she closed Telfar’s Pitti Uomo fashion show in Florence performing atop an ornate table above Solange, Kelela and Juliana Huxtable, followed by a performance that grabbed Vogue’s attention at Gap x Telfar’s event in Paris and now she announces her debut EP. the ONE will be released on March 5 via b4 / Remote Control.
The EP includes previously released single ‘MY LOVE’ and is produced by Tony Seltzer with beats from Cadenza, Kashaka & Oscar Key Sung. HAWA also shares new single ‘IPHONE’ today, a melancholic Hip Hop call for romantic ceasefire where clarity in a relationship is sought, circling back to the EP’s title.
HAWA says of the new track,““IPHONE” is about a person trying to do everything right by the one they’re in love with, but still feeling like that person is never fully satisfied. It seems like they’re losing their love. Is the only reason why they’re staying is because they’re used to it?”
Pitchfork says HAWA’s strong, direct “sing-rap delivery stand[s] out in a crowded New York scene” and her tracks have received praise everywhere from FADER to Dazed to Pigeons & Planes. Although HAWA’s first-ever song was released just over a year ago and she graduated from high school this past spring, the 19-year-old has already lived many lives. Born in Berlin to West African parents and raised in New York City, as a pre-teen HAWA was one of the youngest-ever composers for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she toured the world. But soon HAWA’s insatiable creativity became stifled by the classical world’s stuffy limitations so she broke out.
the ONE is released on b4, a future-facing label launched in 2018 that serves as a home for tomorrow’s most relevant artists. The music on b4 is a reflection of the genre-smashing landscape, where prior categories no longer apply. This is b4’s first-ever EP release.