Categories: Music News

Rising star Precious Pepala – has released the EP ‘Dark Days’

Sheffield’s Precious Pepala, rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting breakthrough artists in the UK, has today released her new EP, Dark Days. Blending genres in a way that positions Precious firmly in her own lane, the six-track project covers subject matter from religion to queerness, sexual assault to finding her own voice again after becoming an independent artist. Dark Days shares the conversations that saved her to an audience she hopes to help too.

Of Dark Days, Precious Pepala said “I wrote this EP during a dark time in my late teenage life, hence the title! Relaxing into the darkness and becoming one with it helped me to write these songs and process how I was feeling at the time. Therapy is expensive so I wanted to use these songs to release my pent up feelings about things such as my relationship with religion as well as my experience becoming an anxious mess who couldn’t remember what life was like before the Covid lockdowns! The EP climaxes with the song ‘The End’ which I wrote once I found my voice again after being dropped by my first record label as a teenager. The song represents me stepping out of the darkness and into the light”.

Title track and lead single ‘Dark Days’ is quintessentially Precious Pepala – inspired sonically by a delicious combination of fellow Sheffield natives Arctic Monkeys and The Weeknd. Pepala’s swaggering vocal spills over sultry basslines and cinematic strings, as she reverts the typical gender roles associated with pop music where she “could be the baddy, the heartbreaker and have the power to be imperfect yet unwilling to change”. A femme fatale, on ‘Dark Days’, Pepala is a woman who is accustomed to the darkness and has learned to thrive in it.

The EP comes fresh off the back of Precious’ tour, supporting Victor Ray on his six-date UK run, where she captivated audiences with her powerful live vocals and magnetic stage presence. Next up, she plays Liverpool Sound City and Brighton’s The Great Escape festivals.

Precious announced the EP in March when she also unveiled perhaps the most vulnerable track on the project, ‘First Love’, which sees the artist explore complex, highly personal emotions through expressive, universally resonant lyricism. Co-written and co-produced with Eg White (best known as Adele’s producer/co-writer) and Jordan Rabjohn, ‘First Love’ sees Precious’ raw vocals take centre stage.

‘First Love’ followed the January released ‘Lullaby’, a brooding blend of dark and alternative pop that swells into anthemic production from the eerie tones of a music-box. Her “anthem for introverts”, ‘Lullaby’ is a candid reflection on Precious’ own love for solitude, and an invitation to retreat from the demands of reality. She wanted to imagine the track “as if a Tim Burton movie became a pop song”. Sonically, Precious very much offers something different with each release.

As well as ‘First Love’ and ‘Lullaby’, late-2024 releases ‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘The Effect’ also feature on the forthcoming EP, together cementing Precious Pepala as a uniquely captivating artist and undeniable talent. Sonically, Precious is happy to not fit in a box, blending dark pop, alternative and rock music with gospel and soul influences.