Annahstasia curates soulful exclusive playlist ‘Good Soil’ to accompany The Cover

NME’s latest star of The Cover, Annahstasia, has put together an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.

• READ MORE: Annahstasia: modern folk’s distinctive, healing new voice

The Los Angeles-born folk singer-songwriter is on this week’s (June 2) edition of The Cover, a manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read Annahstasia’s profile here, written by Erica Campbell and featuring photography by Rio-Romaine.

Annahstasia has curated an exclusive playlist, titled ‘Good Soil’, to accompany her appearance on The Cover. The 23-track playlist includes tracks by the likes of Joan Armatrading, David Bowie, Obongjayar, Nina Simone, Mustafa, and more. Listen to it in full on Spotify below and on Apple Music.

Later this month (June 13), Annahstasia will release her debut album ‘Tether’, but the artist’s journey to this point hasn’t always been smooth. When she initially got her first chance to record in her senior year of high school, she ended up “trapped in a messed-up deal” that she calls a “slave” contract. “The standard of the music industry is a certain level of exploitation,” she says now. “It’s whatever you’re willing to take in terms of being exploited. They own your voice. They own your image. They own anything that you create and sometimes in perpetuity.”

Despite disheartening experiences that also made her feel the music industry wasn’t interested in a Black artist making folk music, she pushed on, learning more about her craft and moulding her own sound. Happily, she’s also seen the presence of Black musicians in the roots scene change since the early days of her career. “There’s enough of us that the industry can’t continue to classify us all as R&B or soul just because we’re Black,” she explains.

Read Annahstasia’s full Cover story here and find out who else has been on The Cover here.

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