Sakima breaks boundaries on his debut EP, Facsimile

At the end of last month, we ran an 'Introducing' segment with SAKIMA, a London-based singer-songwriter who was at the time, quickly gaining nods and acclaim from some of music's best with his sensational single Happy Hr. Now, armed with his debut EP, SAKIMA is one of England's most exciting new-comers, with his easily-approachable, R&B-infused sound impressing many far and wide. However, SAKIMA's new EP is much, much more than accessible top lines and chart-ready pop productions, with the LGBTQ+ producer using the EP to normalise LGBT-themed narratives in pop music. "When making this EP it was critical to create songs that could act as a counterbalance to the unequal representation of gay stories within popular music," he says. "I'm sharing all of my insecurities, sexual experiences and youth without leaving anything behind, and without disguising those parts of myself in rhetoric. It's the first time that I've truly been around people in the music industry who just accept me for who I am as a person and as an artist, and I can finally release this work that is so important to me and that I believe is important to popular music. And in terms of this mission of normalising gay narratives within pop music, I'm only just getting started." Listen to the EP below - out now through Moving Castle - with additional background information on each song from the singer-songwriter himself.

I Used To Have An En Suite:

There’s a mixed bag of meanings in this song. It’s mostly about when I was sort of seeing this guy, he was so hot and it made me so infatuated, but he was also soooo ghosty and would always blank my texts which drove me insane, not to mention the fact I was fresh out of a pretty serious and fucked up relationship, so I was being very extra with my emotions. Never the less, I still think it’s valid in that situation to be frustrated and to not deal with the impending rejection very well. But this is also a very specific point in time where I sort of swore off trying to be in a relationship, and so in my memory, everything feels every specific and relevant down to the silliest things, like my old apartment and how I used to have an en suite.  

Happy Hr:

Again, this song has really particular and specific memories attached to it. I was recently doing an MA in popular music in London, and this song encapsulates the lifestyle and feelings of going back into education as an adult. And surprise, surprise, it’s also about the same guy mentioned above. I’m not great at being low-key.

He’s Trippi:

Following on from the trend of the previous songs, this song is also about the aforementioned guy. More so from the time when we first dated (we really weren’t seeing each other for very long though). As well as all the obvious thematic and sonic signifiers in this song, it’s also the track on the EP that really deals with my frustration for the lack of sexually charged gay pop songs in the world right now. I deliberately (but also naturally if that makes sense) used lots of male pronouns and tried to paint an honest picture of what it’s like being a gay man wanting another man for more than just a PG cuddle.  

What I Know Now:

I wrote this song quite some time ago, but eventually reincarnated it into this DJ Mustard inspired pop-RnB banger. There’s potentially less emotional depth in this song, but where I've held back on emotional narrative I've tried to really explore real life sexual attraction (rather than the usual glitter-pop-white-teeth-smile version of sex we get with most pop music). It’s also a track that I've made in collaboration with one of my fave people AObeats, who I couldn’t not have show up on this project. We have a duo called SWIMS that we started whilst doing the MA I mentioned earlier, and fair to say I don’t think I'll ever not work with him.  I think you can hear our dynamic come through really nicely on this track, which is probably what makes the song!

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