Premiere: 7 Years – SkyDxddy

Although the skittering trap-infused beats, the beguiling electronica, and the spaciousness and poise of 7 Years mark SkyDxddy out as a genuinely cutting-edge music maker, she follows in a long tradition of challenging and intimate artists. The musical building blocks may have changed, but the nature of the sonic beast remains the same.

If you draw a line back to the likes of Billie Holiday’s Stange Fruit or Gloomy Sunday, it is evident that using music to open your heart, or perhaps rip it out with a blunt instrument, is something that has always been an accepted if controversial, part of popular music. With this in mind, SkyDxddy is standing on the shoulders of giants.

7 Years takes this purpose and sentiment to an even darker place, mixing in no small amount of gothic shade and emotive lyricism, self-reflection, and thoughts of suicide. It is an honest, more than honest, discussion of the power of attraction, love, self-respect/disrespect, love, loss, longing, and life, and more than anything, hopefully opens up discussions of mental health.

Music has always been an excellent vehicle for such dark and much-needed discussions. SkyDxddy didn’t start the conversation, that’s been around in music for a long time, but she does put it back on the table in no uncertain terms.