Malia - One Grass Skirt to London (2025)

With her new studio album "One Grass Skirt To London"Malia presents a life's story filled with tracks from her youth and important moments throughout her life.One Grass Skirt To Londonis an 8,200-kilometer journey from Malawi to London, where the singer emigrated to as a teenager. Not only was it a geographical and temporal journey but also a musical one. Though most of all, it was a sentimental one, since the 14 songscarefully chosen for this album are so precious to her because of the memories they contain. Almost all are taken from film soundtracks, from "Everybody's Talkin'"fromMidnight Cowboyto "Take My Breath Away" fromTop Gun, you find "Pure Imagination" fromCharlie and the Chocolate Factoryas well as "Here On My Own" fromFame. All of them possess an unique power to evoke an emotion through their music that has shaped her identity, helped overcome trials, and bloom as an artist. Thus, it's no surprise to hear, in the voice of Malia, sometimes even within the same song, the little girl, the teenager, the woman, and also, as if through a fascinating act of vocal transmigration, the soul of those who are no longer with us.

Like before, she entrusted the instrumental part to a trio comprising pianistAlexandre Saada, bassistJean-Daniel Bottaand drummerLaurent Series, with whom Malia has collaborated sinceBlack Orchid. All of them helped her in making this album one of the most personal in her discography.