Poppy Ajudha’s London’s Burning Might Just Become the Go-to Track on Your ‘Late Night Drives’ Playlist

With hypnotic tones and delicate, echoing vocals, South London-based Poppy Ajudha hits back with thought-provoking new single, London’s Burning.

Being known to fuse genres including R&B, soul, and pop in her music, it is no surprise that Ajudha’s latest track is constructed of different flavours and emotions that change as it unrolls. London’s Burning begins with an instrumental fundamentally based of piano chords to construct a melancholic melody that, when combined with visuals of a late-night drive through London, can only make viewers want to shut their eyes and get lost in profound thought. Though, apart from the deep, painful vocals, what makes this song unique is the way it quickly transforms as soon as we’re 39 seconds in. As the beat drops, everything speeds up and we’re presented with a trippy, synthetic rhythm that allows us to enter a trance, almost feeling as if we’ve began spinning and losing control of ourselves.

Along with the track, Ajudha has also released a music video in which she appears wearing her signature short blonde hair, black, graphic eyeliner, and daring leather outfits to match the dark atmosphere that surrounds her. Night, tunnels, and empty, sinister rooms make the scenes of this music video to illustrate and deliver a murky and abstract message.

Delving into the meaning of the lyrical arrangement, Ajudha has told NME: “I wrote this song on the legacy of colonialism and the irony that even when we have taken almost everything from most of the globe, ruining countries and communities throughout history to build our own, we are still so quick to close our doors to those in need, even when it is us who have played the biggest roles in destabilising the countries they come from.

London’s Burning is only a taster of what’s to come from the album, THE POWER IN US, due to be dropped in March of 2022. As the title perhaps implies, we should be looking forward to deep rooted messages on current social issues that we, as a humanity, have the power to act upon. The twelve tracks within this upcoming piece of work will feature production from Karma Kid, Wesley Singerman, Taylor Dexter and Wyn Bennett. The genre-fusing talent has also announced a tour to perform THE POWER IN US around the UK and some parts of Europe in early 2022.