Mélissa Laveaux is obviously a well-traveled soul: born in Montreal with Haitian roots and operating in France. Her excellent breakthrough album Radyo Siwél contained old Haitian folk spirituals that she reinterpreted within a modern frame of reference. Laveaux’s upcoming fourth album Mama Forgot Her Name Was Miracle is set to be released on March 11, and its first single “Papessa” emanates a sensual, humid atmosphere.
“The Papess, the most mysterious arcana of the tarot, hides a secret,” Laveaux says of the track. “A symbol of prophecy, intuition, and wisdom, I see it as a warrior, a female warrior in strategic meditation. A rewriting of an oppressive design by attempting something both impossible and irresistible. The papess falls, from a great height, but she rises again because she answers to no one.”
Watch the lyric video for “Papessa” below and find the track on various streaming services.
