Papua New Guinea-born, Sydney-based artist Ngaiire’s 3 is intensely personal, powerful and reflective. The album title is more than a simple description for her third record, it’s a representation of what it’s about, and who it’s for; in a personal statement released alongside the album, she reveals that it’s a collection of “love letters” to three separate entities: herself, her home country and the people she loves, living and departed. “I am full to the brim of stories that many don’t have the privilege to hold within themselves,” she writes. “Some I know quite well and some live deep in my DNA that I won’t have enough lifetimes to unpack. But the ones I know, I will tell how I want to because I can.” The future-soul artist, born Ngaire Jones, co-wrote the album over three years with producer Jack Grace. And though her music has always come from the heart, it’s never looked further inward, nor toward her heritage, than here. Likewise, her musical boundaries feel more expansive than ever—hip-hop and R&B inflections can be felt throughout, while Ngaiire pushes her voice to bigger, broader places than ever before. She addresses her upbringing in post-colonial PNG on tracks like “Closer”, a sensual, retro-sounding rumination on love, sex and dating during her teen years. “Boom” is a slinking earworm that similarly looks back on romance and relationships during her early years, while final track “Glitter” looks at modern-day PNG and points a middle finger up at its political leadership. Elsewhere, there are tracks that deal directly with Jones’ own life and family: “Him” is tender and striking, a reflection on the life-threatening complications she experienced when pregnant with her son, while “Shiver” describes feeling the presence of her departed grandmother.