“After floods destroyed the world, a rainbow remained in the sky as a promise and sign that it would never happen again,” Lady Zamar tells Apple Music. “I’ve been through a situation that destroyed everything I believed in and loved. That will never happen again—and this project is a testament to that.” Harbouring songs like “Party In Heaven”, “Castles” and “Starlight”, Zamar’s fourth studio album Rainbow represents her towering spirit. “The songs and titles felt very ‘in the sky,’” she says. “It’s a very lofty album and in many ways I’m reclaiming my identity.” This reclamation occurs with palpable rejuvenation as the artist, christened Yamikani Janet Banda, pairs whimsical songwriting with amapiano, Afrobeats and Afro-tech-leaning instrumentation. “I love everything that’s African and I bring my roots into my music,” she says. “I’ve overall been a conceptual writer but with this project I’m very straight to the point.” Here, Lady Zamar highlights lyrics that encapsulate the meaning behind each song on Rainbow. “Our Love” Lyric: “I guess we’ll make it if we don’t fake it” “Illusions never last. When you fake things you don’t actually get to the goal that you want. Honeymoon phases are very fake-it-till-you-make-it, because you only discover the true person after you’ve gone through this period. You’ve lied about how happy you make each other, you’ve lied to yourself about red flags. We create these personas and they crumble because when the going gets tough, your true nature is what’s gonna be seen. Let’s believe each other the first time, let’s have hope and faith in the truth. Let me show you who I am and hope you’ll choose me regardless.” “Party In Heaven” Lyric: “As I look down on this fallen earth” “The first part of this is me as a heavenly being watching this world be catastrophic. The second part of it I’m writing as a person who’s part of this mess, but I don’t know if I’m good enough for the party up there. Every party has a VIP list and you have to get invited.” “Starlight” Lyric: “You are an image designed/Your hands on mine, a strength so sublime” “The Song of Solomon is one of the greatest love stories in the world! ‘You are an image designed’ is saying God made this person and they’re divinely imbued. It’s not necessarily biblical, it’s more a mythical reference. It’s looking out the window, wishing on this mythical being that exists in your mind.” “Blame Game” Lyric: “It's no longer sweet /The bitter taste is rising and growing” “This is definitely [continuing] the ideological theme of “Charlotte” [with Prince Kaybee]. This is the other shoe! The funny thing about “Blame Game” is she comes into the situation when the man is not with anyone else—it's a weird situationship. Now she’s starting to see traces that there’s suddenly a woman in this man’s life—‘The scent of her drifting’. When she finds out, the guy blames her and there's nothing she can do about it ‘cause she agreed to just let him have her body! She realises she made a mistake and she owns it.” “Deeper” Lyric: “Your love is deeper than my pain” “I believe true love surpasses and supersedes any kind of pain. A love that does not heal you is not a love worth having.” “Sweet Fire” Lyric: “You’ve gotta brace yourself for the violence that love can do” “There’s a certain violence to love when you love someone with all your heart and soul. I’m not talking about, in a physically abusive way—I’m talking about the feelings themselves, the pain of it. It’s a pain that we choose, embrace and almost want. ‘I’ll keep on giving because this is something that’s burning in me. I’m gonna allow myself to get consumed by you until I no longer feel anything.’” “Colours” Lyric: “My mother taught me how to speak my truth/But my father warned me never to accuse” “This is about my family, for real. My mum is a very open person who doesn’t believe in lies and secrets and on the other hand, even though he’s always been an advocate for the truth, my father has an ideology of hiding certain things from people. I was raised in a home where so many things would happen and you’re kinda told to keep it moving and not tell anybody what’s happening. You grow up with this mindset that you’ve gotta keep quiet and protect your family no matter what. It was only when I got older I started talking about some of the things. When you hide pain you usually end up repeating it and it usually happens in the most grotesque ways, unfortunately.” “Feelings” Lyric: “How did we get lost in these storms of our feelings” “I think a lot of times we prioritise how we feel about things and act from within our feelings. We don’t realise just how damaging not being able to take a step back from ourselves can be. Sometimes your feelings are not what’s happening, and it becomes a mental storm because you get stuck in those thoughts.” “Enough” Lyric: “It seems I’ve found it… but then I just won’t say it” “This is really about self-sabotage. When I wrote this song I was so scared to love again. I was terrified to open my heart up. Even though I can see I’ve finally found this love I feel like if I say it, it’s gonna disappear. I think a lot of people feel if they verbalise their feelings or post someone on social media, this person is gonna change up on them and their world’s suddenly gonna fall apart. A lot of it has to do with fear.” “Angel” Lyric: “Flourish with me, it’s cosmic you see” “This entire song is modelled after the Aries sign. I’m a Gemini, and Aries is my most well-matched zodiac. This is me saying, ‘You know you and I are a great idea, ‘cause it’s cosmic.’ I wanted to write a song that would give a gentleness to men—show their vulnerability and call them angels.” “Work For It” Lyric: “You took what I decided was the holy grail” “Take back your power. The holy grail is whatever you decide it is and for everyone it’ll be different. It’s about your worth and what you value. It’s a reference to what I find valuable. For me, it's the privilege of talking to me.” “Castles” Lyric: “Those eyes, there’s castles in the sky” “I’m drawn to people’s eyes. The eyes of a person make me feel a certain way. It’s the idea of windows to your soul. It’s remembering meeting this person for the first time and when you looked at them they created this fairytale for you.”