As lordkez’s debut album, Testament cocoons metaphoric songwriting and emotive storytelling within R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul enclaves. Threading religious references between immersive soundbeds, lordkez finds catharsis in relaying her encounters with love, spirituality and grief. “I was going through a really dark period in my life and I searched for the light,” she tells Apple Music. “I wanted to pay homage to my roots and religion because it's something I've not spoken about a lot.” In keeping with these intentions the singer-songwriter, christened Keziah Zoë Meyers, seeks out the source, recalling memories, revisiting moments and retracing journeys with faith and romance. “It's just the beginning of my sonic story,” she says. “I felt like there's no better way than to take it home”. Offering us beacons as she wanders in reflection, here, lordkez highlights lyrics that encapsulate the meaning of each song and underscore the album's core themes. “Judas” Lyric: “Innocent, bloody, betrayed” lordkez: “So this was definitely a big reference to the betrayal by Judas because Jesus was innocent. Relating it to my life, I felt very betrayed by someone and I feel like what this person did to me was very unjust. There were these stories going around about me and I was very innocent in all of that, so that's where it came from. The blood part was because I really wanted to create an intense-heartbreak, heart-wrenching ballad. I wanted to create a world within each of these songs.” “Snow” Lyric: “From the deepest pits I rose’ & ‘Chain smoking because I'm heartbroken/Fill the tub ‘till it's overflowing” lordkez: “It’s a testament to coming back from trials and tribulations. I realised, with the making of this album, that I actually really enjoyed being at rock bottom ‘cause there was no place to go besides up. I have a tendency to just smoke a lot of cigarettes when I'm going through it and I wanted to create the feeling of intense confusion, but with lighthearted cockiness. 'Fill the tub up till it's overflowing' is actually a 13 Reasons Why reference. I wanted to watch the series but accidentally watched the last episode first and was completely traumatised! I also felt like I was drowning in my own emotions and that's where the overflowing part comes in. It's like I'm sinking into myself, feeling all of these things at once.” “Enthralled” [lordkez & Bas] Lyric: “I’m your new religion/Under no condition/F**k a superstition” lordkez: “It’s just ‘Worship me and put me on this pedestal, love me unconditionally'. I was also just saying it's not a superstitious thing, it's real life. It's definitely a high point in the album. I wanted it to feel like a crazy rollercoaster ride so it kinda sounds like what being in love feels like.” “Confessions” Lyric: “My heart is heavy/So is the crown” lordkez: “Overall, it’s me just confessing everything that has shaped me into the person I am today, whether it be losing friends, lovers or family. I wanted to just take my heart out and put it on a plate on this one. I don't think I've ever just said ‘This is what's up and I’m in pain’. I think what inspired that specific line was feeling super lonely. I felt very isolated from people for a really long time. I do sometimes feel like I’m plagued with the burden of immense talent, so the hypothetical crown is the crown of thorns because it's like success, but at what cost? Greatness, but at what cost?” “Flowers” [lordkez & Mars Baby] Lyric: “I'm filling my cup ‘till I feel it's enough/Doing my own thing” lordkez: “I really wanted to make a heartbreak song and my intention was not to have anybody else on it, but I sat with the song for a while and it felt like something bigger than me. When I'm in love I tend to give all of myself; I tend to block all the noise out and I'm just in love. You know how people say you can't pour from an empty cup? After pouring your heart out into so many things and so many people, the best way to come back to yourself is to start loving yourself. So ‘Filling my cup’ is just loving myself until I can't love myself anymore.” “Water” [lordkez & Shekhinah] Lyric: “I'll walk on water for you/I won't float/I don't mean to trouble you / Won't you carry me just like before?” lordkez: “So this was also very Jesus-inspired because I love that guy! It's not so much of a love song, it's a longing song and it’s not really person specific. It's a longing for that unconditional, miraculous love. For a lot of the songs I'm in love or I'm very out of love—this one is in between. I want to change their world and I want to walk on water for them, where it feels like something super magical. I want love to carry me—like divine intervention—and that’s where ‘I won’t float’ comes in. I want to be in love how I was in love before.” “Free Will” [lordkez & Tyler Linkman] Lyric: “Take the seeds that I sow/You can take all my soul” lordkez: “I think there's a Bible verse about the sower that sows their seeds on good land, barren land and on middle ground. Something like that. ‘Take the seeds that I sow’ refers to taking these words I'm kind of planting in your mind. ‘Take all my soul’ because I'm putting it out on a platter for you. So take something from the music so you can be inspired, like how I am by so many different things, artists and sounds.” “Empty Temple” Lyric: “The God inside me is unfolding” lordkez: “‘Unfolding’ is just acknowledging the divinity within me, and encouraging you to acknowledge the divinity within you.” “Beholder” Lyric: “This pretty shouldn't hurt/This grace won't hold vain” lordkez: “Beauty is something that comes in different shapes, sizes and forms and ‘Beholder’ is definitely about embracing your own beauty. As women, we really put ourselves through the most to look pretty. I just felt really tired of changing myself to fit these beauty standards, so it's not like I'm saying ‘I'm the baddest b***h alive!’. It doesn't have to be vain, self-centred or conceited to love yourself… to appreciate your own beauty.” “Eternity” [lordkez & Jelani Blackman] Lyric: “I take a risk and a consequence” lordkez: “So that’s my auntie's voice [in the beginning]. She passed on [in 2021] during COVID, and she's my guardian angel now. Shortly before my grandfather died I made a music video and my entire family was in it. He was standing there looking all dapper! My aunt was the one who told me 'You know, you've immortalised him now because whenever you're sad you can go watch the video'. I think I wanted to do that for her by putting her in a song. So as much as it also sounds like a love song, I was actually singing about grief. To love is to take the ultimate risk, and this is a song about losing the greatest love.” “Holy Matrimony” Lyric: “Leave it all behind and pray for you/And say I do” lordkez: “This was my most vulnerable song. As soon as someone starts meaning a lot to me, I immediately include them in my prayers! My grandfather was a priest and there would be lots of weddings in our church all the time. Being a little kid watching two people completely devote themselves to each other was so beautiful, but also so scary. I just learned what real love feels like and it doesn't feel like butterflies and heart eyes; it's understanding, it's patience. It's all the things in Corinthians.” “Testament” Lyric: “God incarnate/This is my testament” lordkez: ”I went through a weird period in my spirituality exploring so many different avenues and realised I needed to go back to where it all started. Like, where did I find God? So the ‘God incarnate’ line is paying homage to the God that lives inside you. Whenever you say ‘I am’ you’re affirming the life inside you, the God inside you. Apart from everything, we’re all divine.”