Nyaaringu

The first voice you hear on Miiesha’s debut album doesn’t belong to her. “I think for we who have been trodden on, not given a lot of freedom, you gotta believe in yourself and you gotta say you’re no man's property, you're your own,” her grandmother says over the crackle of a fire. It’s a powerful message that cuts through to the heart of Nyaaringu, an ambitious 13-song journey by the Pitjantjatjara woman from the small Indigenous community of Woorabinda in rural Queensland. The title means “What happened” in Pitjantjatjara, signaling the album’s reflection on the centuries of pain and displacement experienced within her community. In startling detail, Miiesha depicts the misrepresentation of her community in the media (“Hold Strong”) and the racialized romanticization of survival (“Black Privilege”), while she calls for education over incarceration on “Blood Cells.” Armed with an unrelenting presence, Miiesha’s nimble, silky voice is capable of critical inquisition over R&B balladry. And together with producer IAMMXO, she brings as much power to somber requiems (“Drowning”) as to ecstatic gospel (“Self Care”). What’s presented throughout Nyaaringu is rich and complex, underscored by Miiesha’s thesis: There are so many ways to show up in the world as an Indigenous woman.