Singer UMI — Tierra Umi Wilson — released her debut EP, Love Language, in time for the cuffing season when freakish temperatures slump our attention toward pumpkin spice lattes, comfy cozy sweaters, and finding a bae with whom to cuddle up. The Seattle-born-and-raised UMI dropped a four-track EP that lets you know that cozy feeling is going to change: slumps and peaks, baby. Stay alert.
The album opens with “Love Affair.” Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not a song about a scandalous romp. Instead, it’s just a smooth, smooth mid-tempo song (reminiscent of SZA’s “Prom,” may I just say?). UMI uses this song as a sonic representation of sorting out your feelings when you meet someone who makes your heart stop. She wonders if it’s lust, a curse or a “Love Affair.”
Who’d have expected the next-up song, “Sukidakara” (translated from Japanese: “because I like you”), sung in Japanese mixed with some English? This track sings, if not explicitly, then surely metaphorically, of UMI’s black and Japanese background. Without understanding the lyrics, one still understands the song’s substance. Does this boy like her? Why does he not notice her? Exploring the universial phases of love: Umi gives “Sukidakara.”
“ Runnin’,” soon after, feels abrupt. To be transported so quickly down love’s timeline, it’s the only misstep on UMI’s EP. One’s ears expecting a song on this short four-track where she gets the guy she has been singing about. That’s just truth to tell. Despite expectation, “Runnin'” is a bop. This is where we exit the superficial stages of having a crush and dash to the real shit, the nitty gritty relationship issues. With lyrics like, “I know I shouldn’t feel blue/ (I shouldn’t feel blue)/ ‘Cause I was runnin’ out of time for you,” the picture is set. The mythical relationship is not going to work. “Runnin'” features the artist Yeek against a fast-paced, pulsing heartbeat, as if you’re running along with the song. It takes you to your destination as never before.
The album ends with the song, “Breathe.” Not your typical love story where they end up happily with a family and three kids. Instead, it compares the need for the other person like a drug and expresses the hurt one goes through in a breakup. This song is intimate, and feels like UMI is singing directly to you. Guitars and soft acoustic strum, help perpetuate the connection that ends on a somber note: “And baby, I know, yeah, I know when it hurts to breathe, I hope you breathe it in.”
“Love Language” features a visual component. The related video episodes, found on UMI’s YouTube channel, are visual projections of the EP’s four songs. An added bonus, the videos bring the EP alive. UMI uses them to fill in details and express things that can be missed when only listening . The added layer of context takes the music to new heights.
UMI has released a strong debut EP, and definitely has the talent as a singer and songwriter to be a major force among the upcoming singers of Gen Z. The singer recently sold out her Dec 17th show at the Roxy in Los Angeles.