Last week, rising British pop acts Rachel Chinouriri and Cat Burns released their soulful new single 'Even'. The song referred to the pair's respective rise in recent years. Chinouriri released her debut album What a disastrous turn of events in May and recruited actress Florence Pugh for the “Never Need Me” music video. Burns, meanwhile, reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Charts with “Go” and was nominated for a Mercury Prize for her debut LP, Early 20s.
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The song talks about the double standards black artists are held to in the UK music industry, as well as the mislabeling of their releases. Despite their love of indie music and diverse inspirations in various genres, they have become frustrated with the battles they have faced to be heard.
“I wish I didn't have to climb twice as high / To be seen, it ain't crazy,” Burns muses on “Even,” while in the chorus, the pair ask, “We talk the same, dress for fame / Cause nobody else does he think / We the same?'
Fellow UK artiste Master Peace – real name Peace Okezie – is credited as a songwriter on “Even” and knows the stuff very well. His debut album was released, How to make a sovereign peaceearlier this year, which featured contributions from alternative legend Santigold and dance producer Georgia. The record was infused with indie rock stylings and featured Bloc Party and The Streets, but he says he still faces misrepresentation of his music and feels that some opportunities have passed him by.
“We're from a place where we have to work a hundred times harder than the average white guy because people look at us as black artists and just bash us in the R&B space. He's a cop,” says Irene Bulletin board.
In 2020, Tyler, The Creator spoke out against the categorization of his music as rap while collecting a Grammy Award and criticized the use of the category “urban” music. There have been similar issues in the UK A 2021 study by Black Lives In Music reported that 63% of black music creators had experienced racism in the UK music industry and included accounts from artists of micro-aggressions and mislabelling of their music.
“For the work we've done, we should be further along than we already are,” he says of Hinuri, Burns and himself. “You can easily fall prey to it and think 'it's never going to work because there are no black UK pop stars' or you could be like us and go ahead and make it.”
How to make a Master Peace was released in March this year and charted at No.30 in the UK Official Albums Chart. He has since won an Ivor Novello Award for their rising star trophy, collecting alongside other ceremony winners such as Bruce Springsteen. He supported Kasabian at their massive show in Leicester, England earlier this summer and recently earned an Independent Music Awards (AIM) nomination in the Best Music Video category. A string of live dates are now taking place in the UK, but he still feels industry insiders and potential listeners need convincing of his credentials.
“On paper, when you look at all the achievements, you think, 'why should he complain?'” says Peace. “I wouldn't say I feel like an outsider in my scene, but do I feel like I'm held back in the same way as some bands or artists? Probably not.”
He signed to Universal's EMI in 2020 and has had a number of releases under the label. He says the hype around his live shows – especially given the lack of releases – is what got the big guys involved. “As a result,” he says, “people had nothing to report [my music] beyond a YouTube freestyle that saw him creatively rap to a-ha's “Take On Me.”
When his A&Rs left EMI, he followed them and signed a deal with PMR Records, whose previous success stories include Disclosure, SG Lewis and Jessie Ware.
“The tune was down to EMI, but I don't think they understood what we wanted to make. maybe at that moment I didn't even understand.” He started again from scratch as an independent artist, but refined his immediate party sound and continued to work with songwriters and producers such as Julian Bunetta, who has credits on Sabrina Carpenter's “Espresso” and her 2022 single “Nonsense” .
The release of his album dovetails with the 'indie sleaze' hype of recent years, a time when younger fans have revisited work by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes and others, and been enthralled by Lizzy Goodman's Meet me in the bathroom oral history and documentary. “Where I come from and my past, I've always been in fight or flight mode. I always wanted to take a leap and risk things,” he says. “It was a big risk to make an album inspired by indie sleaze when nobody knew what it was about.”
Now Irene maintains the momentum How to make A(nuva) Master Peacea new EP that doubles as a deluxe record on his debut. “Ditching the album when I did gave me so many amazing opportunities, so I want to keep it going,” he says. Bulletin board.
Above all, however, he wants the music world to recognize his work and what his contemporaries are doing without stereotypes. “I'm a black, alternative artist who makes pop music and sits in this space. I want to be that guy that people look at and think, “His thing is on point.”
