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CMU Approved
Approved: Ayelle
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 2 November 2016
Ayelle began releasing music in 2014 with debut EP ‘What You Made’, before immediately entering something of a hiatus in which she developed the “bittersweet R&B” sound that purveys the new music she has released over the course of this year. Now she’s back with one of her strongest songs to date, ‘No Harm’.
Lyrically, she doesn’t pull any punches, writing confrontationally about misogyny. Previous single ‘Machine’ “is about women’s role as sex objects within the patriarchy and our institutionalised servitude to the male gaze”, while another, ‘Reclaim’, is “about living in the shadow of a man, where his needs take centre stage and you morph into the accommodating girlfriend”.
Of ‘No Harm’, she says: “It’s about trying to understand the reasoning and frame of mind of three different rapists, who probably don’t understand that they are rapists. I also had the Brock Turner case at the back of my mind when I wrote this, and how he managed to shift the blame of his actions, seemingly convincing himself that he wasn’t at fault even after being convicted”.
Listen to ‘No Harm’ here:
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