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Photo: Chinelo Yasin

DEBBY FRIDAY’s edges are much too sharp to fit into any box, and that’s the whole point. Her latest album GOOD LUCK challenges every rule, an electrifying amorphous project threatening the safety in definition.  

Though she’s based out of Toronto, DEBBY FRIDAY visits us from the future, or another galaxy, or perhaps both. The lovechild of FKA Twigs and a thunderstorm, she surrenders to her continual rebirth and lets her thirst for experimentation take the lead. You can find notes of electronic and punk, taking shape as something both explosive and brash. Though her music is rave approved, she truly does not cut corners in her lyricism, though it’s easy for the dancing metal and aggressive percussion to distract from her raw spoken word. 

GOOD LUCK is a sonic theme park, playing with dimensions of sound and making art out of its scraps. It’s a project she’s lived with for some time, finding relief in its unveiling to the world. Once finding solace from a harsh life in warehouse raves, this project is an offering back to the sweaty walls that were once her church.

“LET U DOWN” begs for salvation, admitting her faults to Mother Mary, while “I GOT IT” introduces us to Debby Doomsday and UÑAS, featuring Spanish vocals and a hypersonic soundscape. “WAKE UP” feels like an end credit roll, closing out the project as a congratulation for surviving up until this point,

A multimedia experience, the project is birthed alongside GOOD LUCK: THE FILM, co-directed by her and Nathan De Paz Habib. A pseudo-autobiographical tale, we’re invited to explore the tumultuous whirlwind that is the end of adolescence and the emotionality of youth. It’s clear DEBBY FRIDAY has given everything of herself to the project except drain the blood from her veins, though that ultimately wouldn’t be surprising.

As she sets off to tour parts of Canada and the UK this spring, it’s important to note that it’s a rarity to see someone of a Nigerian background give themselves permission to stray so far from society’s mold of their potential. As she alchemizes her angst in GOOD LUCK, she makes history, not just as a multidisciplinary artist, but as a Black girl who is unapologetically liberated.

Listen to GOOD LUCK below: