Sabiyha threads an uplifting dancehall beat through her new track “Love Me Alone”

Fuelled by the damaging effects of toxic relationships, Sabiyha’s “Love Me Alone” is an ode to self-love and female freedom. With lyrics like “who am I to you but a touch of pleasure on the skin?” Sabiyha’s new single challenges the de-humanising attitudes held by past lovers. It exists as a declaration of her self-worth, stating that our sexuality as women does not allow men the right to treat us as anything less than what we are.

“I'm someone who embraces sexuality, however, that does not give people a free pass to treat me like an object,” says Sabiyha. “The behaviour of the men I was meeting made me feel 'like poison', assuming I’m someone that I’m not. I was taking that narrative on and near enough shaming myself. I wanted to hear remorse from these guys.

“This song basically says 'I'm over this bullsh*t, I'm not letting this affect my self-worth; I'll love me.'”

Co-written and co-produced by close friend Andrew James, and produced by Avi Barath out of Dave Okumu’s (The Invisible) studios in Deptford, “Love Me Alone” is a product of Sabiyha’s South London upbringing. Growing up in multicultural Croydon and having recently visited her parents’ former home of Guyana, the interplay between Sabiyha’s cultural heritage had a large impact on the music she grew up alongside. As a teenager she saw herself listening to Choice FM, Channel U, grime and soca; and her sound is directly informed by the music from these years.

Combining a string of influences to form a beautifully produced summer bop, “Love Me Alone” is the real feminist anthem we need.