London-based French-Senegalese artist anaiis has released her first new music of 2026, sharing two singles, “Sunshine” and “P4P”. The tracks arrive alongside the announcement of her first North American headline tour, which will take in major cities across the US and Canada this September.
Recorded in London with a live band, the two songs mark a shift toward more upbeat territory without abandoning the emotional weight of her earlier work. “Sunshine” captures the giddy thrill of an encounter that makes the impossible feel possible, while “P4P” is a protest song that rejects cynicism and calls for collective movement. Together, anaiis says, they counterweight joy and rage.
“Both songs are more upbeat than my usual material and felt appropriate for a summer release,” she explains. “Whilst ‘P4P’ is more of a protest song, they are both connected to the theme of love and the weight of the terrifying times we are living through.”
The writing of “Sunshine” was, in her description, an attempt to summon light. “I needed to write ‘Sunshine’ as a way to summon the sun into my life, to feel that somehow it is possible to linger in feelings of joy and bliss, even for a brief moment,” she says. “Sometimes we have encounters or meet people in our lives that completely shake up our world and suddenly make the impossible feel possible. I wanted to try and touch that through sound. I also feel that in this time where desperation, fear, and anxiety are so easily palpable amongst us, we need to remember that our joy reminds us of our aliveness and that’s what will keep the fight alive within us.”
“P4P”, meanwhile, is "about the feelings of rage that are within me when I face the depth of the demons we are fighting collectively," anaiis says. “It’s touching on the ways the system and powers that be want to keep us calmly conforming and complicit, but there is no peace to ever be found in this. It’s about creating movement within ourselves and with others, when so much is trying to keep us numb and drained.”
The dual release follows her 2025 album Devotion & the Black Divine. Earlier this year, anaiis played a sold-out show at London’s Islington Assembly Hall and headlined Brick Lane Jazz Festival as part of a wider European run. The forthcoming North American tour, which marks her first as a headliner across the continent, opens in Los Angeles on 10 September and runs through to New York’s St Ann & The Holy Trinity Church on 30 September, with stops in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia.
Sign up to Best Fit's Substack for regular dispatches from the world of pop culture