Main image: Andrew Beveridge
This Friday, Erin Buku presents The Way – it’s the first drop from her 2024 album to be released on her own imprint, Inner Tribe Records. Based on Peramangk country in Adelaide, her music is a glorious concoction of Nu Soul sounds and influences.
Making waves in the underground after collaborating with legendary emcee Talib Kweli and playing the festival circuit (including Alice Springs’ Wide Open Space Festival and Wondermountain Festival in Beechworth), Erin steps up with her new single – The Way is a self produced call to action of political individuality.
Bonafide asked Erin to share some of her inpirations ahead of her single launch show in Adelaide this coming Saturday, 23 September.
Pre-save The Way here.
Greentea Peng – Mr. Sun (miss da sun)
This was the first Greentea Peng song I’d ever heard. A love song to the sun? Love it.
Add to this a trippy ingenious music video and you have five minutes well spent.
Cleo Sol – One
This song gives me goosebumps. I first heard this just after reading about the Law of One according to Ra, so it was a profound moment to hear a new soul singer singing about the themes that I was embodying at the time.
Lauryn Hill – Doo-Wop (That Thing)
Growing up in the nineties Lauryn Hill was a huge inspiration – however, this song has some lasting lyrics that have stuck with me my whole life, like “Don’t be a hard rock, when you really are a gem”.
She is in my opinion the greatest female MC of all time.
Kimbra – 90s Music
I love Kimbra and I love how quirky she gets in this music video. This song inspires me to be more playful in my songwriting and in the way I sing and perform. It reminds me to loosen the fuck up and explore my authenticity without inhibitions.
Mariah Carey – Fantasy
This song came out just after my eighth birthday and by then I knew my ‘soul’ purpose was to sing. Mariah Carey was my number one inspiration for the first decade of that journey and this song was on heavy rotation!
