NME’s latest star of The Cover, Alemeda, has created an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.
- READ MORE: Alemeda won’t give up on her rock dreams
The Ethiopian-American artist is on this week’s (November 10) edition of The Cover, a manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read Alemeda’s profile here, written by Erica Campbell and featuring photography by Kristen Jan Wong.
To accompany her appearance on The Cover, Alameda has curated an exclusive playlist, featuring the ‘Songs That Helped Me Heal’. Among others, the playlist includes tracks by Paramore, Dominic Fike, Arctic Monkeys, RAYE, and Coldplay. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
Alemeda is the first ‘rock-forward’ artist to sign to Top Dawg Entertainment, which already has a formidable reputation for its work with Kendrick Lamar, SZA and Doechii. The label’s artist-first approach has made it a perfect fit for Alemeda. “TDE is very much like, ‘We let the artist choose what they wanna do. You come up with the idea and then come to us, and then we’ll help you execute it’,” she explains. “It’s a lot of pressure on me, which is a good thing.” Having some of that creative tension is, she says, preferable to working with “people who are gonna try to mould you into something that you’re not”.
Born Rahema Alameda, the artist moved from Ethiopia to Phoenix, Arizona, when she was 13 years old with her devout Muslim mother, who banned music in their home. It wasn’t an easy journey for her mother to make – but the bravery she showed in emigrating to the States gave her daughter the belief that she could not only do the impossible, but succeed.
“Coming here and knowing her story and everything she went through has been such a push for me,” Alameda says. “I couldn’t possibly give up on what I believe in because of all that was done for me to even get here. For me to give up on the crazy, delusional ideas I’m having would be a disservice to me and everyone before me.”
Read Alemeda’s full Cover story here and find out who else has been on The Cover here.