Kaiya encourages listeners to embrace the feels on 'Don't Hold Back'

R&B artist Kaiya has released her second single of the year ‘Don’t Hold Back’. Hailing from Melbourne, Kaiya has undeniably cemented her unique sound within the Australian R&B scene by bringing forth a breathtaking and sonically engaging energy to the growing R&B scene in Australia. Her first release for the year, ‘Love’, was a dreamy ode to the powerful and contagious nature of love. Her new single ‘Don’t Hold Back’ is a blanket statement on taking full control of your feelings and emotions when you have feelings for someone. Kaiya encourages listeners to realise the importance of showing this special someone how you feel before it’s too late. It has been amazing to watch Kaiya’s journey over the last year, from watching her serenade her audience on Instagram Live during the recent lockdown and to seeing her run through her process of song-writing on the Instagram Lives, it has all been a blessing to say the least. Stop waiting for the right time, if you like someone tell them how you feel, don’t hold back

Kaiya’s harmonies stand out immediately on this track. The soulful and soothing nature of these harmonies create a rich and heartfelt listening experience from the outset. The Melbourne artist has created a reflective track that explores the complexity of developing feelings for someone, embodying an equally melancholic and invigorating tempo. This provides the perfect ambience for the listener to reflect on their own experiences with love. Kaiya has used her impeccable song-writing abilities to craft a song that many of us can relate to. Falling in love can be so hard at times and exposes our most vulnerable selves to the other person. And often, unfortunately, we don’t make our feelings known and hide them from the other person to avoid embarrassment or rejection.

Kaiya explains the importance of opening up and expressing the feelings you have in order to foster a healthy relationship; this also allows you to stress less and focus on your own mental health. Supressing these feelings can do more harm than good to your personal self esteem and also to the other person who may be sharing these feelings. This song illustrates the importance of artists working very closely with producers to make the most aesthetic and sonically engaging songs. Iconic Beats enhances this track through a plethora of production techniques including vocal layering which fills in the gaps and retains the listeners attention throughout the track. I absolutely loved the outro in this song. Kaiya’s harmonies and well-constructed humming transports you to another dimension and allows you to be in tune with the message more than ever. I will have this song on repeat for the next few weeks and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me.

Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Iconic Beats

Second photo by Sulaiman Enayatzada (@lazyfair_)

Third photo by Indi Setyawan (@indisetya1)

Words by Maroun Ghossain