The London-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ananya is back with a unique new single, “Man Ray,” a thoughtful meditation on young love and its lingering reverberations. This song immerses its listeners in a world where memory and emotion are inextricable, tugging at the heart with a hushed yet irresistible strength.
The storytelling across Ananya’s songs is vivid while also being subtle. Every lyric feels like it was plucked from a diary, every phrase is like catching fragments of moments that won’t go away. “Man Ray” is a meditation on love as something ephemeral and indelible, lingering in the webs and gaps of memory. It’s a song that sticks with you, much like the relationships it describes, and melodies that linger long after it ends.
There’s an intimacy and euphoria to Ananya that feels at once spontaneous and carefully calculated. They’re not-quite-belting it, and imbued with her weird magic. Her vocals are so powerfully tasty, marbled in the white-of-her-eye clear, as one SoundCloud commenter wrote. Every verse and chorus is a fragile balancing act of weakness and power, coaxing its listeners not just to think about their own pasts, but to reckon with the messiness, the beauty, and imperfection that will forever be entwined in every connection.
Raised in Zimbabwe, living, studying, and making music in London, Ananya’s musicality is a medium through which her understated wisdom shines. Beyond musical talent, she has the sensibility of a designer, tailoring her songs precisely while giving them room for the listener’s own emotional journey. “Man Ray” is memory housed in glass, an anthem for the loves that defined us and the quiet recognition we may also be strong enough to take what served us once before and carry it on. With this release, she reassures us that her vocal and artistic prowess aren’t something we can easily forget.