What If the Future Sounds Like iKeda? ”Bangs N Braces” Enters a World of Its Own
- Valentina Reyes
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
There are few artists who can achieve a defining sound by their second EP. For London-based singer-songwriter and producer iKeda, the feat feels almost effortless. With Bangs N Braces, the artist’s second EP project, her catalog transcends the confines of pre-existing boxes to pioneer new ones, carving out a sound the mainstream may one day follow in her footsteps.
The six-track EP creates a soundscape that feels fresh and inventive, all while drawing clear influences from the worlds of UK garage, Jamaican Dancehall, and European electropop to ground its experimentation in a nostalgic setting. While the musical dynamics of Bangs N Braces may feel expected from an artist as experimental as iKeda, there is a newfound excitement in the way she delivers them. Each track feels unique, birthed in its own dimension, where familiar sounds are distorted into something entirely their own.
For iKeda, this sonic multiplicity intentionally forms part of an introduction. Speaking to Glamcult, she describes the EP as an opportunity to “really introduce people to the iKeda world and all its colors,” explaining that “a lot of the songs are commanding and chanty” while others take on a “nursery rhyme-esque melodic feel.”
Within the iKeda universe, it is key that production should never sound like a copy-paste rule book. That philosophy comes to life through her collaboration with Belfast producer and songwriter Tailtiu, whose work on Bangs N Braces pushes the boundaries of how far an artist can experiment with their sound. As the listener is digesting the song they are hearing, Tailtiu’s production is ten steps ahead, planting the seeds of the next sonic turn before the current one has even settled. The music feels like it is anticipating itself, constantly hinting at what comes next while refusing to reveal exactly where it is going.
On the opening track, “Mapz,” backed by a funky bassline and choppy beats, iKeda sings with a levelheadedness that uniquely blends with the playful production. There is almost something contradictory about the way her vocals glide over such a non-linear backdrop, but the juxtaposition only adds to the cool-girl “I’m not a follower” mantra she repeats in the chorus: “I don’t wanna be that girl, I don’t wanna follow you wherever you go.” The record is at its best when iKeda lets the production become an extension of what her lyrics are saying—its deliberate, self-propelling movement mirroring the song’s refusal to follow.
Every track that follows the opener only reinforces the idea that iKeda knows exactly what kind of music she wants to make—and listen to—making it all the easier for listeners at home to move their bodies and align their minds with Bangs N Braces.
The EP’s second single, “Go!,” stands as one of its most defining moments, ushering listeners into new heights of swagger, community, and infectious confidence. The dancehall anthem calls everyone to the front line, demanding attention as iKeda moves through the song with a self-assurance no one can take from her. Beneath its buoyant energy lies a reminder that access to your world is a privilege, not an entitlement—and that one of the greatest forms of power is the autonomy to decide who gets in.
The song’s confidence is so boundless that iKeda imagines turning it into an army of herself, multiplying her presence until there is no room left to doubt it: “I wanna walk in the room and act like you're not even there / I wanna channel my confidence into one little hair / I wanna use that hair to clone myself thirty times / I wanna send my me army out-out onto the front lines.”
When listening to Bangs N Braces, it becomes clear why PinkPantheress, the English singer-songwriter and record producer, has become such a keen supporter of iKeda. After inviting her to open her 2026 European tour, PinkPantheress recognized in iKeda the kind of individuality that refuses to be confined by convention, an artistic quality that has helped propel PinkPantheress herself to the heights of mainstream pop. That same refusal to conform and embrace individuality becomes the foundation on which Bangs N Braces builds its identity.
The EP is a distinctive statement of self-expression in a landscape where many artists hesitate to stray too far from what is expected of them. Songs like “Pyramids” and “RED RED” feel transcendent precisely because they never settle into the predictable; their forcefulness is so difficult to ignore that the only thing left to do is surrender to the rhythm and let your body follow where iKeda takes it.
On songs like “Meoww” and “Tiger Tiger,” the two seemingly opposite ends of iKeda’s artistry meet perfectly on the same side of the coin. The tracks sound as though they could exist on entirely different planets, yet together they make her range all the more captivating. “Tiger Tiger“ carries an edge and sharp wit that demands you get out of your seat, while “Meoww” wraps that same biting humor in a softer lens, making the two tracks feel like sisters rather than twins. iKeda refuses to become exactly what anyone expects of her because she understands that every one of her sonic worlds can exist within the same universe. She does not trade vulnerability for confidence, nor softness for strength; she understands that none of these qualities cancel the other out. They coexist, collide, and ultimately become the very force that makes iKeda so compelling to hear—and impossible to look away from.
The most exciting thought behind Bangs N Braces is knowing that this is only the beginning for iKeda. Despite being only two years into her solo music career, iKeda has already captivated an audience of 125,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. But numbers can only measure the audience iKeda has found—not the one her music has yet to reach. Her swagger speaks for itself, but her music leaves behind a question that feels impossible to ignore: If iKeda is already creating tomorrow’s sound today, will you dance to it before the rest of the world does?
Bangs N Braces is out now on all streaming platforms.
