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Culture July 30, 2019
Lil Halima is the best artist you've never heard of.
If you miss the soothing tones of Ms. Lauryn Hill and like the newer sound of modern R&B, Lil Halima, Norway’s Kenyan beauty brings the best of both worlds. Her newest EP for the bright days, released May 2019, includes three songs about questioning love, falling in it, and the memories from it.
Born and raised in Norway, Lil Halima has been channeling her introverted creativity into various forms of art since the age of five. She spoke to Wonderland Magazine about how she first got into her music career. She said, “I grew up struggling to find my place in this world and I still am in many ways. But music and other art forms allow me to build something for myself, so I can take 100% control and create something that gives me purpose for myself.”
In her third EP release, her songs off for the bright days show the lighter side of Lil Halima’s music. With the songs, “who do you love,” “young luv” and “don’t cry,” she highlights the fun side of love and relationships—even through the struggle. Lil Halima told Wonderland Magazine, her inspiration comes from, “Everywhere. Other artists but also nature, humans and the weirdness of our existence.”
In contrast to her latest piece, Lil Halima also reaches those who don’t have a bright attitude towards love and life.
Her second EP for the dark days, was only released a couple months before her latest. It touches upon feelings of loneliness, isolation, and the desire to escape your life. Inspired by the cold and dark Norwegian winter, Lil Halima utilizes delicate piano chords and soft vocals that tug at the gentle hearts of those who have experienced being alone. The contrast of these albums is what makes her music accessible to everyone, regardless of mood.
Her first EP, released 2018, love songs for bad lovers, can be likened to the experience of “being in love for the first time.” She told Women In Pop, “love feels like an extreme sport and I never tried it before. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, sometimes it feels like a game, but mostly just a thing where I’m scared of falling and breaking. Hence the title.”
Lil Halima gained recent popularity from the COLORS YouTube music channel where she performed “Hold Me”—but she got her start on Instagram. She spoke to Wonderland Magazine about her Instagram discovery. She said, “I don’t really know how it happened, but I was contacted by the woman who now is my manager and we started working together after a little while. It has been amazing.”
She talked about the various vibes her music has. She spoke to PileRats, an Australian based music and lifestyle company, and said, “I don’t think too much about genre. I think we as humans have enough boxes to fit into. I create the vibe that fits the song.”
She does not have any plans to expand her performances to the US just yet, but is currently doing shows across Europe and oversees. Despite not have a global audience yet, Lil Halima’s music and message is universal. Beliefs about love and how we cope with loss span across borders and help us understand our human behaviors. This is something we can all take away from her music.
You can listen to Lil Halima through Apple Music, Spotify, and watch her latest music video.
