Aluna is back with a brand new 10-track collection of remixes, RENAISSANCE (Remixes) featuring club-ready re-workings of tracks from her debut solo album, Renaissance, out now via Mad Decent. Spanning multiple genres of dance and electronic music, the collection features exciting collaborations with a diverse array of predominantly POC and female producers, including Lady Bee, Austin Millz, TSHA, Bella Boo & UNIIQU3 to name a few.
Speaking about the new project, Aluna reveals, “For the first time in a long time we have the idea of a better future to celebrate, one with more unity than ever before and that’s what this remix collection embodies – it’s more like a festival line up of the future than a remix album-melanated, lgbtqia, global and bringing the queen shit.”
Also included in the remix package, Bronx, NY-based producers, remixers and DJ duo The Martinez Brothers’ remix of “The Recipe,” originally a collaboration with KAYTRANADA, which fuses afrobeat elements in with his trademark percussion and the mesmerizing vocals of Nigerian singer-songwriter Rema.
Last fall, Aluna unveiled the official video for “The Recipe“, directed by Reggie. (AKA Clay Dirkse and Jake Herman). “I wanted to play with the way history has been dictated to us,” she says. “Growing up in England you are constantly exposed to glamorous white history of period dramas without a black person in sight. I feel that since the British Empire was so heavily funded by slavery that history is ours too, we’ve just never been pictured in the finery…and I wanted to see what that would look like.”
Earlier this winter, to commemorate World AIDS Day (December 1st), (RED) and Africa’s most influential record label, Mavin Records, joined forces to raise funds to fight two pandemics: COVID-19 and AIDS. The remix of hit single “Jaiye” by Mavin Artist LADIPOE, features Aluna and Sigag Lauren, is available to stream and download worldwide, with all proceeds going to support (RED)’s efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on life-saving HIV/AIDS programs in sub-Saharan Africa.
The special “Jaiye” remix is a teaser to the Afrobeats-inspired DANCE (RED) SAVE LIVES Vol. III album, with a track listing co-curated by Aluna and Don Jazzy, which will be available on streaming services worldwide this Spring.
2020 was, in many ways a momentous year for Aluna, with her latest string of singles amassing nearly 40 million combined global streams and more than 10K global radio spins across 41 territories, garnering worldwide support from some of the world’s most respected radio stations, including BBC Radio 1,Triple J, KCRW, KEXP, and Sirius BPM, as well as ‘Envious’ being playlisted on Capital’s newest station Capital Dance. Spotify’s New Music Friday has championed her in more than 20 countries this year, as well as placing her on the cover of their flagship dance playlist Mint and Massive Dance Hits. Nectar (Amazon Music) and New Music Daily (Apple Music), along with support from radio staples Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden continue to amplify her solo project.
Last summer Aluna also penned a powerful open letter to the global dance community, demanding the community re-assess the platforms and positioning of Black creators within the dance world. “When I started looking at all the challenges I face being a black woman making dance I realized I wanted to do more than just create a space for myself – I want all black people to know that the genre of Dance is their heritage and they should feel included and encouraged to create under that banner by expanding the genre to be culturally and racially inclusive.”
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