Columbia Recording artist, songwriter, musician, and producer SALEKA has revealed another track, titled “Save Me,” taken from her highly anticipated album, LADY RAVEN (Original Music From The Motion Picture TRAP) out on August 2.
“Save Me” continues to showcase SALEKA‘s ability to write and produce for the screen. Her sleek production on this Rn’B/Rumba-inspired track revolves around off-kilter guitar, finger-snaps, boisterous horns, and lush string-spiked beats, while she pleads, “save me from myself,” a nod to the thriller’s unnerving narrative set to unfold in this highly anticipated M. Night Shyamalan-directed film.
LADY RAVEN (Original Music From The Motion Picture TRAP) features music composed, produced, and performed by SALEKA for the Warner Bros. Pictures film TRAP in which she makes her feature film acting debut. Featuring special guests Kid Cudi, Russ, and Amaarae, LADY RAVEN (Original Music From The Motion Picture TRAP) boasts 14 original songs, each crafted specifically to the script and narrative of the film, blending SALEKA‘s classical piano training with her distinct dark-pop-R&B production and tonality.
“There’s a duality to the Soundtrack,” SALEKA notes. “I wanted to make an album that could stand on its own and embody the sounds and genres I love. At the same time, every song was made for a specific scene with clear intention. Having the external storyline made the process so inspiring though. I could write in a way that was incredibly free since I wasn’t thinking about myself. I ended up editing myself less and exploring facets of my own emotions that I would be too scared to dive into without having Lady Raven to speak through.”
In TRAP, her character “Lady Raven” performs a powerhouse concert as a gripping and thrilling story unfolds concurrently. She penned the songs to entwine with her father’s script, so the rhythm of the music and the story symbiotically depend on one another. Simultaneously, she mined an expansive emotional and sonic spectrum.
SALEKA and her dad, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, had always shared an appreciation for music-driven films and long dreamed of a collaboration. They essentially built TRAP from kitchen table conversations. “Purple Rain is one of our favorite movies,” she says. “Film and music often go hand in hand in our culture, they are equally important in Bollywood movies. The concept for Trap came from family conversations in the kitchen about wanting to bring these two art forms together in our own way. I wrote a lot of the songs at my parent’s house in the living room. This project felt like home, but allowed me to try musical ideas I never had before. It’s so pure and special to me.”
TRAP stars SALEKA alongside Oppenheimer’s Josh Hartnett, a doting father taking his teen daughter to an arena concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event. The story, taking place in near-real time, is interwoven into the concert itself, during which SALEKA gives an exhilarating onstage performance as the fictional artist “Lady Raven.”
TRAP will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, in theaters nationwide on August 2.
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