This is the second time we’ve featured 21-year-old artist promising producer and songwriter NOVAA here at TMR, with the first time being her magnificent debut ‘Club Paradise’. New single ‘Almond Eyes’ is as dramatic as that debut, with bucketfuls of bass, sweeping violins and a primal beat that creates an air of suspense fitting NOVAA’s empowered lyrics. Far from vague metaphors, this artist is direct in language and there’s no mistaking NOVAA’s passion for gender equality and mutual consent; although she’ll be the first to admit, she wasn’t always so bold. Here she talks about the single: "The word feminism is a tricky one. If you use it people put you in a box no matter what you’re trying to say. So I stopped using the word for some time as I thought it would make having conversations easier. That was stupid and cowardly. It doesn’t matter what terms I use for talking about equality as long as I talk about it freely, openly and honestly. When I call myself a feminist it does not mean I hate men. It means I hate seeing beautiful human beings suffer because of their sex - female and male. I was suffering because I taught myself that it’s wrong to appreciate my self and my body as a woman. “Almond Eyes” was my way of sharing that struggle and liberating myself from it.“ ‘Almond Eyes’ is a powerful diversion from the male gaze, a lesson in determination and a portrayal of one's own self as the protagonist of your story. - Hannah Thacker