From a singer-songwriter posting promising lo-fi demos online to a touring UK sensation with an awesome backing band and adoring fans - Nilüfer Yanya has come a long way. Her newest single ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The Year’ reflects on this journey, and at 23-years-old, this London-based musician questions whether she has already peaked. Few of us at that age could understand this feeling, as in your early twenties, most people are still finding their feet, and perhaps this comparison to others her age has affected Yanya’s view of her own success. Is it all too much too soon? Over raw, guitar strums, Nilüfer Yanya’s voice crackles, rages, recedes and repeats her all-to-clear exhaustion. As we hear in likes like, “I’m tired / From all these dreams / Lack of sleep / I’m still wired.” Speaking about the motivations behind the track, the talented artist says: “‘Heavyweight Champion’ for me is about reaching my own (metaphorical) bar, reaching my own limits within myself… kind of forbidding to take it further. Feels like quite a physical song, quite physically tired — and mentally, but knowing the desire is still there to continue. I imagine it sometimes in my head as drawing a line around me and the outside world — a form of self protection and preservation.” It’s this ardent self-protection we find in the repeated declaration, “no, he can’t come in,” and keyed in with this denial, the music evolves into a sound more certain with energetic drums and fearsome guitar playing. Co-produced by Yanya alongside band members saxophonist Jazzi Bobbi and bassist Luke Bower, ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The Year’ is a realist claim to one’s own space, creativity, and energy. Watch the performative music video - directed by ENERGYFORCE - here. - Hannah Thacker