Toronto singer Lais has shared a new song called "Induce." Produced by Laffey, ROZÉ, and Lais himself, the beat is made up of a crisp piano line, which dances with reversed vocal samples and other textures. The song features barely any percussion until two minutes in, at which the tides change, and Lais' voice falls into a flurry of production tricks and eventually emerges with a Kanye West "Runaway"-esque auto-tune solo. Even with all that going on, it's really all about Lais' central vocal performance, which is restrained and nuanced in an endearing way.
When we spoke to Lais in 2016, he explained the grey area between rap and R&B in his music. "I don’t like to put a label on it," he said. "I don’t like to say one or the other. I’m not the most talented singer, I’ll admit, I’m not the best lyricist. It’s me, it’s all me on the mic. Whatever I’m feeling, whatever I’m going through, I record it, and people relate. That’s it. I don’t like putting labels."
Quotable Lyrics:
Cause I barely put the lid down
Before I pick your phone up
They love to talking about you
But really they don't know us
Never thought I'd catch feelings
When we first fuck
This lightning strikes twice
Where it first struck, yeah