Skaiwater Brings His Take On Black Dance Music With "#Gigi"

Skaiwater, the UK and L.A. based singer, rapper, and producer has returned with a new album called #gigi. Overall, this is the 23-year-old's fifth project overall and first since 2023's rave (nc). For this tape, skaiwater wanted to bring their own take to the Black dance music scene, pulling from all sorts of subgenres that make up this colorful sound palette. Speaking with Billboard, they explained how his roots played a part in bringing #gigi to fruition. "I grew up around a lot of garage music, bassline music, drum & bass, that’s what I was around when I was super young, when it came to Black dance", skai explains.

"Then when I started traveling out here, I saw like the Philly scene, like house; the New Orleans bounce scene; and the Chicago house scene too, and just how Chicago paved the way for house music. I felt like there was a connection and community when it comes to a lot of those scenes. It showed me how similar things can be even when they’re so far away". Across this album, you are definitely getting a lot of bouncy and danceable grooves. From the Jersey club-inspired "box" to the playful "play" (pun intended), skaiwater is bring a lot of carefree vibes to this tracklist. While this is a dance party of a record, they mix in some more slow-mo and somber jams to balance things out.