ON THE RISE
There’s a time for looking back. For R&B singer Morgan Taylor, it’s all about moving forward.
In her new R&B single, “Outside That’s PeriodT,” Morgan wants the world to know that “Imma still do me.” And nothing is going to hold her down.
The song starts with what sounds like keyboards recorded backwards, evoking the love she is leaving in the past. But with the first line, the beat drops and she makes it clear that she has no plans of moving backwards herself, singing, “I can say I love you / But I really don’t.”
Morgan explains the song as follows: “Well, ‘Outside That’s PeriodT’ is that 90s early 2000s vibe, nostalgic feeling. It’s about being in the cuffing season in the winter and fall, and then when you hit summer…you outside. By yourself…loving on yourself and doing you.”
Just like “Outside That’s PeriodT” is an anthem for moving on, Morgan Taylor doesn’t like to stay in one place. Based in St. Louis, she recently completed a degree at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. She recorded “Outside That’s PeriodT” at the Atlanta Sound Factory, where she has worked with a production and writing team including Jeremiah Adkins, Amore Jones, Gavin Gray, and Xavier (Eks) Hayes.
Morgan’s rise has been moving at a rapid pace. With a handful of early singles beginning in 2020, Morgan broke through in early 2025 with her debut EP. This concept project traces the arc of a relationship from first spark to heartbreak. It resonated with fans, racking up more than 1.5 million streams.
As those numbers suggest, Morgan’s audience is growing fast. Her YouTube channel alone jumped from just over 300 subscribers to more than 8,500 in the past year. Her fans there praise her throwback R&B sound and powerhouse vocals.
For Morgan Taylor, though, it’s more than numbers. In addition to her deep admiration for classic R&B, including the great singers like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, Morgan sees herself as a voice for her generation. Her songs particularly speak to young women, in a way that is both confessional and empowering.
As Morgan says, “It's about recognizing your own value and having the bravery or the courage to want something better. I want to create a community where young women can celebrate themselves.”
“Outside (That’s PeriodT)” is a teaser for big things coming. The single will be the lead single on a new EP due in early 2026. And with plans for a college tour and live performances in St. Louis and beyond, Morgan is eager to showcase her dynamic voice and performance style, and to make closer contact with her fans.
In other words, Morgan Taylor isn’t just outside, and she isn’t just moving on. She’s moving up.
Stream “Outside (That’s PeriodT)” everywhere now. Follow Morgan Taylor at the links below:
Based in London, vocalist and DJ iKeda already appears to be following the path of a major pop act, although she is hesitant to accept that description. “These days, it’s just too easy to call someone a pop star,” she tells NME during a conversation in the sunshine at a Hackney pub garden. With her newest EP ‘Bangs N Braces’ almost here, she insists that such recognition should be deserved. “You really need to earn your stripes to have that label. Someone like PinkPantheress or Addison Rae, they’re building a whole image and world – those are true pop stars.”
Although she has yet to reach the same heights as those artists, her career is clearly gaining momentum. Since 2024, she has released songs combining the irresistible energy of UK funky, electroclash and dancehall, while becoming a familiar face across the London underground electropop scene. One of her biggest opportunities arrived earlier this year when she was invited to open for PinkPantheress during the celebrated ‘Fancy That’ tour, an experience she describes as “almost like a dream”.
“I just couldn’t believe I was playing venues that size at this point in my career,” she recalls. Instead of allowing those initial worries to overwhelm her, she transformed them into “super healing positive energy” and committed herself to delivering the strongest performances possible. “I told myself that I was asked to do this for a reason, that I need to take the audience reception as actual constructive criticism and not crash out. It was too amazing an opportunity not to go one hundred per cent full throttle.”
With a tequila soda in hand, iKeda discusses a musical palette shaped by everyone from Santigold to SOPHIE. However, much of her creativity is fuelled by the trusted circle of friends and artists around her. Fellow club scene regular Babymorocco encouraged her to try songwriting in 2024, leading to her debut single ‘Luv Drunk’: “It was such a far-away concept, going into the studio and writing, but he started doing it, and I saw how quickly he got good.”
Her childhood was divided between Tottenham’s “concrete jungle” and life aboard a houseboat in the peaceful surroundings of Cambridge, giving iKeda an early instinct for creating stories. During her teenage years, she tried her hand at short fiction before studying visual art at Central Saint Martins. “It’s so powerful when you can take something into your own hands and write these things which you wish could happen in real life,” she says while discussing why visuals remain so essential to her creative identity. “I love just being in a world when I’m listening to music.”
That sense of entering another reality sits at the heart of ‘Bangs N Braces’, her forthcoming second EP. The project steps away from the Y2K dance pop character of her 2024 debut, ‘Pretty Little Problem’, and moves deeper into dancehall and funky house. It also serves as her personal declaration of the “gyal dem” lifestyle. In iKeda’s eyes, the meaning of being a “gyal” is not limited by gender or sexuality: “It’s all about one goal, moving toward complete liberation. It’s about maximising disruption, taking up space regardless of if someone has a problem with it.”
That fearless attitude has helped her explore sounds she previously felt nervous about approaching. “Jamaicans can be very perfectionistic about their dancehall, so I’ve always been a little bit intimidated,” she admits before explaining how the music honours her Windrush heritage. “I’ve always wanted to make this kind of music, and I’m finally at the place where I’m confident in exploring that.”
The result is a sound iKeda has named “bubblegum riddim”, blending electronic club pop with dancehall rhythms. “I feel an obsession with music that’s very effervescent and bubbly – it’s like your head is fizzing.” Beneath that sugary surface, however, lies something much rougher. “A lot of pop music is meant to sound quite tuned,” she says. “But with bubblegum riddim, there’s an edge. I love how in a lot of ’90s dancehall, the female vocals are a little off-key, almost fighting the beat.”
“I want to put on an actual production. I want to make bodies of work with coherent eras”
Across ‘Bangs N Braces’, this refreshed creative perspective moves between the grime coloured intensity of ‘Red Red’ and the bright dancehall energy of ‘Go!’ and ‘Meoww’. ‘Tiger Tiger’ captures both iKeda’s vivid imagination and growing confidence. “I was going down memory lane with old childhood books, and I saw The Tiger Who Came To Tea. The story morphed into this whole thing, like there’s this secret club and you can only go if you’re a bad girl.” Alongside surreal visions of mysterious potions and twisting white rabbits, the song reflects a broader personal transformation: “It’s part of my new path of just completely feeling myself.”
With the EP arriving later this month, iKeda says her newfound confidence has brought a welcome sense of freedom that is now influencing how she writes. “I just want to make feel-good music because that’s how I’m feeling right now,” she says. Even though her songs capture the carefree thrill of club pop, she treats simple melodies with genuine seriousness. “People don’t understand how hard it is to write a catchy hook without it turning into slop,” she explains. Her perfectionist nature keeps her focused on every small element, including “the little intros and interludes, which labels don’t care about but that listeners love”.
Although she is not ready to describe herself as a pop star, her ambitions suggest she already possesses the imagination and determination required to become one. “I just want to improve everything. I want to put on an actual production. I want to make bodies of work with coherent eras,” she says when asked about her future, revealing the constant drive behind her creativity. “Right now I’m trusting more in my ideas. I’m eternally grateful for all of the good times I’ve had, but I definitely have more to say.”
iKeda’s ‘Bangs N Braces’ EP arrives August 28 through Orbit Artist Group.
