Presenting her debut EP ‘When We Let Go’, South London-based artist/vocalist, Naima Adams melds contemporary R&B with finely layered vocal textures, personal storytelling and a soul-capturing tone. Across six tracks, connected by kindred tussles with closure, endurance and freeing one’s past, Adams questions “how long till I know when to let go?”.
Comprising fixtures of Adams’ live set since her debut festival appearance at Cross The Tracks in May 2024 as well as previous singles ‘Fragile’ & ‘Stay’ (2024), the Rome via D.C.-raised artist presents ‘When We Let Go’, an EP of solo material written across the last four years, co-produced alongside pianist/composer, Lorenz Okello-Osengor (And Is Phi, Sofia Grant).
‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ opens the EP with a lucid romance, complete with strings & bossa/samba rhythms, followed by Adams’ debut offering ‘Fragile’, an open introspection of loss and hope in the modern age, supported by Bandcamp Radio and Jazz FM, and featured as part of Line Of Best Fit’s ‘New Music Discovery’. The EP’s first single ‘All I Ever Wanted’, a layered indie/R&B loveletter to a past self, confronting the storms of old friendships and negligent mentors, sings, “I’m taking my time to see the strength I know I have in me / but you gotta know by now, the scars will show” - its nurturing resilience and lyrical phrasing, reminiscent of early Ashanti, Floetry or 702.
‘Promise’, written back in 2022, a poignant tribute to Adams’ great-aunt and broadly, loved ones lost is followed by dub-fused percussive soul collision & Melo-Zed-produced, ‘Stay’, described by BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms as “beautiful, really fantastic”, and supported by BBC Radio 3’s ‘Round Midnight’, NTS Radio & Record Of The Day. The restless, stripped-back outro ‘How Long Til I Know?’ closes the EP, as the first occasion of Adams writing/singing in Italian, describing a judgement day scene ahead; the road to collective transformation or path to ruin.
An early member and organiser of the original South London collective, Steam Down (performing alongside Nubya Garcia in Colombia, Glastonbury’s legendary Park Stage, and on Later With Jools Holland), as well as backing vocalist for Allysha Joy, Sampa The Great, Celeste, and collaborator on Sampa’s influential album ‘The Return’ (‘Summer’, 2019), Adams’ self-rooting in London’s new music community began in 2015, having relocated to London from Rome to study at the London College of Music.
Within that time and now, Adams has guested on a handful of collaborations including ‘Morning Light’ with London producer/multi-instrumentalist, Marla Kether (the lead single on the Somewhere Soul compilation, Rituals Vol. 1, and featured on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6Music ‘Best of 2025’), and alongside Italian alternative soul artist/guitarist RBSN, Sofia Grant, Nadeem Din-Gabisi & more. Stretching beyond her artist, Adams operates as Touching Bass’s label & community manager (and DJs regularly at their seminal south London parties) in addition to her role as creative producer for We Out Here Festival since 2021, helping organise the festival’s best year yet in 2025.