15 May 2026
Qendresa offers us some syrupy R&B on her new two track single. Statistically, the most likely place you will have heard her is on Luke Dean, Max Dean, and Locky’s ‘Can’t Decide’. Her vocals more than carry this tune and are sampled from her original; ‘2 much’, from 2024’s Londra. In both contexts, you can hear the allure of her vocal complexion, which is magnetic, seductive, and honeyed. Her sound has always had a filmic quality, but as the world awaits the 3D-rendered streets of Miami in GTA VI, Qendresa transduces the neon-drenched skyline of Vice City into a two-song release.
In the animated music video by multi-media artist Sofire, we see a lucid exploration of the divine feminine. The women protagonist is definitively independent; she is the only person we see and the world she inhabits is hers. She takes the day at her own pace, waking, smoking a zoot in the bath, and getting dressed. Only once she has taken her sweet time to tend to herself, does she answer a call and get in her retro BMW to supposedly meet an old flame. The visuals align with the sonics in perfect harmony.
Speaking of how the tunes sound, Qendresa’s considered vocals sit atop a beautifully twinkling Rhodes piano on ‘Rain in July’. Dancing beneath these extended chords is a jerkily interlocking 80s-sounding drum sequence. Qendresa speaks to a romantic partner who can’t make up their mind, using the analogy of ‘Rain in July’ to symbolize the shifting decisiveness of her partner.
‘Be the One’ has a more straightforward drum groove alongside electric piano chords that warp and shift like a harmonic lava lamp. Lyrically, she describes constantly thinking of someone else when spending time with a new partner. Maybe this fixation is an extension of the narrative in ‘Rain in July’, with her partner having made his decision to leave and Qendresa attempting to move on. However, her mind’s eye is still squarely focused on him.
Overall, both track’s sonic aesthetic feel slightly more radiant than her previous work, shedding a gentle smokiness in favour of more fluorescence here. Whatever glow she conjures, though, still emerges against the twilight. These tunes certainly evoke summer, but summer nights – that dusk humidity where the remnants of a hot day ease us into the sunset. I can see Qendresa soundtracking our summers increasingly as the years go on.
Words by Charles Edmondson