10 November 2026
Heliotrope has two meanings. It’s a plant that turns toward the sun across the day, and a pale shade of purple. Prple builds her new seven-track EP on both. The London-raised alternative R&B and soul artist calls it “a light shade of me”, and the project sits in the space between darkness and the first light of recovery.
It begins from a question every twenty-something eventually asks: how did I get here? Prple wrote through a pile-up of pressures, including job insecurity, money worries, break-ups, family responsibilities and her physical and mental health, and the songs treat that period as raw material rather than something to dress up. Her own description of making the record, “a very dark place”, is a refreshing admission in a genre that can slip into gloss.
The EP’s emotional spine runs between two tracks. Opener “Dwmt” is rooted in her need for peace as the test of whether to stay or leave, and “What It Wants” follows that idea to its conclusion, with peace only possible once she’s honest about what her heart desires. [Add a line on how these two actually sound: the production, the vocal delivery, a standout lyric.] Put together, they give the EP a clear arc rather than a loose set of songs.
Producer 5five2 guides the project throughout, with mixing and mastering shared between Stevie Williams (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7), Sam JC Khadra (track 2) and Richard Nathaneel Edwardes (track 4). Prple performed and wrote everything herself, which gives Heliotrope a strong sense of ownership.
What lifts the EP above a standard confessional R&B record is its refusal to promise a quick fix. Prple isn’t selling healing as a finished state. Recovery here comes “one sunrise at a time”, and the project accepts that finding yourself is ongoing work, with new shades still to discover. That honesty will land with anyone living through a similar situation.
It all ties back to her “DGC” mantra, Don’t Get Comfortable: growth needs discomfort. Heliotrope shows what that looks like in practice, and it feels like the start of something worth following.
Words by Evie White