In case you hadn’t had enough of Alanis Morissette’s meditation album, now you can listen to Azealia Banks’ meditation album. Yes, you read correctly: the most chronically online rapper you know wants to make you meditate.
‘Zenzealia’, as we say, is not a rap album, or even a pop one, but rather an hour-long meditation suite that is made up of ambient tracks over which Azealia recites relaxing phrases like “you are at ease, just relax.” If André 3000 did it, why not her?
The album has been produced by the Swede Kornél Kovács, who creates quite beautiful and detailed settings in cuts like ‘Sacral’ or ‘Solar Plexus’, and it turns out that Banks has a good voice for the role. Although, of course, ‘Zenzealia’ is the last thing we expected from this artist who popularized the phrase “I’ma ruin you, cunt” and who has yet to release her second album.
‘Zenzealia’ may have its reason for being. Azealia Banks may be trying to expand her personal brand, enter the wellness market, which is very lucrative thanks to applications like Headspace or Calm, or simply reinforce her streams, since listeners who consume this type of musical content often leave them in the background for hours, even the entire album.
The problem is whether the world will really trust a meditation album by Azealia Banks, a person known for her many controversies and for insulting the entire music industry. The good news? Azealia has said that she has attended anger management therapy classes. Maybe ‘Zenzealia’ even comes from a genuine interest in meditation.
