Deva Mahal teases new project with sultry new single ‘South Coast’

The incomparable Deva Mahal returns this Aotearoa Music Month with a sensual, slow-burning, R&B-infused new single, South Coast, accompanied by a co-produced and co-directed video of epic proportions.

Listen to South Coast here / Watch the video for South Coast here

Giving fans a taste of a larger project on the horizon, South Coast is the first new single in two years from the Pōneke-based powerhouse, who is internationally celebrated for her distinctive vocals, soul-drenched songwriting and genre-crossing artistry. It also sees the talented artist turning her hand at recording and producing.

On South Coast, Deva takes the listener on an empowering journey, which explores the bravery of vulnerability. Love. Desire. Sex.

“It’s about saying what you mean and not wallowing in your feelings. It’s also about seeing things as they are and breaking the fantasy or illusion of something when it is truly something else,” says Deva.

South Coast first came to Deva – as the track implies – on the coast. “The sea gifted me with the bones of the music and I began to bring the production to life on my laptop in the midnight hours,” she says.

From there, Deva joined forces with fellow Wellington star, the artist and producer Estère (currently based in London), who further helped to sculpt the track into reality. Christchurch musician, songwriter and producer Chris Wethey also joins the dynamic duo on production credits, with Grammy Award-winning engineer Scott Jacoby (John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Sia) at Eusonia Studios on mixing duties and Grammy-nominated Andy Kravitz (Andre 3000, Lana Del Rey) on mastering.

Wearing multiple hats – co-director and co-producer and more! – Deva also led the team, which created the powerful video capturing the essence of South Coast.

“The video is steeped in my Afro-Caribbean heritage as it pays homage to Mami Wata (also represented as Yemaya) who is the goddess of water and serpents. The powerful love of the Black Mermaid.  I’m conjuring ancestral magic here. My indigenous roots to the land and sea.”

Watch the video here

“South Coast sees me as more than just a big voice. It sees me as a producer, a writer and creator, a director, video producer, wardrobe designer and creative director. Leaning into all the things I have spent my life doing as well as continuing to grow and eventually master new skills,” says Deva.

“It has me taking control of my story instead of waiting to be chosen by a male dominated community that pits women against each other and makes very little room for Black women or women of colour. This song also shows that I have given myself permission to lean into my own desire and sensuality and share that with my listeners. Grown and sexy. On my own terms.