Estère Returns with New Single ‘Obsidian’
Cameroonian Kiwi artist, producer and DJ Estère has released her new single Obsidian.
Written about desire and the instinct to listen to what the body knows before the mind catches up, Obsidian was started in Cameroon and finished in the UK with Ashton Sellars (Drake, Burna Boy, FLO) coming on board as co-producer. The song’s journey mirrors Estère’s own, a track born in the country she’s been reconnecting with, then shaped into its final form in London, the city she packed up her life in New Zealand for in pursuit of her music. It carries her self-coined electric blue witch-hop signature, elastic harmonies, intricate rhythm and vintage texture into new, more intimate territory.
Estère talks about how the song changed from its inception in Cameroon to its completion in London. “Originally the song was faster and had more of a Jersey club feel to it. When I took it to Ashton, we stripped the beat right back, which made the grittier, dance-heavy elements of the song more prominent. Then I had Leo Coghini add some sexy bass”
Obsidian is the first offering from a new chapter in which Estère is asking some of the biggest questions of her life so far – about what it means to embrace her African-ness after growing up mixed race in New Zealand, and about where home actually is: in a place, or in herself.
Elaborating on the song shes says: “If Obsidian were a feeling, it would be volcanic and smooth, something you could glide your finger over, something that gave you thrills, but could also cut you.”
It’s a process of reclaiming her link to her Bassa heritage as an adult who was never taken to Cameroon as a child, work she’s also doing publicly through DiaxXpora, the London community she founded to open up exactly this kind of dialogue with other diaspora creatives.
Consider Obsidian the first crack of light from something bigger she’s been building in the dark. Watch this space as there is more music on the way in 2026.
