by American-born, Stockholm-based artist Mapei releases her long-awaited new album, Sensory Overload. The pure and honest 10-songs project includes a blend of genres and is an ode to her journey of self-discovery and love.
Reflecting on the creation of Sensory Overload, Mapei explains, “For me, life has been a trip with many spectacles of joy. Although disappointments come with the territory, I try to manifest and visualize this piece of art. Instead of complaining, I take a stand and say how things can become instead of seeing things from a negative perspective.”
‘Sensory Overload’ serves as the blueprint and stamping of who Mapei is. She details: “In ‘From Nana,’ whom I dedicated to my caretaker as a child, I say, ‘I made love in the sun, my whole life has been fun.’ I really appreciate my journey and you can hear that sonically on this album.” Showcasing a range of sounds as with songs like “Visions,” “you can hear echoes from reggae and African to Caribbean styles. I grew up in a West African club where my parents met and I feel that I have captured that essence and nuance of that time with a modern interpretation by mixing trap and 808s. It has a solid blend. The words tend to often go towards love – a newfound subject to write about.”
Mapei will be releasing a short mini-film that compliments the album in the coming weeks. Directed by Niko Noir, Lisa Morborg, and Simona Bravo, Sensory Overload, the short film, is a 28-minute long story Mapei coins, “fabby-chic meets retro funk.”
Listen on the streaming platform of your choice: https://album.link/s/3txEhl6vhhvmnm8tUfFvuS
Mapei was born Jaqueline Mapei Cummings in Providence, RI, but moved to Sweden before she turned 10. She began splitting her time between America and Sweden after her Liberian mother and Swedish stepfather moved to Stockholm. She moved to Brooklyn at age 18, taking in the local scene and even living with Lykke Li for a period before deciding to return to Sweden and immerse herself in Stockholm’s pop scene.
Mapei scored her first underground hit with “Video Vixens.” Soon after she signed to Downtown in 2009 for her debut EP, The Cocoa Butter Diaries. In 2013 she released her single “Don’t Wait,” which went viral immediately. The song was remixed by a number of high-profile producers, including DJ Brynny, Frankie Knuckles, Kingdom, and Giraffage. A version featuring Chance the Rapper was released in March 2014 and has racked up +71M streams on Spotify and +10M streams on SoundCloud to date. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club chart at #48 and also hit UK’s and Italy’s Airplay Charts at #173 and #88 respectively. Her debut album Hey Hey released September 2014 and debuted at #29 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart.
