Live Review: Talakai drops his haunting 'Feel Better' video

Against haunting, FKA twigs-reminiscent production, it doesn't take too long of a listen into 'Feel Better' to know that TALAKAI means business. His absolute fearlessness when it comes to tackling assault-speed delivery and word play is a luxury among new rappers, but Talakai - 23 years old - is spitting like he's been doing this as long as his idols.

The Newcastle rapper refuses to be passed off as just another Aussie rapper by the genre's relentless critics, as he dives deep into the abyss of one of the scariest places any of us can explore - our own mind. "Brainwaves got me feeling like I'm drowning / Checkmate, gotta check my surroundings" Talakai begins the song with no sign of hesitation. The entire track, with the incredibly dark, ghostly production of PENACHO BEATS, feels like Talakai is submerged in the force of his own thoughts as his self-reflective flow attempts to traverse every nook and cranny of his mind.

The video for 'Feel Better' is equally as dark and haunting yet manages to keep Talakai focused the entire time. Fair enough - a video that outlines the inner workings of Talakai shouldn't feature anything else. It's him and only him in a dimly lit tunnel - pretty strong metaphor for the journey he takes us on throughout the entirety of the song. We don't know where he's going to go and we're not sure he knows either.

Of the song, Talakai told Purple Sneakers about the state he was in when this song was conceived. "I was feeling heaps under the weather, fresh out of a break up, I suppressed my feelings and started feeling as if my friends all had their little friend groups within the whole group and ignored me and avoided me," he said. "I was essentially the outcast... I deleted all social media, laid in bed staring at a wall, and said to myself I just want to feel better. I just want to write some music and feel better."

Thus 'Feel Better' was born and it's as bleak, strange and, frankly, cathartic as you'd expect.

Words by JACKSON LANGFORD

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