Lisha Tahrea’s new single, “Momentum,” does something quite clever with its rhythm. It doesn’t just play; it seems to breathe, pulling you into its warm, afro-fusion haze before you’ve even noticed your feet are stuck to the floor. The beat has that beautiful, cyclical quality of things that are both nourishing and dangerous, like a rip current or a second piece of cake.
This is a track built on a psychological fault line. Birmingham’s Tahrea has crafted a story of someone locked in a stunning tug-of-war with their own desire, one moment pleading for freedom (“I wanna be over you”) and the next begging for permanence (“hold on to”). The gentle dancehall groove is a hypnotic accomplice, the kind of sound that makes perfect sense of a physical addiction that keeps one’s “mental going” even as other ambitions apparently wither. He’s losing himself to the obsession.
And yet, listen again. Another narrative surfaces entirely—one of potent, assured feminine power. Suddenly, his desperate struggle can be heard as her quiet confidence. The same groove that feels like his trap sounds like her taking complete control. It reminds me, strangely, of those old, detailed botanical illustrations of a Venus flytrap; a thing of exquisite, intricate design that is also a masterful, inescapable mechanism. Is he losing his mind, or is she simply claiming hers?
The genius of “Momentum” isn’t in providing a neat answer. It pulses in that humid space between empowerment and obsession, leaving a single, lingering question shimmering in the air after the final beat fades: when you hold on this tight, who is actually in command?
