Song You Need to Know: Mereba, ‘News Come’

Mereba contends with war on Azeb, the latest EP from the Spillage Village singer whose sound blends R&B, rap, and folk. The battles she describes could be anything: struggles for peace, for resources, for survival. On “News Come,” a standout on the project, she sounds ready to fight for all three. The hopeful anthem is crafted around the leisurely guitars of Mereba and Sam Hoffman, and made even brighter with electric and acoustic cello. Mereba calmly sings about the urgency of freedom, as if its arrival is imminent and she need not worry. “I see so clearly, I see the future,” she croons, elongating her vowels like they could reach out and touch the world she imagines. “It’s green and lovely, it’s waiting on me.”

The song’s most moving moments come in its bridge, where the instruments settle to a hush before bubbling back up, slowly rebuilding their intensity. They swirl around Mereba’s repeated declarations that liberation must come swiftly. She even offers a coy threat: “Freedom for my people is urgent!/And you know we deserve it/You got a taste of the war here now but/That ain’t even the worst yet.” This is the kind of protest song you play when in the necessary moments of rest and recharge. It’s a pat on the back and a push forward. Mereba, a vocalist-producer-instrumentalist who’s filled to the brim with faith and talent, makes “News Come” the kind of song you want to live in.

Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.