New Music & Video Release - Deva Mahal, takes fans on a journey to the future on her stunning new EP - 27th March 2026
Artist Name - Deva Mahal
Release Name - Future Classic Volume II: Future
Release Date - 27th March 2026
Genre - R&B, Soul Music, Electro-Pop
Label - Motema Records
Deva Mahal’s highly anticipated EP, FUTURE CLASSIC VOL II: FUTURE is out today!
Today’s EP release comes on the back of the recent tour announcement, which will see the celebrated Pōneke-based artist, Deva Mahal, performing eight dates across Aotearoa.
Get tickets to the FUTURE CLASSIC VOL 11: FUTURE tour:
Waiheke Jazz Festival - April 3rd - HERE
Queenstown - April 10th - HERE
Dunedin - April 9th / Lyttleton - April 11th / Napier - April 17th / Auckland - May 2nd - HERE
Wellington - April 18th - HERE
Tauranga - April 16th - HERE
FUTURE CLASSIC VOL II: FUTURE is the latest body of work from one of Aotearoa’s most remarkable voices. It features the haunting new single ‘Slow Down’.
‘Slow Down’ is all about “centering yourself through community and locating yourself and who you are through connection. It's about slowing down and leaning into the connective tissues that hold us all together,” says Deva.
Deva adds: “For me, connection to the natural world and to the human spirit is what sustains me and in this artificial and capitalistic world full of pain and suffering, I want to remember what really matters and that is love and protecting our planet and all the life that exists upon it.”
‘Slow Down’ sits on the EP alongside the already released tracks ‘South Coast’, ‘Need’, ‘Sometimes Good’ and ‘Til The Morning Comes’
It is a powerful collection of songs, which makes up the second half of a two-part EP and sees Deva crafting more percussive soundscapes and Electro/Pop feels as well as contemporary R&B and Soul. Expressing themes like Afro-Nature Futurism, and even sharing poetry. “I wanted to imagine something that felt timeless but was made in the future. That's why you hear a lot more digital production on this EP. We delved a lot more into sonic resonance and crafting samples of things that I recorded in nature. There is a lot more programming and use of synthesizers on this EP to give it a modern feel.”
Both EPs, which make up the project, were written, recorded and mixed in two months across continents. “The entire album was written and recorded in different bedroom studios that we built or borrowed in New York and London.”
Self-produced alongside Chris Wethey, with featured producers like Ashton Sellars and Estére, Deva often found herself singing and tracking vocals on floors, or in closets. She says she wanted the circumstances of being transient to influence the production decisions. The EP also features the Grammy Award-winning, all-female Mariachi band, Flor De Toloache.
Another as yet unheard song on the record - and a favourite of Deva’s - is ‘Someone’s Daughter’, which was inspired by the murder of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by three police officers in her Kentucky home in 2020.
“It represents all the Black women who have been un-alived by law enforcement. It also relates to the challenges women face in the world today and that no matter where they come from, they are all someone's daughter. That we are not objects to enact your violence upon.”
Fans will get the chance to celebrate the release of FUTURE CLASSIC VOL 11: FUTURE with Deva and her full band this April and May.
Get your tickets now!