A woman lies curled inside a translucent, veined skin, tight over her like a membrane. Seconds later, she has torn through it, bloodied and screaming.
The scene opens the teaser for “Winner,” Sarah Black’s new single and the title track of her debut EP. Sung in Tamil and English, it’s an R&B track on an Afropop beat, and Black calls it a banger. But she also was quick to mention that it’s not what the sound might suggest. “If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll know what it’s about,” she said on an Instagram post.
Until now, her songs have lived in the world of longing and heartbreak, from revenge fantasy in “Red” to a quiet ache in “Maname.”
A short loop of “Maname” crossed a million views on Instagram, and its orchestral redux, “Maname Neeyae,” followed in June. It’s the work of someone who has let go but hasn't quite managed to move on. "Winner" faces the exit. The question she asked in "Maname," "Feel it, like I feel it, won't you?", returns as "Do you feel me now," with the pleading gone.
The easy read is someone giving way to confidence, and the chorus supports it, but the verses are narrower and sharper. They're specifically about how she was wronged. She gave someone everything, he threw it away, and she was, in her words, "groomed for your convenience."
The strongest writing sits in Tamil, "Nallavanu baby yarum inga illa" (no one is innocent here), beside "I'm a sinner," so she stands in the verdict too. She then turns to him with "Kitta vandhu pesu" (come closer and talk) and "Enna moraikadha" (don't be angry), which is a long way from asking to be heard through a wall.
The lyrics on both sides of "groomed for your convenience" do the real work. "All I needed was love and attention" going in, "that had to come to end" coming out. It's Black regaining her power by leaving someone who only wanted her when it suited him, and counting the exit as the win.
The 44-second teaser sets the scene for the track and what is to come in her EP. First the cocoon. Then the blood streaks across her shoulders and neck. And then, a white gown and a spread of wings. The blood is what lingers. In "Maname" it came from holding on; here she claims it herself: "I've bled to be here. I still bleed sometimes but I won't let it taint my wings."
A Winner Passport site is up with it. Upload a photo, add your name and city, fill in an obstacle and a miracle, and it returns a vintage-ink card to post. Her sample reads "Everyone said I couldn't do it" over "I did everything they said I wouldn't be able to." It's tidier than the song, which makes room for a sinner, and her own caption defines winning less neatly: "To win is to lose a million times."
"Winner" is out now on all streaming platforms.
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Sarah Black
