The incredible and fierce rising star, AIZA, is stunning audiences around the world with her epic new R&B single and accompanying music video, titled “Cocoa Butter”. With tens of thousands of monthly Spotify listeners to her name already, AIZA is ready for worldwide success and this song alone showcases just that. This is her first single of 2023 and is the follow-up to her collaboration three-track EP with Kamana, titled “Corona Bops”.
AIZA, real name Aiza Ntibarikure, is a Montreal-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter, artist, and actress. She first fell in love with musical theatre in high school before becoming a singer-songwriter. As she grew as an artist, she became a member of a variety of Montreal-based bands which led to her performing on a variety of stages, building up her confidence and stage presence, and she even worked with Beyoncé’s former musical director/bassist Divinity Roxx. Performing all across Canada was not her only early accomplishment, she went on to become a small-screen actress, starring in the likes of Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy, CBC’s Workin’ Moms, Club Illico’s Victor Lessard, and CBC Kids’ Jeremy and Jazzy – which is a Juno-nominated animated series. She was set to perform at the 2020 Juno Awards before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown really affected her, especially after being on stage for years and the closure of venues made it difficult for her, so she channelled her extroverted energy into writing and creating new music, and she’s decided that 2023 is the year she’s ready to unleash it all on to the world.
Talking about the track AIZA said: “I was out of control but it felt good, almost necessary, to let myself go there. This song will forever be a reminder that I am so much more than the work I do – I deserve to have a good time no matter the state of the world, and this beautiful dark skin I’m in needs to be celebrated.”
Check out the music video for “Cocoa Butter” by AIZA here:
Written by Aiza Ntibarikure and C The Reason, with the latter producing the track, “Cocoa Butter” is an upbeat, catchy, R&B track mixed with contemporary dance, with some epic vocals coming from AIZA. She doesn’t hold back for this superb new single, delving into lyrics about not letting lockdown change the person she is, both mentally and physically. The track is partly inspired by North African music and actually features the flutist, Anh Phung, who provides an addictive flute melody throughout the track, which is beautiful and sultry. Add in the awesome dance beats and the dark R&B melodic energy, and we’ve got a superstar track that we have to listen to repeatedly. “Cocoa Butter” is the track we all need to hear on our party playlists, representing the good in life and positivity overall, as well as self-worth, AIZA is all we could possibly ask for in a rising superstar artist.
As for the music video, which has been directed by Adam Capriolo with Mathieu Samson (Productions Néon) acting as director of photography, we watch an absolutely fierce, gorgeous, and stunning AIZA performing the song with style and a confident attitude. It’s not surprising to see scenes including cocoa butter and the burning of sage as well as other direct translations of the lyrics into visualisations, allowing the story of lockdown to come to life as explained in the track, and her wishes to just meet up with her mates and spend time with them. AIZA looks beautiful in every scene, completely showcasing her superstar quality as well as her brilliant acting skills. The first incredible breakdown bridge in the track is represented by some killer dance routines with AIZA and her two backup dancers (Vlad Alexis and Athina Hanane) knocking out phenomenal choreography by Vlad Alexis to perfection, which is later carried on throughout the music video giving us sublime diverse routines that match the track formidably. We’ve watched this astounding music video again and again, and we’re sure it’ll be one we’ll continue to watch often as we really cannot get enough of it. AIZA seriously is a superstar.
Stream the recently released track on Spotify here:
“Cocoa Butter” by AIZA is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms.