Dua Saleh and serpentwithfeet get ‘unruly’

*Photo credit: Grant Spanier & Denzel Golatt

Dua Saleh and serpentwithfeet‘s latest track leans into the erotic, the subversive, and the unruly.

Saleh returns to music with sonically pleasing track called “unruly.” The multidisciplinary artist layers distorted, airy vocals and poetic lyrics on top of bright, ethereal sounds to create song that feels like you’re whisked away to another dimension. The song is their release of 2024 and follows their previous single “daylight falls.”

For Saleh, “unruly” represents a trifecta that addresses an “instinctive presence, omnipotent aura, and carnal desires” that both singers may possess, as they lean into their strength.

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“This takes place across a number of different areas in life that this power can be translate to,” Saleh said in a press release. “It poses as something related to subversion: subversion of norms, reclamation of power, & resistance against sensual suppression through a lean into the erotic (see Audrey Lorde’s essay on Uses of the Erotic). This comes along with an examination of ‘effection,’ offering a reassessment of generative influence on the world. It allows sensuality through mutual respects and desires. It reexamines the social imaginary and spins it on itself.”

With help from serpentwithfeet, “unruly” takes flight. Both artists blend their voices in unison, adding to the ethereal vibe of the track. While serpentwithfeet self-reflects, asking “how’d I get so unruly,” Saleh leads the charge with sly, impish verses.

“Something about his voice is so captivating,” Saleh said. “I think our connection musically is queerness, being able to have that against-all-odds connection with somebody where we may have had to resist our identity initially when we were younger. There’s a power that queerness holds for both of us.”

Born in Kassala, Sudan (Tunjur Tribe) and raised in Minnesota, the Los Angeles-based creative skillfully blends R&B, soul, rock, hip-hop, and electronic pop with their poetry background, and socially conscious lyrics, while their indigenous roots add a rich depth to their music. And their contemporaries have noticed, with collaborations with Amaarae, Travis Scott, Bon Iver, and Duckwrth under the belt and critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Complex, Billboard, and more.

Listen to “unruly” below.

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King Isis self-reflects and builds a new life from the answers received within ‘shed.’

Black, queer spaces raised serpentwithfeet a second time

“It felt like finding people that spoke the same language as me, and I loved being able to flow with them, and just unleash the body.”

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