There are collaborations that feel strategic. And then there are those that simply had to happen.
“Monsters,” the new single from Jordan Rakei alongside Nubya Garcia, belongs to the latter. It doesn’t arrive as a calculated crossover, but as the natural resolution of a conversation that had been unfolding for years—across festivals, train rides, and promises without deadlines.
Until now.
The track, the final preview of Between Us—his upcoming EP via Fontana Records—is built within a very specific framework: one day, one studio, no plan. And not just any studio, but Abbey Road Studios, a space where history can either weigh you down… or set you free.
Here, it does the latter.
Because “Monsters” isn’t constructed through precision—it unfolds through openness. There’s something deeply organic in how it moves: layers of jazz, a quiet spirituality that never feels forced, and a constant sense that everything could shift at any moment. It doesn’t lock into structure. It listens.
Rakei approaches it almost like an emotional experiment: step into the studio without expectations and let ideas happen in real time. That kind of process is risky—there’s no safety net—but it’s also where things emerge that can’t be designed.
And that’s where the track breathes.
Their connection isn’t new. They first met in 2016, when both were just starting out. Since then: parallel paths, intermittent crossings, and the same recurring phrase—we should make something together. What matters isn’t that they finally did, but how.
No overproduction. No overthinking.
Garcia, with her ability to expand any sonic space without overpowering it, enters Rakei’s world without friction. There are no hierarchies here—only dialogue. Each element finds its place without needing to dominate. This is music that doesn’t push—it flows.
And that philosophy defines Between Us.
More than an EP, it works as a creative system. Rakei invites artists like FKJ, Jalen Ngonda, Tom McFarland, and Femi Koleoso into his space for a single day to capture something real. Whatever comes out, stays. It may later be refined, but never stripped of that initial spark.
It positions him in an interesting place.
Not just as an artist, but as a curator—someone who understands that bringing distinct sensibilities together under the right conditions can create something stronger than any single, controlled vision.
“Monsters” follows “Easy To Love” and “What It Gave Me,” but feels looser. More exposed. Less concerned with outcome, more connected to process.
And that’s no coincidence.
After The Loop—released via Decca Records and Verve Forecast—Rakei entered a new phase. Bigger, more visible, more ambitious, yet also more introspective. A record that balanced complex production with a deeply emotional narrative.
Here, he does the opposite.
He reduces. Simplifies. Returns to something almost teenage—making music out of instinct, without the pressure of what it should become. There’s something very honest in that. And also very difficult to sustain once you’re inside the machine.
“Monsters” captures that balance precisely.
Between control and chaos. Between past and present. Between two artists who had nothing to prove—only a moment to meet inside.
And when that happens—when there’s no friction, no unnecessary noise—music stops being product.
It becomes something that simply… happens.
