Montreal-based alternative R&B artist Somaya has released “Rhinestones,” the second single from her debut album LAYALI, due August 28 on Bonsound.
The track draws on reggae and Middle Eastern sounds — a combination that gives it a distinct texture within the city’s R&B scene. Thematically, Somaya describes it as sitting in the tension between self-destruction and illusion: that particular state where things are falling apart but you’re still convincing yourself they aren’t.
“Rhinestones is sexy, chaotic, vulnerable, and slightly sarcastic,” she explains. “Through somewhat dark humor, writing this song helped me turn emotional instability into something almost glamorous: where rhinestones become both armor and illusion.”
That framing — glamour as a coping mechanism, sparkle as deflection — runs through Somaya’s work more broadly. Her songwriting tends toward grief, identity, loneliness, and transformation, approached with the kind of honesty that doesn’t resolve neatly. The goal, as she’s described it, is to make space for listeners to see themselves in the music rather than be told how to feel about it.
Watch the video below:
