We all recall an album or a stanza that dug us out of a rut at some point or another. I found myself within a space characterized by being musically and emotionally stunted. In desperate need of divine musical intervention, I became acquainted with Aisha Badru.
Badru has an extremely humanistic lease on life, which is abundantly clear in her lyricism. She is using her platform to amplify her passion for environmentalism, teaming up with Nettwerk Records to plant trees with pre-saves of the albums & singles via a donation to the non-profit, One Tree Planted.
Since releasing her debut album Pendulum, Aisha relocated from Yonkers, NY to Orlando, where she lives sustainably and practices permaculture. Through the experience of planting her own roots, the earthy, folky EP that is The Way Back Home was born.
“When I was younger, I really needed to leave home. I moved away. I was always trying to find something better. All the things I needed to learn, I ran away from.” This relevant narrative permeates through “Home,” a melancholic tribute in reflection of a journey back home.
Uprooting yourself takes courage, yet adapting yourself to newfound soil takes resilience. I have found myself sharing a wanderlust mindset similar to Badru describes in her EP and discovered that the more you see – the less you know, and no matter how far you find yourself away from home, you will create a semblance of home wherever you go.
This EP solidifies Badru’s own sense of ‘homecoming” in finding her voice and sense of purpose – a means of which she has searched far and wide for, along a tumultuous journey.
‘Worthwhile’ is a song that I think resonates with every individual wherever they’re stationed in their journey of life, the questioning whether all the pain & suffering in the world outweighs the joyous moments. Badru hones in on this with words echoing, “I know things out there are a little wild / It is all worthwhile.” This encapsulates a period of turbulent recent history — riots, COVID, climate change, the border crisis — that comes together, remarkably, as a sun-salutation to a new era of her existence.
A theme embedded throughout The Way Back Home is the overwhelming sense that the second phase life of Aisha’s has only just begun. Badru describes “the medicine” as leaning into feelings of discomfort when taking a risk – It seems I could learn a thing or two from Miss Aisha Badru.
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