Two years ago, 18-year-old Rio Rainz made his debut with a double-tap of releases, “Never Know” and “Heartless”, before heading back to the studio and spending much of 2021 working on his next steps. Now the young Londoner has emerged and he’s today dropping off visuals for the first in that fresh batch, “Damaged”—and there’s an EP to follow.
A downtempo mixture of melancholic alt-R&B and subdued rap on the verses, he’s drawing not unreasonable comparisons to the likes of Berwyn and Kamal., albeit with a bit more of an anxious intensity to his sound. For this latest one, he picks apart a crumbling relationship, torturing himself over every detail and wishing he could go back.
On the subject of anxious intensity, that’s exactly the energy that the visuals tap into. Playing out like an episode of Euphoria, we follow Rio as he spirals out of control at a party, staring at himself in the mirror and wondering where it all went wrong.
Speaking on the track, Rio said: “‘Damaged’ is about my experiences over the past three years and the headspace I have been in. I’m talking about the times I missed being close to another person but I’m looking at myself in the mirror. I lost myself a little but that’s not the space I’m in anymore.”
Hit play on the video up top and then make sure you add “Damaged” to your playlists.
