The Plug’n Play: October + November (‘25)

Illustration by Malaaya Adams

You can listen to the full playlist on Apple Music or Spotify

On the Cover: Jaleesa is an Afro-Danish singer and songwriter based in Copenhagen, Denmark. On October 3rd, Jaleesa released her debut album, Sodalite. Sodalite is a12-song exploration of doubt, love, fear, hope and self-acceptance, all while maintaining a critical political eye. It’s groovy and funky; unabashed in the sonic lineage it follows in, extending from the Soul music of the 1970s.

An Ode To My Hair — Jaleesa

An Ode To My Hair — the final song from the A-side of Jaleesa’s debut album — is short, but packs a punch (the song comes in at just 1:21). The production is sparse. There’s a faint hi-hat setting the tempo, but the song is mostly driven by the bass guitar and a whirling electric guitar strummed legato. The song’s task — as its title suggests — is dedication and honor. What I love most about this song is Jaleesa’s sensorial writing. Of course, there is the sonic, but, with lines like, I like the texture of my hair / I like the way it bounce too / I love the scent of cocoa butter, you can see it and smell it, too. In some ways, An Ode To My Hair feels like it exists within the same universe as Solange’s Don’t Touch My Hair. While Solange sharply writes about what “they” don’t understand, Jaleesa’s feels more about “us.”