Nicole Biesek

Following the release of her poignant love song U Should and just in time for her acting debut, Chika has shared her latest single My Power. 

The track hears the 23-year-old’s rapping skill in full flow, while evoking a youthful production reminiscent of the 90s.

My Power also features in the new Netflix film Project Power, which sees Chika making her acting debut.

This song follows Chika’s brilliant Industry Games EP, which was released earlier this year.

Chika was one of our GAY TIMES Magazine cover stars for our music-themed issue Sounds Like Queer Spirit back in April. That issue is available to buy here.

“We’re all here for such a finite amount of time. The least we can do, as people who have any privilege, my privilege being my platform, is use it to help other people,” she told us for the cover story.

“Don’t sit and watch things happen. You have to speak up for others, because ultimately – who will speak up for us? There will be no one left at the end of the day because we’re all silent on every issue that doesn’t involve us.”

Like Lil Nas X and Young M.A, Chika is part of a new wave of artists who aren’t afraid to be ‘explicitly queer’ in their art.

The video for her Charlie Wilson-assisted anthem, Can’t Explain It, put an LGBTQ spin on one of her favourite sitcoms, A Different World, and had black, queer love at the forefront.

Like her previous ‘controversial’ viral moments, it wasn’t supposed to be a statement – but everything Chika does as a queer black woman is a political statement.

“If a straight man were to put a woman, or a straight woman were to put a man in the video, it’s not them being ‘explicitly straight’ – it’s just who they are,” she explains.

“For me, I know a lot of people ask, ‘Did you do that on purpose?’ It’s like, ‘Of course! I’m gay!’ That was my girl at the time, if I’m going to put someone I love in the video, it’s going to be an accurate reflection of my life. If people take it as a statement, great. Ultimately, I’m just being a human and sharing who I am.”