Album Review: Flaviyake – ‘Bad in Bed’

Flaviyake is a Pop artist, songwriter and producer known for reinventing herself in music videos. Her artist name is coming from her real name Flavia and part of a Japanese name “yake” (from Issey Miyake, her favourite fashion designer). Originally, she is from Moldova, has given a lot of live shows in London, where she also played on BBC6 Music Radio, writing songs for artists in Russia and is now based in Los Angeles.

After releasing over 10 singles and an acoustic EP, she put out her debut album ‘Bad in Bed’. The album concept is freedom of women’s feelings. After reading many articles on women’s websites stating what a woman should not text or say to a man about her feelings, Flaviyake decided to voice her woman feelings in the album.

The first three songs on the album ‘So Hard to Say’, ‘Numb in Love’, ‘Bad in Bed’ express those submissive women’s feelings and fantasies, the women’s natural desire to be taken with power, which not every woman is open to confess. ‘Bad in Bed’ is also her first release as a producer. Seven songs on the album were fully produced by Flaviyake.

There is a song on the album that is standing out from the main theme. It is ‘Alive’. The song sounds like a love story and broken relationship, but the real meaning was hidden on purpose. Flaviyake is telling what it feels like living next to someone who is suffering from depression, which is a serious disease and not just a bad mood. The song was written one week before her mother took her life and the bridge was written afterwards, which is hidden in the lines; ‘if you decide to fly, never fall on the ground’.

‘I’m Not Getting Older’ produced by DJ Fredy Muks is about the new generation of people who are constantly growing in their knowledge and life experience. Every birthday people are getting better, not older. The album artwork was designed by Los Angeles based designers Alex Knell and Carver Koella based the Flavia’s concept. She thought that using an erotic photo for this type of album would be too obvious and cheesy, and so she decided to make an artwork with the actual title and put BDSM devices over the letters. The song ‘Bad in Bed’ is talking about that beast in a man that makes a woman feel submissive. Although BDSM is widely used in the music industry (artist and dancers’ outfits, stage design, song lyrics, music videos), Flaviyake is really coming from that background and knows this topic not from reading.

Jay Henley

Click here to follow Flaviyake on SoundCloud.