Nilüfer Yanya Announces Debut Album Miss Universe, Shares New Single “In Your Head”

London singer/songwriter Nilüfer Yanya has announced her debut album Miss Universe, out on March 22 via ATO Records. She has also shared a new single and accompanying video, “In Your Head.” The new single follows the stellar previously released track, “Heavyweight Champion of the Year,” which will serve as the album closer.

Filmed by longtime creative collaborator ENERGYFORCE, the video features the 23-year-old in Las Vegas, aka “Sin City.” The video’s overwhelming amalgamation of illuminated signs, pills, swimming pools and showers of cash gives a nod to the song’s anxious sentiment and Yanya’s warring inner thoughts. Yanya’s sassy, soaring vocals are the stuff of dreams and they blend seamlessly with the track’s funky ’80s guitars and celestial synths.

Yanya said of the track’s lyrics and frantic energy:

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me and I get trapped. There’s the things I need disguised as things I think I only want, things I think I’m choosing out of choice not necessity. Sometimes this only becomes clear in retrospect, or maybe it will never become clear. Some people may call that being paranoid. I think that’s what I wrote the song about, but what’s interesting to me, and what I think I was trying to get at, is the illusion of freedom.

After supporting the likes of The xx, Interpol, Broken Social Scene and Mitski on tour, Yanya will be playing in the U.S. this February with Sharon Van Etten. Yanya will also follow her U.S. stint with her biggest U.K., Europe and Turkey headlining tour to date in April.

Listen to “In Your Head” and see Yanya’s debut album artwork and tracklist below. Keep scrolling for her upcoming tour dates.

Miss Universe Album Artwork:

Miss Universe Tracklist:
01. WWAY HEALTH ™
02. In Your Head
03. Paralysed
04. Angels
05. Experience?
06. Paradise
07. Baby Blu
08. Warning
09. Heat Rises
10. Melt
11. “Sparkle” GOD HELP ME
12. Safety Net
13. Tears
14. Monsters Under The Bed
15. The Unordained
16. Give Up Function
17. Heavyweight Champion of the Year

Nilüfer Yanya Tour Dates:

February
06 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club^
07 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer^
08 – Boston, Mass. @ Royale^
09 – New York City, N.Y. @ Beacon Theatre^
11 – Toronto, Canada @ Danforth Music Hall^
13 – Detroit, Mich. @ Majestic Theatre^
14 – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL^
16 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue^
18 – Englewood, Colo. @ Gothic Theatre^
19 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Metro Music Hall^
22 – Vancouver, Canada @ The Imperial^
23 – Seattle, Wash. @ Neptune Theatre^
26 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Filmore^
28 – San Diego, Calif. @ The Observatory North Park^

March
01 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel^
28 – Istanbul, Turkey @ Babylon

April
03 – Glasgow, U.K. @ CCA
04 – Manchester, U.K. @ YES
05 – Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Social Club
06 – Newcastle, U.K. @ The Cluny
08 – Leicester, U.K. @ O2 Academy Leicester University
09 – London, U.K. @ Evolutionary Arts Hackney
11 – Birmingham, U.K. @ Hare & Hounds
12 – Bristol, U.K. @ Thekla
13 – Oxford, U.K. @ O2 Academy Oxford
14 – Brighton, U.K. @ The Haunt
16 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
17 – Hamburg, Germany @ Nochtwache
18 – Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain
19 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Motel Mozaique
21 – Vienna, Austria @ Chelsea Club
22 – Munich, Germany @ Ampere
24 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Exil
25 – Koln, Germany @ Blue Shell
26 – Paris, France @ Le Point Ephemere
29 – Brussels, Belgium @ Les Nuits Botanique Festival
30 – Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Merleyn

May
01 – Utrecht, Holland @ ACU

June
01 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound

August
08-12 – Belle & Sebastian Boaty Weekender

(^ with Sharon Van Etten)