Kaia Laurielle’s last album leaks out love in the Black Community in London

Brixton and Peckham in South London, Hackney and Lewisham Borough in the east and Notting Hill in the west… these places are the ones where the black community is the most visible. Multi-ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan African or Afro-Caribbean descendants, born in the UK, are expressing their identities through various art forms. One such artist is South London singer, songwriter, and artist Kaia Laurielle, who explores love within the Black community.

On March 6th, Kaia Laurielle released her album Without Hearts, There Is No Home, a six-track masterpiece that questions love’s role as both a social force and intimate anchor within the Black Community. Kaia Laurielle describes herself as a « champion for Black love » and expands on themes previously explored in her single Fragments. where she redefined love through lenses of nostalgia, intimacy, and radical self-acceptance. Now, in Without Hearts,, There Is No Home, she delves deeper into love’s communal and personal dimensions, examining how it manifests through connection with others and oneself.

…But who is Kaia Laurielle really, and how is she carving out a place for herself within the RnB/soul scene of London?

Kaia is a visionary, dedicated to reshaping storytelling through music, in a way that her lyrics, in all her songs, resonate like poems that could read in slam competitions. Her artistry is an exploration of Black life, magnifying the richness of Black culture, diversity, and interconnectedness. She finds inspiration in the work of Black writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Bell Hooks, Alice Walker or even Octavia E Butler, in a way they all have perceptions and stories that exchanged words on love and community.

Kaia Laurielle delivers a message in her EP Without Hearts, There Is No Home

Kaia Laurielle delivers a positive message in her EP Without Hearts, There Is No Home. When asked about the meaning behind the title, Kaia explained:

« WOH follows the themes of home, love, belonging and takes an even wider lens on grief, memory and what love can feel like, unraveling the joys and challenges that come with it. To me, the overall message of the project is for when a person may be feeling alone or lost, it’s a gentle reminder that home and love really resides within you wherever you are. Your people and community are your home, and you are your home too.”

Kaia shared in an interview for WPGM on March 30th, « I was at a desperate place searching for home, not realizing that home was within me.” In a video post, Kaia further highlights this message by sharing a childhood photo, emphasizing the importance of connecting with one’s inner child.

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LoveStories: Leaning into Vulnerability

This EP, stands like a therapy, for people that are « drawn » to the black culture, it’s past, present and the stories as Kaia thinks « it’s important to share our diversity« . She launched last year Love Stories project, which continues today to welcome friends, family and lovers to lean in to vulnerability and feel a sense of home within the community. About this project, Kaia notes:

« Love Stories project allows people to open up about their experiences. From listening to the EP, what can we learn about love expressions within the Black community? That it’s diverse and very layered. I think from my conversations I’ve seen that some of the pairs haven’t had such open and vulnerable conversations, and they walk away knowing a bit more about their loved one. One person even called it ‘Therapy’. I just try my best to create a comfortable space with no judgment and share their experience.”

Kaia also described how she sees her EP and the Love Stories project connected:

« I think they are both extensions of the other, my EP tells love stories that people can listen to and familiarize with. It can also be used as a soundtrack to the Love Stories conversations, which you will see in Season 2. Then the Love Stories docs are literal conversations about love that audiences can watch and engage with. To me, they are two sides of a circle – a semicircle to create a whole.”

London Soul Scene: Finding a Place Outside the Clique

Kaia Laurielle is really making waves in the London R&B and soul scene! She’s known for her honest, heartfelt storytelling and her unique sound that really celebrates Black love.

Kaia has been active in music since at least 2017, the year she released her first track on Bandcamp. Since then, she has established herself on London’s alternative R&B and soul scene, releasing multiple singles, producing her own video clips collaborating with other artists, and performing live. Her artistic world, centered on love, self-esteem, and sincere storytelling, has helped her stand out and connect with a growing audience.

When asked about her place within the London soul music scene, Kaia shared a candid perspective:

« To be honest I don’t think I do fit into the London soul scene. Unfortunately the London music scene is quite cliquey, I have friends who do soul/neo-soul music but I don’t belong to one group. I like floating through different spaces because I see myself in all of them and I also feel like I am on the road to creating my own community with my lovestories world. It’s a combination of music, film, conversation and connection.”

The Evolving Artist: A Constant Journey of Growth

About her personal and artistic growth, Kaia mentions :

“At the moment I’m deeping my own production techniques, I co-produce all my songs but I want to create new pieces that are solely developed from my mind and have no influence from others and see how people engage with them compared to my previous works. I want to make grand compositions with orchestral instruments but I also want to create more formulaic songs that have electronic sounds and synths.”

A Track-by-Track Exploration of Without Hearts, There Is No Home

Four of the EP tracks were already released before the project Without Hearts, There Is No Home: ‘Fragments.’; ‘Signs‘; ‘Again‘ and ‘The River‘. From ‘Fragments.’ to ‘Keep (Take)’ the artist leads us to a state of peace, while exploring the emotional turbulence of pursuing a love that feels uncertain or misaligned, centering on vulnerability, self-awareness, and the importance of trusting intuition.

‘Fragments.’ reflects the internal conflict of seeking comfort in someone who may not be right, despite recognizing red flags, and emphasizes the need to prioritize self-respect and emotional clarity.

When Kaia is talking about toxic self-love on ‘Signs‘, for her, it’s « about identifying the right ways in which to love myself and not confuse that with how I think the world should perceive and love me.”

On ‘I want you back‘, the fresh new track of the album, Kaia is talking about her struggle of not getting over a breakup, all that in a soul atmosphere of beats and guitars riffs adding and mesmerizing vocals on the back. « Love you for a lifetime » she keeps repeating to conclude the song.

The following lyrics encapsulate the song’s yearning and vulnerability

« Hope that I’m not to late to tell you how I feel. Have you moved on cause it’s killing me inside? You know that it feels so strange here – not around. Maybe you changed your mind now. »

‘Again‘ and its appealing visuals on the clip released on 2023, explains a past love relationship that Kaia can’t get over even tough she dated other men in between this period of time. In an atmosphere that exudes R&B, with guitar riffs and beats placed just right, Kaia reveals the toxic traits of a past relationship that she cannot forget. She addresses directly to that guy, telling him she wants to see him again while she is stalking him on social networks. She is faced with a duality: deleting him from her phone and asking him to see her again.

Among these « sad » songs, there is at the end of the EP, The River and the 6th track Keep (Take) are softer and peaceful. On The River you can hear the sound of vinyl cracking, the synthesizer harmonizing slowly sequences of quarter notes and birds singing. It’s a short moment out of time (1’37) where Kaia holds on a positive message about self-love and appreciation. The following lyricscapture the song’s message :

So I lose myself, and take I slow. Cause the river flows through me. Guiding protects my peace. The river flows through me. In this moment’s where I’m meant to be.

Black Art, Black Love: A Conversation Across Mediums

Another form of art that explores love within the Black Community of London is the literature.

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novel « Open Water » offers a frank exploration of both the exhilaration and pain that come with being Black in Britain. The book follows the relationship between two young Black artists in London as they navigate love, vulnerability, and the challenges of racial identity. The novel explores what it means to be seen and understood in a society shaped by prejudice.

Remember that love can be romantic but also platonic, like Andrea Levy’s novel « Small Island » (post-WWII London) examines solidarity among Caribbean immigrants and their British neighbors.

Together, « Open Water » and Without Heart, There Is No Home illuminate love’s dual role within London’s Black community: as both sanctuary and battleground. They both intertwine artistry and vulnerability to reveal how systemic pressures shape intimate connections, while creativity becomes a lifeline— by transforming pain into beauty and isolation into solidarity. This dialogue resonates also with Andrea Levy’s Small Island, which examines post-WWII solidarity among Caribbean immigrants and their British neighbors, framing platonic and communal bonds as acts of resistance against displacement and erasure.

Across generations, Black British literature—from Levy’s Windrush-era narratives to Nelson’s contemporary lens—reaffirms love’s timeless duality: a force both fractured by systemic racism and fortified through shared resilience. These works collectively assert that love, whether romantic, platonic, or communal, remains a radical act of survival—a bridge between past struggles and present reimagining of belonging. Rooted in the rhythms of Black creativity, they celebrate how kinship, forged in defiance of societal fractures, sustains identity and hope.