Late in August 2020, the world woke up to the announcement that a 21-year-old musician from Pretoria signed with Columbia Records, alongside label mates who include Beyoncé and Adele. The news came as a tandem two-punch, alongside the release of a dark-tinged music video for the song Risky from her stunning six-track debut EP, Elements. 

By any measure, Elaine’s success has been nothing short of spectacular. Since releasing Elements in September 2019, she’s generated more than two million streams, picked up a Joe Budden co-sign, a South African Music Awards nomination and now an international recording contract. She was also the most streamed South African female artist on Spotify and, recently, her EP was certified platinum.

It’s a remarkable set of achievements, given the short length of her debut offering, and it warrants a return to the EP’s music, meaning and making. How did this short but impactful piece of music (made between dorm rooms and studios) garner this much critical and commercial success in so little time?

Isolation

While released last year, the album has thematic resonance with 2020. Elements brushes aside the boilerplate of traditional R&B for a more lo-fi, trap-infused sound. It anchors itself in exploring the theme of feeling isolated within a relationship.

“I cannot change you. You cannot change me. I may try for a few days but after a while I go back to my old ways,” Elaine declares on Changes. The EP is full of declarations like this. In the small universe of Elements, love always seems in danger of collapse. But the singer is reluctant to wear the label of South African R&B’s “sad girl”. “I hate this question,” Elaine told Slikour on Lifewhen asked, “Who hurt you and loved you so bad for [your EP] to be that good?”

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