Chenayder – Outdated
Today, 19-year-old Haitian-American alternative-soul artist Chenayder announces her debut album Outdated, out July 23 via Alamo Records.
To make the 12-track project, the Orlando artist recruited a strong cohort of seasoned producers (Trey Campbell, Roark Bailey, Elijah Fox, etc.) and exciting young featured artists (Vayda, Norah’s World & detahjae), resulting in her most polished and comprehensive work to date.
Today she releases the new single “Doom.”
Outdated builds on the success of 2024 EP Maybe In Another Life, featuring “Colors” with MAVI and “Levels,” and 2023 debut EP Blue Oblivion, which includes the tracks “Strawberry Perfume” and “Off The Wall.” In an age where artists deal with constant pressure to release new music to feed fans and algorithms, Chenayder was intentional about taking her time, spending the past three years formulating the album to her liking. “I wanted to progress without everyone seeing [every part of] the progression,” she explains.
Having written many of the songs at just 16 years old, Chenayder chose the title Outdated to represent how her relationship with much of the lyrical content has evolved over time. “I wasn’t in the greatest headspace when I started working on this,” she admits. “A lot happened to me personally that I had to get out through the music. I hoped that by the time I released it, these feelings would all be outdated. These are old emotions now.” She addresses this most directly with “Gone,” written in the third person about her younger self, crooning: “My baby is gone. You’ll never see her again.”
Throughout the album, Chenayder wrestles with fears of not accomplishing enough, the fallout from broken friendships and the impact of lack of affirmation, but overall, she strikes a hopeful tone. On the free-flowing “The Beginning” with Bay Area rapper detahjae, she reminds herself of how early she is in her journey and the endless possibilities that the future holds. The boom-bap heavy “Solitude,” with Atlanta spitter Vayda & NYC singer Norah’s World, illustrates how spending time alone in a judgement-free zone can be a balm for her anxieties. On the slow-moving “IF YOU COULD GIVE AN APOLOGY, THIS IS HOW IT WOULD GO,” she imagines a world where ex-friends accepted responsibility for upsetting her, but it’s clear she’s at peace with the fact that this may never come. She’s less forgiving on “Bang,” declaring: “Too many n****s think they can act like a fool, come back around, acting like everything is cool” on her most rock-influenced song yet.
Continuing to build her live repertoire, Chenayder was direct support for all 23 shows on the Sankofa North American tour this spring, and closed out the run with an MTV Unplugged-style headline show in NYC, presented by Saving Connie & jetlag, her first with a live band. The tour was her longest yet, following a few select performances during MAVI’s “Shadowbox” tour in 2024, and set the stage for her collaborations with Vayda and detahjae, both of whom she met in person for the first time on the road.
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