Samia celebrates the fifth anniversary of her debut album, The Baby, by compiling all the album’s branched projects over the years into one special edition. The Baby (5th Anniversary Edition) includes three Volumes/Discs consisting of the original album, live tracks from Samia’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert, the band version of “Is There Something in the Movies?” and tracks from her cover/remix album project titled The Baby Reimagined. It seems like The Baby wasn’t just a one-and-done type deal for Samia; it was rather about crafting a whole era centered around the unconditional love she has for her first-ever album.
This edition is a time capsule of Samia’s journey and growing relationship with The Baby in itself. Since all of the tracks presented in this five-year edition weren’t anything new, having been accessible on streaming platforms and YouTube, let’s dive into the history of it.
Volume/Disc 1: The original 11 tracks of The Baby
On August 28, 2020, Samia’s debut album, The Baby, was ready to be introduced to the world.
With grace and power, the album soared on life’s highs, but swooped to tackle the hard things when the time was right. The Baby is a compilation of secrets and stories that live within Samia, but are rarely understood by outsiders due to how they are cryptically shared. In a way, she is shielding her baby from being comprehensible, whether or not it’s on purpose, leaving their identity up to interpretation. The Baby is not for those who prefer easily digestible art, as this introductory piece is rooted in abstract lyricism found by digging deeper than the surface level.
The album’s tracks are timeless, proving themselves to be hard to forget and still special to listeners to this day. From the entrancing, bittersweet, nostalgic intro of “Pool” to the album’s open-ended concluding line, “You can have it all baby, I’m giving it up” from “Is there Something in the Movies?,” The Baby encapsulates what it truly means to be in your early 20s, trying to navigate the complexities of love, relationships, and society all at once. However, the album is not as clear as that. Samia turns into a metaphorically infused cryptic storyteller who only shares specific details rather than linear storylines, leaving listeners with a pile of puzzle pieces to do with what they will.
Volume/Disc 2: Samia’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance + “Is There Something in the Movies?” (band version)
In November 2023, Samia brought the 2020 album to one of the most notable live performance series: NPR Tiny Desk. In an intimate, tiny desk space, artists strip their songs to their rawest versions and perform them acoustically.
In Samia’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance, she sang five tracks all from The Baby: “Is There Something in the Movies?,” “Big Wheel,” “Winnebago,” “Triptych,” and “Pool.” With a mesmerizing acoustic performance that gave light to the power of her raw vocal talent, Samia was bound to connect with her audience on an emotional level.
However, it wasn’t until this year that her Tiny Desk performance of The Baby’s opening track, “Pool,” gained widespread recognition on TikTok. To a lot of users, the gut-wrenching lyrics, “how long do I have left with my dog / ‘til I start forgetting shit,” seem to perfectly embody the emotional turmoil that comes with facing the reality of growing up. The viral song is gaining traction every day, bringing the spotlight to Samia’s passionate, hard-hitting lyricism and vocal combo.
Samia also included the band version of “Is There Something in the Movies?” in this edition, which was originally released in October 2020. This version transforms the original track into a fuller-sounding, powerful force, created by Samia and the band, giving it their all for four minutes. Samia’s live performances are heightened by this version, electrifying and compelling the crowd.
Volume/Disc 3: Covers/remixes of The Baby (The Baby Reimagined)
In January 2021, Samia released The Baby Reimagined, a collaboration-based album featuring covers and remixes of the album’s original tracks, featuring artists like Bartees Strange, Field Medic, The Districts, Briston Maroney and Christian Lee Hutson, to name a few. All different styles are represented in such an intriguing way, from Charlie Hickey turning “Winnebago” into a soft, acoustic folk song or MICHELLE transforming “Minnesota” into a club beat. Samia allowed these artists to make these tracks their own, giving them the gift of creative freedom. Although these versions contain The Baby’s original lyrics, these reimagined tracks take on a whole other meaning, shedding light on the power of an artist’s stylistic choice and performance.
All these other projects are centered around The Baby’s original 11 tracks, so it would’ve been a perfect opportunity for Samia to include some unreleased songs on this 5-year edition. This anniversary edition is more like a commemorative piece, as well as a digital-only way to conveniently stream all of The Baby’s projects in one place, rather than being a notable new album release. However, it is a way for Samia and her listeners to revisit the album’s early days, much like viewing this edition as a hearable timeline.
In April of this year, Samia released her introspectively complex third album, Bloodless. Samia, along with her band, is also embarking on leg two of her Bloodless North American tour, where you can hear these tracks come to life. Tickets are available here.
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