The video – directed by award-winning filmmaker and previous Shingai-collaborator Sheila Nortley – also features a montage of famous faces; with childhood photographs of Superstar singer and TV personality Jamelia; Peterborough-born actress Jodie Turner-Smith; Lancastrian wordsmith Yrsa Daley-Ward; and Zimbabwean-British model Nyasha Matonhodze. Meanwhile, the lyrics attest to a positive, empowering vision of black womanhood: “Too dark, don’t let them tell you you’re too dark/Don’t let them tell you you’re too dark/How great thou art.”

In posts to followers on her Instagram page, Shingai called the track and video “An inspiration for girls to defy all limitations put on them and affirm their right to be bold, bright and beautiful.” The South Londoner added: “‘Too Bold’ is the bravest song that I have written for a long time…we have the collective responsibility to insure that prejudice and fear DO NOT continue to blind our hopes and dreams.”

That empowering message is something Shoniwa had repeatedly drawn attention to ahead of the release of the Too Bold LP last autumn. In an interview with Zimbabwe’s News Day in October, she said: “The message on ‘Too Bold’ is that of positivity and encouragement in the face of great challenges. A lot of us from the diaspora and marginalised communities in the West face a lot of discriminations every day. This often starts when you are kids and I wanted to put out a song which was just speaking of the challenges that women and the black community face.”

She added “I wanted to send a message out there that no one should dim your fire, so that is the message…I have gone deep into some of my personal experiences like childhood grief and how we had to recover from the post-colonial world. ‘Too Bold’ will give people a message of hope and it is an album that I hope will be appreciated by all generations…I put my heart and soul into it.”

Shingai established her musical credentials with the Noisettes over the course of three well-received albums; the most recent being 2012’s Contact. Whilst the band’s commercial successes coincided with the mini-revival of British indie music in the charts in the mid to late noughties, the London outfit were never part of a scene, and defied genre labels. The stylistic juxtaposition of their two biggest hits – the disco-rock groove Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go) and the melodic, Motown-influenced pop number Never Forget You – displayed a musical dexterity that Shingai has continued to demonstrate in her solo work.

Over recent years, the singer has dipped her toes into modelling, voiceover work and acting – making a notable appearance in Netflix romantic comedy Cook Off, the first Zimbabwean film to premiere on the streaming network. That arresting on-screen presence translates successfully into her musical output, and with 2019 EP Ancient Futures and Too Bold in the bag, Shingai has more than proven she can flex her muscles as a solo vocalist in her own right.

We Roll is one of the most defiantly upbeat tracks on Too Bold, and one of several (alongside the likes of South London Safari and the stunning Ghost Town) that celebrate Shoniwa’s pride in her shared British and Zimbabwean heritage. Here the Lewisham-raised vocalist proudly states: “I got the African heat, coming through with that London cheek/Rock & Roll in my blood its peak, Warriors in my ancestry.”

That positive, empowering message was something the artist was keen to project from the offset. Shoniwa told Zimbabwe’s News Day: “The message on ‘Too Bold’ is that of positivity and encouragement in the face of great challenges. A lot of us from the diaspora and marginalised communities in the West face a lot of discriminations every day. This often starts when you are kids and I wanted to put out a song which was just speaking of the challenges that women and the black community face. I wanted to send a message out there that no one should dim your fire, so that is the message.”

She added: “I have gone deep into some of my personal experiences like childhood grief and how we had to recover from the post-colonial world. ‘Too Bold’ will give people a message of hope and it is an album that I hope will be appreciated by all generations…I put my heart and soul into it.”

Shoniwa has also spoken powerfully about the challenges young black female artists face breaking into the UK music industry, criticising what she argues is a painful ‘one in one out quota‘. In a recent interview with the Aberdeen Evening Express, she said “It doesn’t make sense that you can have a 90% white male line-up at UK festivals. There’s only so long that we can deny that African melodies, rhythms and style underpin a huge part of what pop music is. You wouldn’t have R&B, soul, hip hop, UK garage, reggae, dubstep, jazz, blues, rock and roll, aspects of punk… Most of the music that we love today wouldn’t be here without the backbone of African migration rhythms and melodies running through its spine. For far too long African voices, or voices of African descent, and women are left out of the story of pop music.”

The Noisettes, who scored noughties hits with the memorable disco-rock groove Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go) and Motown-esque corker Never Forget You, have remained largely dormant since their third LP, 2012’s Contact. There have been significant challenges for Shingai in the meantime – not least her ordeal at the hands of an ex-partner who was subsequently convicted of stalking and harassment in 2016. The talented singer-songwriter has shown tremendous courage in the way she has bounced back from the trauma both through music and other ventures: over recent years she’s undertaken modelling work, provided voiceovers for children’s television, and even had a crack at romcom acting in Cook Off, the first Zimbabwean film to stream on Netflix.

With 2019 EP Ancient Futures and last year’s Too Bold under her belt, the Londoner has now shown that she’s more than capable of making her way as a gifted solo performer in her own right, as well as an artist who is unafraid to dip her toes into complex and thought-provoking social and political themes. Shoniwa confirmed this in a frank October interview with CNN, saying: “I’m trying to graduate from sneaking conscious messages into friendly, sexy music. I am not afraid to address darker themes and talk about the heightened state we’re all in.”

The album, which follows on from last year’s EP Ancient Futures, is a bold fusion of pop, soul; and indie sounds; and has a distinctly African sonic feel which reflects Shoniwa’s Zimbabwean roots. She told Okay Africa “For me it’s always been about rhythm. Obviously I’m the bass player in the band and I grew up with a lot of rhythmic bass like African music or pop that was inspired by Southern African music as it’s an important part of my musicality.”

That Zimbabwean influence comes to the fore musically on lead single War Drums, and in the lyrics to We Roll which showcase the vocalist’s pride in her shared heritage: “I got that African heat/Coming through with that London heat“. Other album tracks touching on similar themes of duality include South London Safari and the stunning Ghost Town (Battle Scars), which blends together references to African history (“It was from Zambezi/ That gentleman named countries after themselves”) and childhood personal tragedy in the UK over a pulsating drum beat and soft synth sounds.

The Noisettes – who enjoyed chart successes in 2009 with disco-rock hit Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go) and the melodious, Motown-esque Never Forget You – have officially been on a ‘pause’ since their third album (2012’s Contact) but Shoniwa hasn’t had much in the way of downtime. In addition to the new album and last year’s EP, the mult-talented Lewisham songstress has modelled for NEXT Management; provided voiceovers for CBeebies‘ show The Adventures of Abney and Teal; and demonstrated her acting chops in Cook Off, the first Zimbabwean film to be picked up by Netflix.

Shingai – who was never credited for her performance on Dennis Ferrer’s 2009 hit Hey Hey – has also spoken powerfully on the marginalisation of black female voices on the UK pop and dance music scenes. In a recent interview with the Guardian, she said: “There’s a clear pattern with a lot of dance music, I’ve found. With acts such as Rudimental or Sigala, it’s been those tracks with vocals from white or mixed race singers that have really blown up, despite them also working with a lot of super talented darker-skinned singers on album tracks…it’s a one-in one-out situation. I’ve been told that because there’s a Ray BLK or Laura Mvula album coming out, my album can’t be pushed. It affects your self-esteem as a black artist – there’s something quite rotten at the core of the music industry.”

Shingai’s new album Too Bold is available now on streaming platforms, and can be listened to on her YouTube channel.