We are so excited to announce our very first guest of Soul Food 2026, the incredible Aotearoa soul-pop artist Alayna @alaynamusic__ !!

Just over a week ago, Alayna released her latest album ‘Set Her Free’, an intricate exploration of love in all its forms, the glue that holds it all together. For fans of Jorja Smith, Sabrina Claudio and Joy Crookes, you’re in the right place. And while Alayna is no stranger to the process of releasing an album, this time around she could see even clearer.

From great lyrical depths, this album moves through a spectrum of love; from celebrating matriarchal figures in the harmonic soundscape ‘Mother’s Mother’, to understanding music as a physical experience in the playful bossa nova-esque track ‘Animal’. ‘Set Her Free’ cements Alayna as a highly considered and versatile artist - her work defining not only the love that surrounds us, but the love we hold within ourselves.

Osker and Hannah had the pleasure of speaking to Alayna a week on from the release about the journey of creating this body of work. From musical influences and songwriting experiences, to the magic of mistakes and beauty of collaboration, we’ll cover it all in our conversation. 

24/02/26