First listen: Welsh Music Prize winner LEMFRECK releases new single

Welsh Music Prize winner L E M F R E C K has today shared his new single ‘Stay Calm’.

‘Stay Calm’ follows previous singles ‘Fine’, ‘Slip Away’, and ‘Come Outside En’, which have seen support from BBC Radio 1, BBC 1 Xtra, 6 Music, DIY, NME, The Line Of Best Fit, Dummy & more. All tracks feature on L E M F R E C K’s upcoming EP ‘We’ve Been Here’, due for release on 2 May via The Orchard.

Thematically, the project navigates an inner monologue between right and wrong alongside the power of hindsight and reflection. Co-produced with Harry Edwards (Beyonce, Travis Scott), the release takes L E M F R E C K’s imprint of alternative R&B and rap to new heights and cements him as an artist to watch in UK music.

He speaks on the track, “Stay calm is about your environment being on fire and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s the realisation that you can work on yourself as much as you like to but there are just some things you can’t change”.

L E M F R E C K comments, “The whole project is about how I struggle to learn my lesson. I have always thought that if a certain situation happens again, I would make sure I made the right decisions. Yet here I am again doing the same things that eventually lead to stress”.

EP ‘We’ve Been Here’ is the first new release from L E M F R E C K following Blood, Sweat & Fears (2023) which won last year’s Welsh Music Prize. The release saw widespread support from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra, BBC Radio Wales, Rinse FM, Clash, Viper, Dummy, Notion, WhyNow, The Line Of Best Fit & more. It then culminated in his producing and presenting of acclaimed BBC Documentary ‘Black Music Wales’, a celebration of the incredible talent and legacy from his home region past and present.

L E M F R E C K says of his Welsh Music Prize win, “Winning the WMP is far bigger than my musical journey, the messages I’ve received from people who make music not necessarily associated with Wales who are now inspired and motivated is more than I could ask for. I’m simply just a representation of the importance of diversity in art.”

To date, L E M F R E C K’s unique blend of introspective lyrics and elegant, grime-infused beats have also earned him a place on BBC Introducing’s Ones to Watch in 2021 before being named BBC Radio Wales’s Introducing Artist of the Year in 2023. Additionally, off the back of a North American tour that included SXSW and M for Montreal he has had an incredible live performance journey – selling out The Social in London and Paradise Gardens in Cardiff, alongside performing at The Great Escape and Horizons Gorwelion festivals.

Beyond simply flexing his lyrical muscle, L E M F R E C K’s an ardent supporter of reformulating what it means to be a Black, British rapper. Expect more new music soon.

L E M F R E C K’s new single ‘Stay Calm’ is out now via NOCTOWN, distributed via The Orchard. Stream the track HERE. Taken from the EP ‘We’ve Been Here’ out 2 May 2025.

Listen to L E M F R E C K and many more new Welsh artists on the Nation Cymru Welsh New Wave Playlist