We were in Ghana, January 2024. The producers, DUKE said; “we made this for Tems, but she didn't use it”. When they played it, right there, the
melodies came to me. I said, know what, I’m going into the kitchen to write the song. I wrote it without listening to the beat, all I had was that
first melody in my head. Usually, I write my songs on paper, but I wrote it on my phone, came out and said to DUKE, let’s record this. We’d had a
long and stressful recording session leading to this point. During recording, that part “all I need…” was so difficult for me to sing. When the mic
was not on my mouth, I’d sing it so perfectly, but when I have the mic, I’d get so nervous and couldn’t sing it. After a while, I finally got
something. I was recording right at the point that I was waiting for my ride to the airport. So the first part of Painless Melody, I recorded in a