Lavaud returns with “Change Clothes,” a drill-R&B hybrid that positions the British Mauritian artist at an inflection point between local grit and global polish. Produced by Trakmatik and Hvstle, the track anchors Lavaud’s elegant, stacked harmonies to hypnotic drum programming and a dark, cinematic low-end.

Lyrically, she reframes a simple phrase as a boundary-setting mantra, an insistence on leaving situations that diminish self-worth and reclaiming energy on one’s own terms. The performance toggles between flirty control and calm defiance, a duality that gives the song its centre of gravity.

Pardison Fontaine’s guest verse arrives with clipped confidence, sharpening the record’s take-no-prisoners tone without overwhelming its core voice. Together, they land on a sound that feels intentionally spare in places, letting cadence and contour carry the message more than ornamentation.

What makes the single notable is less a genre collision for its own sake than the way it reflects Lavaud’s wider trajectory. Previous releases such as “Roll On Me” and “3AM In London” introduced a singer comfortable moving between R&B and Afrofusion; “Change Clothes” adds drill’s percussive urgency to that palette without losing melodic focus.

The accompanying video extends the song’s premise of confidence as a practiced habit through tightly framed performance and controlled pacing. It reads as a continuation of the statement on record rather than a separate treatment, underlining how voice, writing and production are working in concert.

Hackney-born with Mauritian roots, raised by a musician father, shaped by touchstones from Whitney Houston to Beyoncé, Lavaud’s background helps explain the blend of island rhythms, contemporary R&B and pop sensibilities that has drawn support from radio and press. Those reference points are audible not as imitation but as scaffolding: a sense of scale in the hooks, a preference for clean harmonic lines, and an ear for groove that travels.

The new single sits within that continuum and points toward the announced sophomore project slated for 2026, suggesting a tighter, more percussive frame for themes she has explored before: independence, self-definition and the discipline of leaving.

Without overpromising a reinvention, “Change Clothes” reads as a deliberate next chapter, one where Lavaud tests how far her songwriting can stretch across adjacent styles while keeping the emphasis on clarity of intent.

Watch the video for “Change Clothes” here!