The sonics of Ossi Grace’s In a Hopeless Place—a textured blend of warm lo-fi synths, subdued guitars and elastic rhythms—provide the perfect backdrop for the Nigerian-born, UK-based singer’s intimate, confessional lyrics. The sound itself is a testament to Grace’s journey from her days engaging performative conflict to the purposeful healing of her present. The singer’s learnings there are distilled into 11 tracks exploring longing, love and maintaining faith against the odds. In an era of fleeting digital romance, Grace’s messaging upholds depth, persistence and emotional honesty. The project’s title, then, might read to some as a far cry from the music’s luxuriant soundscapes, but for Grace, it’s culturally aspirational. “In Nigeria, we come into a picture of a hopeless place,” she tells Apple Music. “‘If you want a better life, you have to leave.’ This project was me saying that I did find love in a hopeless place. So it wasn’t hopeless.” Below, Grace talks us through some of the key tracks of In a Hopeless Place. “You (Intro)” “I’m a serial comebacker. I feel like I’m just the kind of person that will not leave. I won’t be at peace until I know that there’s nothing else I can genuinely do to fix this relationship. So I just always go back. It’s not even pride. It’s that sense of wanting to finish what I started.” “Love Affair” “When it comes to songwriting, I don’t even think too much about it. I’m such a playful person. I just write based on remembering something that happened in the past and I look for a clever way to put it so I can dance to it. I love when a song feels light but still says something serious underneath.” “Ocean” “I had just got signed and I was in Ghana. I got to the chorus and I’m like, ‘What can I do?’ I was drinking water and I heard myself swallow. I just decided to build on that. Start with a drizzle till it becomes rain and it fills up your ocean. Let’s build our love gradually.” “I Remember” “This song reminds me of who I used to be. [I’m] thinking back, like, why did we just not say ‘I’m sorry’? Why were we so proud? We didn’t need to get to this point. The experience of loss makes you remember. I can’t hold on to hurt for a long time. Once I let it out, that’s the end.” “Love Like This” “Every single song is based on real-life events. ‘Love Like This’ is me telling you how I viewed love. You do me, I do you. That was how I was raised. I was proud of the rubbish. It’s a championship. I’m not that person anymore. I don’t think I can ever pick up the pen again and tell you that I’m going to hurt you.” “Reason” “It’s about self-respect. Choosing yourself is not as easy as it sounds. But it’s something that I do like to practice now. The whole idea is that peace is a discipline too. I wanted that to come through quietly in this track.” “Only You” “There was a time where I was making my whole life about somebody else. It was just always you, you, you, you. But I then lost my self-respect. These are older songs. I was coming out of making my life about somebody else. Now when I sing it, it feels like closure.”