Fearlessly letting genuine emotions guide, with a clear talent for crafting songs that connect and compel you to tune in more closely – Jah-RaRa gets unabashedly honest and engaging, for the bold and beautifully heart-breaking In The Dark.
Simple in musical set-up but complex in topic and intimacy, In The Dark blends melody and spoken word, for a style that feels familiar yet undeniably fresh. Jah-RaRa connects from the outset, relaying scenes of intoxication, struggle, ‘the fatal disease’, self-scorn, and even Faith. We roll through bars of alcohol and drug use, to those of ambition, belief in better, and the juxtaposed weight of self-hate and fear.
The level of concern is immense, from worrying about being weak or failing, showing vulnerability, to worrying about impending doom and even death. All the while, the song itself proves incredibly and refreshingly vulnerable, as well as being divinely melodic in both production and songwriting.
In The Dark provides a beating heart that’s perfectly in tune with the story and feelings that inspired it. The dark shadows following the self, the haunting organic piano, the catchy melancholic hook, the rhythmically hypnotic verses – Jah-RaRa captures a moment with authenticity and mainstream appeal combined, accessing the sound of the current arena, but also maintaining a devotedly raw, unfiltered reflection of intense turmoil.
The song feels like a fusion of Linkin Park and the alternative rap legends of a similar era, only there’s this modern emo twist to the vocal style, and it’s distinct – Jah-RaRa’s voice in both lyric and tone is unmistakable.
Weave in the ideal balancing of metaphors, poetic images, and personal anecdotes, and In The Dark is easily one of the most captivating original hip hop tracks to emerge in 2025. Just three minutes and sixteen seconds in full, but with a vastness that lingers – the concept and concern for this protagonist, the shared angst, uncertainty, regret and pain, all resounds and rings loudly in the mind.
Sharp and smart rhymes, painful realism, blissful poetry – an overloading of conscious contemplations, an influx of ideas and aches, all relatable but unexpected, and all smoothly united throughout a tuneful alternative hip hop track that’s impossible to ignore.
You lose yourself in the music, and in the process, ride this wave of lostness and desperation with the artist.
Find Jah-RaRa on TikTok.
