London’s Alysha has never seemed particularly interested in staying inside the lines. On ‘Take It or Leave It’, that instinct becomes the point. A brooding collision of gothic electronics, new-wave shadow and nocturnal synths, the track finds the rising artist pushing her faith into unfamiliar territory, trading conventional gospel textures for something altogether darker, stranger and more provocative.
Co-produced with Matt Rist, ‘Take It or Leave It’ moves with a suitably midnight-hour pulse. Its electronic textures feel deliberately sparse, allowing the atmosphere to do much of the heavy lifting, while Alysha occupies the space between alternative pop, goth and electronic music with an assuredness that belies the song’s confrontational subject matter.
“I wanted to write a Goth/Electronic song about my faith which alternative people can also enjoy rather than the usual Gospel, R&B or Country you get with Christianity,” Alysha explains.
It’s a simple premise, but one that gives the track its intrigue. Rather than softening or disguising its spiritual core, Alysha places it directly inside a darker sonic universe. References to 666 add another layer of provocation, taking a symbol loaded with cultural and religious baggage and using it as a means of sparking curiosity rather than offering easy answers.
There’s something refreshingly direct about the approach. “It’s an Alternative genre song talking about God,” Alysha says, a sentence that neatly encapsulates the track’s refusal to treat genre and faith as mutually exclusive worlds.
That refusal to conform has long been part of Alysha’s musical DNA. The Cuban-Indian artist, raised in St John’s Wood, London, grew up amid an unusually broad musical palette, absorbing the soulful influence of Joss Stone, Beyoncé and Lauryn Hill alongside the darker pull of Siouxsie & The Banshees and the foundations of church gospel. Beginning to write songs at just 10, she would eventually turn those disparate influences into a sound capable of shifting between R&B, alternative pop and shadowy electronic territory.
Songs such as ‘Lord, Help Me’ and ‘Finer Things’ have continued to build that momentum, with ‘Finer Things’ alone generating more than two million Instagram Reel views. Live appearances at Wild Paths and Forwards Festival, alongside names including Greentea Peng, Hak Baker and The Jesus & Mary Chain, have further established Alysha as an artist increasingly capable of moving between worlds without asking permission.
Now, ‘Take It or Leave It’ feels like another step into that freedom. It isn’t trying to make alternative music palatable, nor is it attempting to make faith conventional. Instead, Alysha puts the two together and lets the friction speak for itself.
With a major support run for LANY approaching across Japan and South Korea, and further new music, potentially including an EP, on the horizon, the timing feels significant. Alysha is entering a phase where experimentation no longer feels like an aesthetic detour, but the destination itself.
‘Take It or Leave It’ says exactly what it intends to say. The more interesting question is whether you’re willing to meet it on its own terms.
LANY SUPPORT TOUR DATES
October 3, 2026 — Kintex Hall 9, Seoul, South Korea
October 5, 2026 — Zepp Namba, Osaka, Japan
October 6, 2026 — Zepp Namba, Osaka, Japan
October 7, 2026 — Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan
