Recording this Apple Music Session gave Nilüfer Yanya the opportunity to do something she doesn’t often have time for: capture her songs in new ways. “I get kind of excited thinking about all the different configurations they could be played in,” the singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “Between recording the record and live shows, there’s not always a lot of time or chances to perform the songs in alternative ways. But some of my favourite renditions of the songs don’t happen at a show but rather in a rehearsal or at home.” This session wasn’t actually recorded at home—it was captured at Hotel El Ganzo in Mexico, where she played a seven-day residency in October 2024—but it does harness the intimacy of just playing music with mates. “My friend and bandmate Jazzi Bobbi is playing the saxophone that you’re hearing, and my boyfriend Eli Smart is playing the second guitar,” says Yanya. The session kicks off with her 2024 single “Like I Say (I Runaway)”—“I felt like this song was written for an acoustic version with two guitars… It’s refreshing to hear it without the drums and production, but the addition of the extra vocal really makes the chorus shine!”—and then moves on to a cover of PJ’s Harvey’s “Rid of Me”. “The song has been a favourite of mine to cover in recent years,” she says. “The obsession with it started in 2022 when I rediscovered ‘Rid of Me’ and realised it was one of those songs that had been playing in the back of my mind somewhere since I had first heard it when I was a teenager. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident sometimes playing this song rather than my own songs, which is unusual.” Tune in to Yanya’s raw, intimate session here.