"I am no longer your world. I'm not your Bella." Nicole da Silva does not bury the message of this record somewhere in the second verse. She puts it in the title and repeats it until it becomes a chant. "Not Your Bella" is a song about walking out and knowing exactly what you are worth, and it is her most direct piece of writing so far.

Musically it is melodic house at its most open. Warm chords, a bassline with room to breathe, and her live vocal carrying the whole arc from restraint to release. Beside her stands Benjrose, the Cologne act that turned heads in 2019 with the album "Where Do We Go" and has been working between pop and rock ever since. Two worlds that have no obvious reason to meet, and that is what gives the record its edge.

Da Silva is no stranger to the room this comes out of. The DJ and live vocalist with Portuguese roots has played the Bootshaus in Cologne along with festivals and clubs across Europe, and she has spent the last two years sharpening a melodic house signature that keeps her own voice at the centre. "Not Your Bella" is her debut on Bootshaus Music, and it arrives in a radio version and an extended mix.