Born in London, and now living in Copenhagen, twenty-year-old Mina Okabe dropped her debut single I’m Done this week and it is, like its singer and creator herself, a worldly and captivating affair. Okabe, who is Danish-Japanese, has already spent time living in New York and Manila, as well as her homeland, and there is an assured and wise feeling to the song that perhaps comes from her considerable life experience, despite her young age.

In her Spotify bio, where she is already racking up more than 5,000 monthly listens despite the fact that I’m Done marks her first official release, Okabe says that she writes “songs about personal experiences and feelings”. It’s a sentiment that is born out in the track itself – on the face of it, it is a simple break up song, but the narrative Okabe weaves is more mesmerising than that, alluding to emotions of regret and loss.

Okabe achieves this through her remarkably real lyrics. The song’s opening verses, where she sings: “You should know that I am done thinking / About you, about you / Written enough songs and thought too much / Don't want to, don't want to / I’m tired of this repeating / It goes on, on and on / I tell myself this is ending / Cause I'm done, now I'm done” draw you into the interior of the creation.

Now released through Copenhagen Records, Okabe wrote I’m Done on an electric guitar in her small bedroom, and musically it’s a track that retains that intimate, personal feeling. It’s propelled by a simple beat and a gentle guitar riff, with a charming flourish of chimes sprinkled throughout. In a short post on her Facebook page, Okabe wrote: “I have been spending the past months making more songs and getting some produced. Now I am finally ready to start releasing music!” If I’m Done is reflective of the standard of the rest of her work, we can’t wait to hear more.

Watch the official video for I’m Done here.

Follow Mina Okabe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.