GRAMMY-winning saxophonist, producer, and sonic visionary Zem Audu—known for contributing to the music of Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Kendrick Lamar, Doja Cat, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, and more—has announced his highly anticipated solo debut, his forthcoming EP You Can’t Catch Me, due out October 24th. The project’s first single, “You Can’t Catch Me,” arrives today alongside the announcement, with a daring new video, offering an electrifying first glimpse into Audu’s bold new sonic chapter.
Watch the Video for “You Can’t Catch Me” Here
With a career that has seamlessly traversed pop, hip-hop, reggae, and film, Audu’s credits span some of the most celebrated releases of the past decade. His work with Taylor Swift includes Red (Taylor’s Version), 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Tortured Poets Department, and the GRAMMY-winning Midnights. He contributed to Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd; Kendrick Lamar’s GNX; and multiple Bleachers projects including Take The Sadness Out of Saturday Night, the band’s self-titled album, MTV Unplugged, Live At Electric Lady, and Live at Radio City Music Hall. In the reggae world, he’s toured and recorded with The Skatalites (Platinum Ska, Walk With Me) and Steel Pulse (Stop Your Coming And Come). His versatility also extends to screen work, with credits on Apple TV’s The New Look (Season 1 soundtrack) and Marvel’s Down The Witches Road featuring Japanese Breakfast. Upcoming releases include Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend and Doja Cat’s Vie.
You Can’t Catch Me began from a place of freedom, risk, and the unspoken weight we carry, a pressure that releases like ears popping on a plane. Inspired by seeing the world through his child’s eyes, Audu tapped into a sense of playful detachment and flow from his own youth, before the weight of identity and expectation set in. The result is a singular arc told through multiple portals, a spiritual journey of rhythm that moves while standing still, tracing a path from his early life as an immigrant in the UK to stages around the globe.
Afrobeats, electronic textures, jazz, silence, and pulse emerge without chase, each track a different lens on the same inward journey. In breaking free from formats and expectations, the saxophone becomes a lightning rod for energy, voice and lyrics function as mantra and vibration, and the groove itself becomes the heartbeat of the project. Raw moments—like the peak of “Free,” where only presence remains revealing the EP’s essence: sacred, charged, and transformative. Influenced by Parable of the Sower, spiritual texts, and the ritual of long-distance running, the project treats music not as performance, but as movement—emotional, physical, and communal. You Can’t Catch Me is more than an EP; it’s the seed of a rhythm-based movement, an invitation to gather, breathe, sweat, and remember what ritual feels like.
Born in Nigeria, raised in the UK, and now based in Brooklyn, Audu’s journey is a transcontinental rhythm odyssey. A graduate of Trinity College of Music and a formative member of London’s iconic Tomorrow’s Warriors collective, he came up alongside a generation of fearless innovators who redefined UK jazz with radical soul and cross-genre expression. His acclaimed debut album Spirits, featuring guitar icon Mike Stern, was a soulful testament to his roots in groove, improvisation, and melodic storytelling. Since relocating to New York, Audu has toured globally, and bridged worlds as both a saxophonist and producer, equally at home in jazz clubs, pop studios, and festival stages across the globe.
