Recorded in a small home studio in Bethnal Green, “Spill A Little Tea” began with camomile tea and long conversations before the mic was ever switched on. The single blends jazz-leaning melodies with warm hip-hop production, framing Zuko Sian’s signature burgundy-red vocal tone, rich, expressive, and direct. It feels intimate from the first note, like a confession shared across a kitchen table.
Zuko wrote the track in fifteen minutes after a falling out with a friend, during the same period as a breakup. “I’ve always believed in calling things out because I care, but not everyone wants honesty. The song is about standing by your truth, even when people don’t like the version of you that speaks up.” The hook lands with quiet force: “You can say what you want, what you want about me but all I ever did was spill a little tea.”
The accompanying video, directed by Jade Laurelle and shot by Bea da Gama, reimagines Paul Delaroche’s 1833 painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. From handcrafted props to period costumes and lighting that mirrors the original canvas, the visual unfolds like a living gallery piece. Zuko even crafted elements herself, including details on the executioner’s costume, and wore a gown previously worn by Helena Bonham Carter in the film Lady Jane.
“While Delaroche’s painting wasn’t feminist in a modern sense, it highlighted a woman destroyed by structures of male power,” Zuko explains. “That story still echoes today, in laws, in cultures, in daily life. Spill A Little Tea is my way of saying: we won’t be silent anymore.” Born in Amsterdam and now collaborating with producers including Sam Barsh, Jordan Ware, and Tim Kellet, Zuko Sian continues to fuse jazz, soul, and hip-hop into cinematic storytelling that refuses to look away.