Dave has dropped off his first music of 2022, a wavy new track titled ‘Starlight’ – you can watch the song’s video below.

The self-produced track, which follows the rapper’s 2021 album ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’, hears him celebrate his life’s wins over a hummed rendition of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’, the 1954 classic made famous by the likes of Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra.

“It’s hard to hate on the truth I’m livin’/ Enough man hate with the lies instead/ Countin’ cash with the phone to my ear/ I feel like Meek on the private jet/ Life or death, five-five, eyes, thighs, potential wifey/ Industry, respected highly, in the street, protected,” Dave raps on the track’s chorus.

Released alongside a video directed by Dave and Nathan Tettey, it sees the rapper deliver his bars from what looks like his living room. As the clip progresses, it cuts back and forth between a professional studio space and catwalk, the latter of which is occupied by a number of models.

Watch the ‘Starlight’ video below:

During the first of his two gigs at London’s O2 Arena last week (February 28), Dave paused proceedings to pay tribute to his late friend and mentor Jamal Edwards, who died last month at the age of 31.

Dave was one of the many artists the influential British author, broadcaster, DJ and founder of SB.TV championed before his mainstream breakout, as he told fans at the O2: “Jamal Edwards is the reason I’m standing in front of you guys here today. There’s so many different emotions that all of us feel – all of us that were so connected to him in so many different ways.

“We all have a different experience to him, but we all have so many things in common with the experience. And he’s one person in the world that just wanted to help, that just wanted to see every single person that he touched shine.”

The rapper went on to reflect on his first meeting with Edwards, which happened during the former’s tenure at the Richmond upon Thames College in Twickenham. “He gave me an opportunity when no-one would,” Dave said, noting that when he was unable to afford the production costs for his earliest music videos, Edwards bankrolled them “out of the love and kindness of his heart”.

He continued: “Every single thing that I have today – we have today – we owe to Jamal Edwards… I want to say I’m so, so, so grateful for you, brother. Jamal, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Meanwhile, Dave took home Best Hip Hop/Rap/Grime Act award at this year’s BRIT Awards, where he also delivered a pyrotechnic-fuelled rendition of ‘In the Fire’.