Yaya Bey has dropped her new single “merlot and grigio.” The self-produced monitor additionally options dancehall guru Father Philis and is impressed by Yaya’s Bajan heritage and the sounds of Caribbean tradition. The one’s video additionally options clips from Yaya’s instances visiting Barbados. The brand new single can be Yaya’s first launch since signing to progressive New York-based label drink sum wtr.
“I’ve been doing loads of worldwide touring and continuously in locations the place I’m the one Black particular person,” she explains in a press release. “Once I was in France most not too long ago, I requested myself what it will appear to be to play to Black worldwide audiences and that kind of bought my wheels turning. My dad would at all times have a minimum of one Reggae tune on his albums. Our household is from Barbados and I continued that custom with songs like ‘meet me in brooklyn.’ I made a decision I might dive even deeper with Soca and reached out to Father Philis whose music I’ve been actually digging. This tune appears like a dream come true. To dig deeper into my very own roots and prioritize Black communities particularly within the Caribbean.”
Yaya Bey is taking the stage at Governor’s Ball in New York Metropolis this summer season. She dropped Ten Fold final yr, to vital vital acclaim–described by Okayplayer as a “virtuosic showcase for a crooner on the peak of her powers.” The album was one of many yr’s greatest, and was impressed by her late father, Juice Crew legend Grand Daddy I.U., who died in 2023. Yaya additionally carried out on NPR’s Tiny Desk and took the stage at SXSW.
“[The music is] nonetheless cathartic, she informed GRAMMY.com final yr. “ It’s nonetheless simply making an attempt to really feel one thing, categorical one thing, even with the dance data, simply making an attempt to faucet into one thing that feels good.”
