Progressive soul singer and songwriter Yola isn’t holding back on her new EP, My Way.
The five-track project, which includes the singles “Future Enemies” and “Symphony,” is a fusion of genres that have informed Yola’s artistry. She explores R&B, including both ’90s and alternative influences, soul, rock, pop soul, and broken beat.
“My Way is not about creative dictatorship,” says Yola. “It’s about being free to do what the songs need, because I don’t need to guide people towards allowing me agency, free of any restriction so I can tell my story more fully than ever before. This is me at my most musically free, and maybe a little nostalgic.”
The EP’s title track unapologetically rejects those who tried to assert dominance over Yola’s artistry. “You wanted to control / But this is misery / Something’s gotta go / ‘Cause I’m not gonna give in,” she sings.
On the closing track, “Ready,” Yola pushes back against anti-immigration rhetoric while shedding light on the Windrush generation — Caribbean individuals, including Yola’s mother, who migrated from Commonwealth countries to the U.K. between 1948 and 1973.
Speaking about the personal song, Yola shares:
“Ready” is a song that has been percolating for most of my life. It’s kinda about being an immigrant and being a child of immigrants generally, but it’s inspired more specifically by the Windrush generation in the UK and the later arrivals of Caribbean people to UK shores, of which my mother was one such arrival.
The British turned up with videos shot on the sunniest day of the year in the UK, to convince Caribbeans that a life there would be seamless and financially beneficial. They could send money back home and build dream homes. What happened, in reality, was a massive bait and switch where they were sent on one-way tickets, leaving their elders vulnerable to predatory real estate practices that dispossessed locals of all beachfront property.
I remember being told to go back to where I came from when I was a kid and at the time that felt offensive because I was born in the uk, I was where I came from. They meant that I should go for the first time to the place where either of my parents were born. In hindsight that was a great idea, in fact it’s an even better idea if they can in turn tell the Brits to leave where TF I was going. You want me gone from the UK? Feel free to buy me a ticket to Accra in December or Bridgetown in August! IYKYK !
MF fools telling me to leave a cold dark rainy island to relocate to paradise! Supremacy got them so twisted they didn’t even recognise what an upgrade looked like!
I may indeed one day end up in one of those two exact places when I retire, and the vibe in the song is very much giving “peace bitches I’m out” energy.
My Way is the follow-up to Yola’s 2021 album Stand For Myself. Later this spring, she will embark on The Sovereign Soul Tour to support her latest project.
The tour kicks off May 10 at Bluebird Theater in Denver. From there, she will play in other major U.S. cities, including Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The tour concludes June 21 at Neptune Theatre in Seattle.
Stream Yola’s new EP My Way and check out her U.S. tour dates below.
Yola’s 2025 U.S Tour Dates
May 10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
May 15 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
May 16 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
May 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
May 25 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Jun 4 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre
Jun 5 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Jun 6 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Jun 20 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Jun 21 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Get tickets at iamyola.com.
