Yaya Bey

New York singer-songwriter Yaya Bey said the central thesis of her album, Remember Your North Star, was provoked by a tweet she saw that read: “Black women have never seen healthy love or have been loved in a healthy way.” In 18 bite-sized pieces (only one song on the album reaches past the four-minute mark) she responds to that statement with a record that champions self-love over a soundtrack of jazz, reggae, Afrobeat, soul and hip-hop. “I’m an R&B artist, but I’m really hip-hop influenced,” she said. “And hip-hop is about bravado that you hide behind or step into.” [CONCERT]