‘I was sad in a way I never knew possible’: Yaya Bey on grief, poverty and using music as therapy

The end of a marriage, the chaos of Covid and the death of her father hit the R&B auteur hard. But she says that she has found beauty in despair

“My life has been a& whirlwind,” sighs Yaya Bey. Across a& turbulent near-decade, the R&B auteur has weathered divorce and bereavement, relocated from Washington DC back home to New& York and wrested control of her& musical direction. Her 2022 breakthrough, Remember Your North Star, fused homespun neo-soul with hip-hop as she brooded over heartache, depression and a world that no longer made sense, coining a sound as intimate as a voice note from a desperate friend. Her honesty and wit have won her widespread acclaim, and that’s only likely to grow with the release of her ambitious new album Ten Fold.

“But I haven’t been able to reflect on all that’s happened,” she says. “I’ve been fighting this uphill battle for years, and it’s been exhausting beyond belief. I& still have so much to say, I’m striking while the iron’s hot. But after one more album, I’m taking a break.”