New York artist Yaya Bey must be much better recognized than she is. Her 2022 album Keep in mind Your North Star riffled via genres from R&B to reggae with aplomb, packing in nagging hooks, simple humour, and emotional reckonings with exes and her estranged mom. Whereas she was touring it, Bey’s musician father died. “I been altering underneath all this strain into one thing that shines”, Bey sings huskily on The Proof, one ode in regards to the lack of the mentor who raised her.
Though written in mourning, Ten Fold is simply as free-ranging, and as catchy, as North Star. Sir Princess Unhealthy Bitch is a self-affirming dancefloor banger that additionally finds time to diss town’s mayor. There’s room for flirting, too, on Carl Thomas Sliding Down the Wall, all squelchy bassline and cellphone noises.
Ten Fold, although, refers to a narrative from the Qur’an a couple of pious man being rewarded many occasions over; all through Bey displays on what she has gained from the arduous classes endured by her father. His voice – by way of voice notes, and as rapper Grand Daddy IU – seems on tracks such because the dancehall-leaning So Unbelievable. Bey’s personal candour endures, in the meantime; Crying By My Tooth displays on the chilly, arduous expense of demise as an additional dimension of loss.
