(Big Dada)
The Washington DC artist traverses a variety of genres on an album that tells funny, starkly wise stories of a half-together life
Running in tandem with the messy millennial women of TV – from Fleabag to Insecure to Everything I Know About Love – has been a similar strand of R&B, where artists such as SZA and Summer Walker sing proudly and amusingly about their flaws, though still with plenty of self-belief and a withering regard to men.
Continuing that style with abundant charisma is Washington DC singer Yaya Bey, though she uses much more than R&B to express it. Meet Me in Brooklyn is sweet-natured and naive reggae, segueing straight into Pour Up, a deep and erotic afro-house track. Rolling Stoner goes from Billie Holiday jazz songcraft to beatless trap atmospherics in less than two minutes, while the psychedelic soul and stoner wisdom of Erykah Badu is a touchstone throughout.