TALKING WITH ARTISTS BRIDGE TV INTERVIEW: Yaya Bey at Pitchfork 2023
Yaya Bey in performance. Image courtesy the artist, Pitchfork 2023. Photo by Julian Bajsel.
Talking With Artists is a new original series produced for Bridge TV, hosting discussions with artists in all disciplines. Most episodes of the current season of the series are currently available for viewing now in the Bridge Video collection (subscription required). New episodes are added throughout each season.
TALKING WITH ARTISTS
BRIDGE TV INTERVIEW By Efua Osei
Born Hadaiyah Bey, Yaya Bey grew up in Queens, NY writing music with her father, hip-hop artist Grand Daddy I.U. The now 34 year old is a multifaceted force to be reckoned with. Whether as a writer, a visual artist, an activist, or educator, Yaya Bey advocates for Black people through art and protest.
After discovering The Many Alter-Egos of Trill’etta Brown during the pandemic, a few years post release, I was instantly hooked. The Many Alter-egos of Trill’eta Brown was a multimedia release that includes an EP, book, and a digital collage. Uncovering the layers of what I thought was just one album, excited me as a fan of multi-media artists. The album represents the many sides of Yaya Bey, as well as the multiplicities of Blackness, womanhood, queerness. My personal favorite being Celie Jr.
Remember Your North Star was the album that solidified me as a Yaya Bey fan. The gorgeous lyrical structure of each track gives the songs a second life as free form poetry. Much like Trill’eta, I can read the lyrics to Remember Your North Star as a book with a clear beginning, middle, and conclusion. And her most recent EP, Exodus the North Star, feels like the bittersweet denouement.
Throughout North Star, the words just seem to pour out like melodic streams of consciousness. But then she can immediately switch it up, giving you melancholic rap breaks like on “nobody knows” or a candid, talk my shit rap like on “big daddy ya.” She has a beautiful storytelling gift and her work exudes a versatility that refuses to be bound by emotion, genre, or even gender. Her art is not only a diary of the thoughts that fill Yaya’s mind but simultaneously a collage that tells many of our own stories.
Amidst the downpour on day two of Pitchfork Festival 2023, Yaya Bey’s set was the rainbow that brightened our spirits. The sounds of jazz, soul, and hip-hop filled the Blue Stage with messages of sensuality and calls to action. Yaya Bey is ready to tear shit down! We were able to catch up up with Yaya post set, and talked about her last two projects, her writing influences, and creating music post pandemic.
Yaya Bey in performance at Pitchfork 2023. Image by Efua Osei on Cinestill 400.
BRIDGE MUSIC EDITOR EFUA OSEI’S YAYA BEY DISCOVERY PLAYLIST:
ON SOUNDCLOUD
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