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A few years ago, Yola caught fire.
Yola, now 36, is full of stories some joyful, some less so.
Her early life was marked by struggle.
She briefly joined Massive Attack as a touring lead vocalist, and played Glastonbury with them back in2008.
You were everywhere at theNewport Folk Festivallast year.
Did you come out of it with any good Dolly Parton stories.Oh my goodness, if only I had!
That felt more like the manifestation of Highwomen the movement in actual motion.
They were like, We need to call her now!
Weve rewritten the Highwaymen song with stories of the survival of women.
Then I heard the song and was like,Okay, this is meaningful, especially in this climate.
The only words that flew from my mouth were, Yes, when are we doing this?
Sheryl Crow was putting down some bass parts before she came in to sing.
We all had this amazing and profound and emotional recording experience.
I loved the layered approach.
I loved the drama of it and the dynamic.
I was just enamored with his production style.
But I didnt really think that it was going to be an option, I just appreciated it.
It turned out theres a lot of crossover.
I think the album shows that intersection of country soul and classic rock and classic pop music.
Aretha sang everything, not just straight up soul music, not just straight up gospel music.
She touched so many genres; thats always been my thing.
It was the era of things like the Black Crowes.
But also, what wasnt throwback was still eclectic in the way that the chart flows.
Between that environment and my mums record collection, that became my musical education.
Thats a very different space to be in creatively.
Your records barely been out a year, but its taken you a while to get to this point.
And now youre nominated for four Grammys.
Whats it like to be inside your head right now?Well, its definitely full of cotton wool!
It feels like theres no brain in there.
Ive been too busy to process anything like, Yay!
but before you’ve got the option to get to the secondyinyaysomething else happens.
Which is great, but its obviously exhausting, so whats going through my mind is sweet fuck all.
Whens my next opportunity to sleep?
Ive got to survive this meteoric rise so I can enjoy it.
If Im dead, whats the point?
Im just trying to be present in these moments, and enjoy them as much as physically possible.
Its a wonderful feeling to have gotten to a point where youre no longer afraid.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Correction: This post originally misstated Yolas age.
We regret the error.
