We have a special guest as our August Artist of the Month! Meet iyla, who’s celebrating the release of her debut album, Weeping Angel.
In the hardest seasons of our lives, we can find the true beauty that lies within all it has to offer. iyla plunged right into creating and from it created a beautiful body of work that shares the struggles as well as the strength and self-assurance that came from her own journey. Not only were there some beautifully created melodies, there’s a strength in the lyrics that show a resilience and sense of poise through struggle.
We had the opportunity to chat with iyla about this; and how her fiery hybrid of R&B, pop, and hip-hop has become more passionate, empowering, and confident than ever before. Forged in grief, transformation, and creative rebirth, our conversation honed in on how this album became a time capsule in honor of her “other half,” her mother, who has passed.
…what keeps me seeing the light and seeing the beauty around me is this idea that I’m kinda living for both of us, now… So when I say ‘I’ll live out the dreams that she passed down to me like her own blue eyes,’ [referring to song “Blue Eyes”] it kind of makes me feel less alone in life, in general.
The record is incredibly well-rounded, just as it is polished to sound uniquely like iyla as an artist. While diving deep into the grief and unpacking her journey in full force, there’s a contrast to it. It shares the growth that comes from allowing oneself to feel their emotions fully, as well as the confidence, the self-love, and even self-assurance and strength. We focused on these aspects throughout our conversation as well.
For me, it’s been really empowering to have this new thing about me because when I’m going in [the studio], I’m super authentic in the way that I’m just telling my story…it feels really freeing, and I’m able to, I think, connect even more because of it. When you’re really straightforward and honest and you tell your story, it’s crazy how many people are like, ‘Oh, same, I had this exact thing happen.’
Throughout the remainder of the conversation, we explore how she turned grief into creative clarity, built her confidence as an artist, and set her own rules and standards in her creativity.
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