JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's been years since we've heard from singer Yola, and she says that's by design.
YOLA: I actually took a bit of time out to get a life. That's why you haven't heard...
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
YOLA: ...From me - 'cause I didn't have a life. I was, like, if I could just - I was like all work and no play made Jill a very dull girl. And so (laughter), yeah, so I sorted it out. Like, I sorted my whole life out. It wasn't sorted out. And now I've actually built this thing called a life, which really makes this whole rest of music start making sense.
SUMMERS: Making music is something she's been doing for years. Early on, it was with the group Bugz in the Attic.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HAPPY DAYS")
BUGZ IN THE ATTIC: (Singing) Happy days. Ooh. When you know it's going your way, and you're living for the day. Happy days. Ah oh. A oh. Ah oh. Yeah.
SUMMERS: The group's music was heavily influenced by jazz, funk and soul music - sounds she says shaped this project.
YOLA: So this is me writing it for myself with, you know, '80's soul energy, with disco energy, with funk energy. Yeah, like, that's what I'm trying to do with this EP. You can definitely hear that in "Ready."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY")
YOLA: (Singing) You have got to be ready, ready. You have got to be ready, ready. You have got to be ready, ready.
SUMMERS: When we spoke, she told me about the inspiration for that song.
YOLA: "Ready," as a song, is largely inspired by the Windrush generation. My mother was part of the Windrush generation of people that came over from the Caribbean to the U.K. because, you know, Europeans broadly lost a lot of people in the Second World War. And as a result of that, they were constantly trying to fill positions. And they coaxed people out of, arguably, paradise. And I'd grow up, and people would say - I grew up in, like, a little village outside of Bristol in the southwest of England. And I'd get told, like, go home. Go back to where you came from. And, like, with all of that kind of preemptive narrative of, you know, coming from paradise to somewhere rainy and miserable where people tell you to go home, and at least the impetus was to be helpful, it's like, ugh, you're having a laugh, aren't you?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY")
YOLA: (Singing) When they said, if you don't like it, leave. I'm like, cool, but I'm taking all my stuff and my money. I'm gone. You have got to be ready, ready.
And that's what the song came out of, this idea of actually - do you know what? - you're a genius. If you're going to buy me a flight to (inaudible), make it in December so I can catch Burna Boy or something like that, please. And like (laughter) - and so it was like, you're telling me to go back to paradise. That sounds like a wonderful deal. And so that song came out of, like, this idea of turning something that was supposed to be, like, an insult - like, a go back to where you came from - into a - actually, I should; that's a brilliant idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY")
YOLA: (Singing) You've got to be ready, ready to get your things and stand on the jetty, jetty. You have got to be ready, ready. Pack your bags. Meet me on the jetty, jetty.
SUMMERS: You know, Yola, I have to say, as I was listening to this EP, it seemed to be infused with this idea of claiming your agency, starting with that title track, "My Way." I mean, you really seem to be sending a message in that song. What's the message and who's it for?
YOLA: The message is I have to negotiate to be centered in my own experience of my own life. And people forget that, you know, when you're doing music. Music is - it takes over a lot of your life. And when people kind of go, oh, we want to be able to interact with you as an artist but not really center you, I'm just going to have to do this my way. I'm going to have to find a way to get you to act in a way that does not massively violate all of my boundaries because you don't understand consent. You don't understand collaboration. And so that's really, like, what that song is for.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY WAY")
YOLA: (Singing) We're gonna do it my way. God only knows there's nothing I can say. So we're gonna do it my way.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOLA SONG, "FUTURE ENEMIES")
SUMMERS: I'm hoping you can tell us about another song on the EP, and that's the song, "Future Enemies."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FUTURE ENEMIES")
YOLA: (Singing) I know you're feeling how you're feeling. It's a stone-cold b****, this temptation.
SUMMERS: It feels like - when I listen to it, at least - it's the song about seeing and appreciating and swerving and avoiding those red flags in people you come across. Can you tell us about it?
YOLA: Just - it dawned on me kind of in the opposite breath of "My Way." "My Way" is like, ugh, God, I'm stuck here. But "Future Enemies" is like, you've just met them, and at this point in time, if you've noticed that you're not going to get on, you have the profound privilege to get out of the situation without making a brand-new enemy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FUTURE ENEMIES")
YOLA: (Singing) You better believe whenever you think that you want it, whenever you think that you want it. And you don't know me. You just think you want this, future enеmy.
You know it's possible, so you just don't need to go that deep. You can get out. It's totally possible to just have a nice interaction and then go like, wow, OK, that was a red flag. But you know what I'm going to do? Instead of manufacturing a brand-new enemy out of thin air for no reason - 'cause it ain't that deep - just be like, cool, that was really great. Yeah, all right, and then literally poof - David Copperfield.
SUMMERS: Typically, when we end these conversations, we end them with a song. So I'd like to ask you - from your EP - what song should we go out on, and why?
YOLA: Oh, well, we haven't talked about "Temporary" yet, and maybe that's the one that we need to go out on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TEMPORARY")
YOLA: (Singing) You're exactly the kind of guy that I always want to try.
"Temporary" is a song about - can I swear on this, pookie (ph)?
SUMMERS: We might have to bleep it.
YOLA: OK. So bleep it. I'm going to say it. You ready? Got your bleep button ready?
SUMMERS: I'm ready.
YOLA: Got your finger - all right. There you go. It's about [expletive]. There you go. There you go - bleep boys. And it's about how, like, they have a use, would you believe?
SUMMERS: Go on.
YOLA: I know. You're like - I love the suspicious voice in, like, go on. Really? Yes. In that, when you're dating seriously, that could be exhausting. Your hopes get built up, dashed, built up, dashed, built up, dashed, built up. After a while, that's just exhausting. Who can go through that continually? Sometimes you need to date someone who you know is utterly useless, other than they're just pretty.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TEMPORARY")
YOLA: (Singing) Temporary. Temporary. Temporary. Temporary.
I love singing the song 'cause it just makes me laugh. Like, all the lyrics kind of just make me chuckle 'cause it's a little bit like, you're saying to the [expletive], babe, at some point, this ain't going to be cute, but, you know, let's get what we can out of this. And then I'll go back to my life, which is seriously dating. And you'll go back to your life, which is being utterly vapid.
SUMMERS: Yola, thank you so much. It has been such a pleasure.
YOLA: Oh, thank you very much.
SUMMERS: We've been talking with Yola. Her new EP is "My Way." It's out now.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TEMPORARY")
YOLA: (Singing) Givin' it up. Hey. Givin' it up. Givin' it up. Givin' it up. I hope you know. Givin' it up. I hope you know. Givin' it up. I hope you know. Givin' it up. Givin' it up. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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