Announcing the album’s release on Instagram, the ‘Genre Fluid’ artist wrote: “I’ve been keeping this news under my hat for a while and FINALLY I can tell you all!! I’m so frikking excited to announce that my new album ‘Stand for Myself’ will be out on July 30th via @easyeyesound! This album was written over many years and is very personal to me. I’m so grateful to everyone that helped me realise every vision I had. I’ve never felt so creatively free, so seen, so heard. Love and thanks to everybody who co-wrote songs, performed, added their magic to the making of this record and those who continue to help me put music out into the world. The new single “Diamond Studded Shoes” is out everywhere now, tap the link in bio to watch the video directed by @ospinto or to pre-order the album!” 

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‘Stand By Myself’ is out on 30th July 2021 and has been produced by the Black Keys frontman and star-studded producer Dan Auerbach. Speaking on her upcoming album in a statement, Yola said: “It’s a collection of stories of allyship, Black feminine strength through vulnerability, and loving connection from the sexual to the social.” She continued: “all celebrating a change in thinking and paradigm shift at their core. It is an album not blindly positive and it does not simply plead for everyone to come together. It instead explores ways that we need to stand for ourselves throughout our lives, what limits our connection as humans and declares that real change will come when we challenge our thinking and acknowledge our true complexity.”

Alongside the announcement, Yola has also released the track ‘Diamond Studded Shoes’ from her upcoming album. The music video dropped for ‘Diamond Studded Shoes’ just several hours before she announced her second album. The singer explained the song explores the divisions between the classes and “calls on us to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity.” The music video reflects the same theme, on this she said: “The Truman Show’ and is about being trapped in a false construct. It is supposedly perfect, but you’re trapped in a life that wasn’t meant for you. I wanted to convey the feeling that everything you know to be true is not quite working the way it’s supposed to. The island at the end is a paradigm of mental conditioning, we are all trapped on an island of our own thinking, until we change it.”

Her debut album ‘Walk Through Fire’ was released in 2019 and was nominated for Best Americana Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards; it also won UK Album of The Year at the UK Americana Awards. In 2020, Yola picked up a total of four nominations at the Grammys, including for Best New Artist. 

The Bristol based artist is due to appear at two festivals in Newport this summer and is then heading out on tour with Nashville star Chris Stapleton. 

‘Stand For Myself’ is available to pre-order now and you can watch the music video for ‘Diamond Studded Shoes’ now on YouTube.