Yola Reclaims Her Power With New Anthem ‘Symphony’

Six-time Grammy-nominated singer and Broadway actress Yola takes a triumphant step forward with her new single, “Symphony,” a powerful anthem that reflects the grit and resilience behind her remarkable journey. With a voice that commands attention, Yola exudes confidence as she looks back on the winding path that has brought her to this pivotal moment. In her own words, she has “finally arrived”—a statement that resonates deeply in a song that celebrates both the struggle and the triumph of reaching the top.

“It just took me until now to be able to speak on where I started. Seems to have been a glaring omission,” the singer chuckled over a Zoom call during an exclusive interview with MadameNoire.

Yola’s hybrid approach to music takes center stage in her new single, “Symphony,” a track that draws inspiration from the sounds of her rich upbringing in Bristol, England. Fusing soulful pop, ’90s R&B, and neo-soul, “Symphony” is a bold showcase of Yola’s distinctive sound and powerhouse vocals—traits her fans have come to adore. With clear nods to trailblazers like En Vogue, Janet Jackson, and Parliament Funkadelic, the song channels the timeless funk and R&B influences that have shaped her musical identity.

In some ways, it’s a vibrant celebration of both Yola’s roots and her evolving artistry. Her musical journey began in the early 2000s with Bugz in the Attic, the groundbreaking UK collective based in West London that helped define the broken beat movement. Known for blending elements of funk, jazz, rare groove, and Afrobeat, the collective was a creative force that reshaped the landscape of underground music in the UK. Featuring key figures like Orin Walters (Afronaut), Paul Dolby (Seiji), Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi (Neon Phusion), Cliff Scott, Mark Force, and Matt Lord, Bugz in the Attic became synonymous with innovative sound and genre fusion. “Symphony” serves as a tribute to Yola’s early experiences with the collective—capturing the spirit of those formative years.

“Broken beat didn’t really make its way here to the U.S., but a lot of the players are here right now working with some of your favorite artists,” said Yola, who is currently based in New York. “This hybridized music and the vocal production angle really spoke to me because of my taste.”

Few voices in the UK music scene compare to Yola’s, and her latest release serves as a powerful reminder of just how dynamic her sound truly is. Simply put, the sister has range. From the very first note, Yola’s signature gravelly tone grabs your attention—a rawness and depth that can shift effortlessly from soulful to house diva at the drop of a beat. Her voice channels the spirit of iconic legends like Jocelyn Brown and Loleatta Holloway, whose influence has been a constant thread throughout her career. 

“If you’ve ever heard someone sample Loleatta Holloway in a track, it’s me,” she laughed, revealing a little-known secret about her early days working for a sample replay company. “They didn’t want to pay the royalties.”

The rebirth.

Yola has worn many hats throughout her time in the music industry. She’s been a sought-after frontwoman, collaborating with a range of DJs and producers, including Duke Dumont, and spent years working as a featured artist and writing behind the scenes for other prominent musical stars. But until now, she hadn’t truly found the space to explore her gift for seamlessly blending genres. Her latest track marks a turning point—a therapeutic release that’s both a rebirth and a moment of self-realization, especially after the heartbreaking loss of her mother earlier this year. 

“When I’m writing for other people, it’s their project. When I’m doing a front woman-for-hire thing, It’s the DJ producer’s project. Then, when you’re debuting as an artist, you don’t have the bargaining power yet to make your narrative and, I suppose, directly referential of what you’ve been doing in music. So, I was ready to be communing with the music that I suppose we first bonded over,” she said.

Navigating the complexities of the industry was another hurdle that prevented Yola from fully sharing her story. Before she could truly unveil her artistic depth as a solo artist, the British singer spent years working with difficult collaborators and taking on projects that offered little to no financial reward, often just for the sake of exposure.

“The scene is really particularly bigoted against dark-skinned plus-sized women, and the intersection of being plus-sized and dark is a particular spice. I needed to be very particular with how I framed myself, where I framed myself, and who I allowed to tell my story.”

Yola has a new EP on the way.

With this new music, Yola has fully reclaimed the power and agency she’s long been seeking, stepping fearlessly into her creative autonomy and defining her own artistic path. She’s a living testament to the unpredictable beauty of an artist’s evolution. What started as a search for connection in the most unlikely of places has led to a career that blends the best of the past with the pulse of the future—and there’s so much more in store. Fans can expect a new EP coming from Yola in 2025.

“The EP has been written,” she revealed to MadameNoire of the forthcoming project. “We’re finishing mixing, going into mastering — it’s there. I’m going back into writing because there will be an album. This is not a formal announcement, but I’m writing one,” the star clarified. “But you know, when it formally exists, that’s next, because I’ve taken a big break, and specifically because of profound levels of exhaustion.”

Outside of music, Yola has been making major moves. In early November, she was handpicked by The Who’s Pete Townshend and his wife, Rachel Fuller, to star in The Seeker, a musical reinvention of Hermann Hesse’s classic novel Siddhartha, performed alongside the Royal Philharmonic. In October, she wrapped up her run as Persephone in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City, where she took the stage six nights a week, an experience she described as hardcore.

“It’s so profoundly hardcore that you have to do continual recovery,” the “Walk Through Fire” artist said. “I’ve got these compression pants, you know, the things that you plug in, and they squeeze your legs and they deal with your inflammation — you stretch a whole lot. You need to get enough sleep, because you’re dancing for hours and down maybe 60 steps, four or five times a day,” she added. “I’m a thick girly, and I like it that way, but I lost 10 inches in six weeks. Thank God I didn’t lose my butt because that would have been a sad story.”

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