Following the release of her critically acclaimed new album ‘Stand For Myself’, GRAMMY nominated artist Yola has announced an exclusive UK headline show at legendary London venue KOKO for 20th July 2022.
Tickets are on sale NOW here.
2022 is set to be a major year for the singer-songwriter. Her homecoming concert will follow a major US headline run spanning more than 40 dates, and mark Yola’s anticipated return to the UK live stage as her first UK performance since 2019.
On Tuesday at the nominations for the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Yola received two nominations for her critically acclaimed new album ‘Stand For Myself’. The album was released earlier this year on Easy Eye Sound and produced by Dan Auerbach. She received nominations for Best Americana Album - 'Stand For Myself', and Best American Roots Song - 'Diamond Studded Shoes'', bringing the Black British genre fluid rising star’s total GRAMMY nominations to six. In 2019, Yola received four GRAMMY nominations, including Best New Artist, for her debut album ‘Walk Through Fire’.
Reflecting on the nomination, Yola stated, “To be nominated for two GRAMMY awards for this album, which is truly a personal story of agency, self-actualization and challenges tokenism and bigotry, is more than anything I could have hoped for. I feel seen by the music community and so grateful for this significant acknowledgement. Thank you to Dan Auerbach, all of the writers and musicians and my incredible team for helping me put this album into the universe during such a challenging time in the world, and I’m so happy to see such deserving and incredible talent nominated alongside me. See you in January!”
Yola will then return to Bristol for an intimate Rough Trade In Store performance on the 17th December from 1PM.
Yola will also feature as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama Elvis set for release 24th June, 2022, which explores the life of Elvis Presley, played by Austin Butler, alongside Tom Hanks, Kelvin Harrison Jr and Alton Mason.
Yola’s standout performances this summer included becoming one of the few artists to perform at both Newport Folk and Newport Jazz Festivals in the same year. She also made her Red Rocks debut, and is opening for Chris Stapleton on his rescheduled tour in 2021, with dates which have included Madison Square Garden and two upcoming sold-out shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Yola recently performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and joined Mickey Guyton for a roof-raising performance of Guyton’s track “Remember Her Name” at the CMT Artist Of The Year Awards in Nashville.
'Stand For Myself' received widespread critical praise upon its release, hailed as a genre-fluid sonic shift by publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Variety and MOJO, who cite the album as one of their prestigious ‘albums of the year’. The record is inspired by Yola’s belief in paradigm shift beyond the mental programming that creates tokenism and bigotry, issues which have deeply impacted her personal life and professional career, declaring that it is only when we stand for ourselves, and acknowledge our complexity, that we can be truly alive.
For more information and tickets please visit: www.iamyola.com
Praise for Stand For Myself
“A tour de force of showmanship.” Rolling Stone
“The best soul record of the last 20 years.” NPR Music
"one of the UK's most underrated singers" The Guardian
"the Bristol singer breathes fire into her songs" Sunday Times Culture
"by rights, Yola should be trumpeted as one of the UK's hottest exports" The Observer
“Country Soul’s New Star” MOJO
“Yola's voice, one of the mightiest in pop music today." UNCUT
"Stand For Myself is infectious" The i Newspaper
“‘Album made on her own terms.” The New York Times
“Stand for Myself isn’t a record defined by genre as much as it is by Yola’s spirit, which transforms her matter-of-fact assertions of personhood into amphitheater-ready anthems.” PITCHFORK
“Stand For Myself is a set of songs that sounds both strikingly original and wholly classic.” Vulture
“Stand For Myself is a hero’s odyssey, allowing listeners to ride shotgun on Yola’s path to self-realization.” SPIN
“Stand For Myself, a triumphant and soul-baring record in which she finally gets to chase her dreams with nothing in her way” American Songwriter