YEBBA: It was a small church, and it was a small town, so he didn't really have anybody, probably that had enough free time. SANDERS: This skill came from years of training as a kid at a church her father pastored in Arkansas. YEBBA: (Singing) I'll be sending all my love (vocalizing). In some moments, it's as if that voice is flying through the sky. SANDERS: Throughout the album, Yebba's singular voice carries every song. Yebba's own story is in there, too, if you want to find it, but you don't have to.
They're about a lover or a friend or yourself. SANDERS: And so Yebba made an R&B album that wraps her panic and her grief in songs that can kind of read in several different ways. But I was very scared the entire time and very, just, panicked. YEBBA: I just thought, you know, if I ever made music, I would want it to be something that is, you know, laced with hope and, like, joy and love and things that - you know, all of these things that we love the idea of. But she also knew that she didn't want to make a record just about her deep pain. SANDERS: Yebba processed that through her music. YEBBA: And I had to go through those - the first half of my 20s just missing my mom and, you know, in denial that she was gone, really. SANDERS: Her mother's death stopped everything. SANDERS: Was it three weeks after that song came out there was some tragedy? Yebba had just put out this video singing in front of a live audience belting this song called "My Mind."
MY MIND YEBBA LYRICS PROFESSIONAL
All throughout Yebba's album are lyrics and songs that, under close examination, are about something deeper - a big loss Yebba experienced just weeks after her professional career began. YEBBA: "Stand" lyrically deals with the intrusive OCD thoughts and the PTSD, you know, just my conversation with that. SANDERS: But Yebba told me this song is about a lot more than just a fling. Stars and darkness all collided in the loneliest of space. YEBBA: (Singing) When you went away, moonlight took the day. Take the song "Stand." It sounds like a love song - Yebba mourning after a breakup.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: Yebba's debut album is called "Dawn," and it's deceptive in the best way. A quick note - this story runs about four minutes, and it discusses suicide. NPR's Sam Sanders wanted to know what took so long. With this smoky voice and an impressive wail, it seemed like she was on a short runway to stardom, but her debut album is only being released now. About five years ago, a video of the R&B singer Yebba performing for a small crowd went viral.
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