Maria Hanlon on why we should all be listening to the ‘Southside Songstress’, Yiigaa, and her beautiful genre blending music…
NAME: Yiigaa, also known as the ‘Southside Songstress’.
GENRE: Yiigaa beautifully blends genres including R&B, electro, deep house and Afrobeat to create toe tapping tunes.
LIVE: The singer/songwriter recently sold out her headline show in less than 48 hours, a show that took place at Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston, last week. She had to add a second date due to demand. LCYTN was the support act and got the crowd going with her unique dreamy alt-pop sound. Yiigaa then stepped on stage with her producer J.Ar.J, drummer Ej and had three special guests join her throughout the evening: KiLLOWEN, Infamousizak, and Piers James who all feature on her new EP ‘Soul Ties’.
I’ve known Yiigaa for over a year now (we first met over Zoom in Jan 2021) but this was the first time I’d seen her perform live and it’s safe to say she KILLED it. The evening was intimate, energetic and electric. She performed songs from ‘Soul Ties’, a cover of Rhianna’s ‘Stay’ (which gave me goosebumps) and one of my all time favourites, ‘Good Enough’.
SIMILAR TO: You might hear a likeness to R&B artist Miraa May, producer and DJ Conducta (who remixed Yiigaa’s track ‘Closer’, listen here.) and Jazztronica duo, Blue Lab Beats.
INSPIRED BY: Yiigaa has been inspired by her parents, her Dad was a drummer and her Mum listened to lots of world music whilst she was growing up so she was surrounded by a variety of sounds. Other artists that inspire Yiigaa include Ms Dynamite, Niniola, Katy B, Kaytranada and Ashanti.
SOUNDTRACK FOR: When you’re with your mates and want to dance and feel good. Yiigaa’s EP ‘Soul Ties’ definitely has a summery sound, so get it downloaded for when it’s your turn on the aux!
MOST POPULAR SONG: ‘Good Enough’ is Yiigaa’s most popular song with just under 219,000 streams on Spotify. It was released last year with a stripped back acoustic version too. The song is about feeling under appreciated, overworked, and like the title suggests, not ‘Good Enough’. Listen to it here.
NEXT PERFORMING: Yiigaa hasn’t announced any upcoming gigs just yet, although make sure to follow her on Instagram here, then you’ll be the first to know when her next show dates are revealed – you’ll want to be there.
Listen to Maria’s recent interview with Yiigaa on Maria Meets on Voices Radio…
Words & photos: Maria Hanlon
Listen to Maria Meets on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month 3-5pm on voicesradio.co.uk
