‘I just want to shake my tail feather’: how KeiyaA shut out the noise to make one of the year’s best albums

<p>The pressure of besting her self-released debut – and becoming a public figure – made the US vocalist spiral. Remembering who she was inspired her phenomenal second LP, a comparison-defying odyssey of jazz, pop and club music</p><p>KeiyaA had been grinding in New York’s experimental jazz and hip-hop scenes for a good six years before her 2020 debut album, <a href="https://keiyaa.bandcamp.com/album/forever-ya-girl-3">Forever, Ya Girl</a>. Self-released on Bandcamp to make some cash while couchsurfing, the record totally shifted her life’s course. A low-key yet potent swirl of bedroom pop, R&amp;B and electronic music that zeroed in on feelings of solitude and uncertainty, it struck a chord with critics at tastemaker sites such as Pitchfork and the Fader and became one of the year’s defining underground records.</p><p>It also allowed her to tour the world; at the same time, the 33-year-old producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist born Chakeiya Richmond immediately began to feel the pressure of following it up, stress compounded by the end of a toxic relationship. “I was like, at worst, [the follow-up] has to be just as good. At best, it has to be better. How am I gonna do that? When you put that expectation on yourself, you’re not actually gonna meet that,” she says, sitting on the patio of a London cafe. Having struggled with depression her whole life, she experienced a renewed, debilitating spell. “There was the survival mode loop of like, couch rotting, bed rotting, having to work up [the energy] to take care of myself in general, let alone get to the computer to make music.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/26/i-just-want-to-shake-my-tail-feather-how-keiyaa-shut-out-the-noise-to-make-one-of-the-years-best-albums">Continue reading...</a>