Yola
Thu
Feb 16

Virtual Interview with Yola

Interview
General
Ticket
Time
07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Location
YouTube
Shelby Morrison, the Rock Hall’s Director of Curatorial Operations & Artist Relations hosts a virtual interview with Grammy nominated artist Yola as they discuss Yola’s music career and her portrayal as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the 2022 film Elvis.
Feb
16
2023
Non Members
$0.00
Members
$0.00

ABOUT YOLA

Yola is a Black British genre fluid six-time GRAMMY nominated artist, songwriter and actor who has achieved critical acclaim and breakout success since her landmark debut album Walk Through Fire (2019). Her latest album, Stand For Myself (2021) was a critical triumph, NPR called it the “best soul record of the past 20 years” and Rolling Stone praising her as “one of contemporary pop’s greatest singers, who just so happens to also be one of its sharpest songwriters.” Her sonic mix of symphonic soul and classic pop, traced a musical thread to her most eclectic musical inspirations and declared that it is only when we stand for ourselves, and acknowledge our complexity, that we can be truly alive.

This year Yola also made her acting debut when she portrayed Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama “Elvis,” who was played by Austin Butler, alongside Tom Hanks, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Alton Mason. Yola has taken much inspiration from Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s trailblazing career. The woman who was the inventor of rock and roll and was a defining influence on all rock guitar players that followed her. Yola was discouraged to learn guitar in her early part of her career, due to a white supremacist and patriarchal musical environments in the British music industry, but since has become an accomplished guitarist and has a forthcoming Ted X talk on the subject. Yola was recently nominated for a NAACP Image Award, in the category of Outstanding breakthrough performance in a motion picture, for her portrayal of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in ELVIS, and was nominated for her 7th GRAMMY Award, when her performance of "Strange Things Happening Everyday" was nominated as part of the Elvis movie soundtrack.

She also recently joined The Recording Academy®'s Black Music Collective (BMC) Leadership Council alongside H.E.R. and Mickey Guyton. She will also make her awards show performance debut on the American Music Awards in November 2022, as their featured SONG OF THE SOUL performer. Yola became an American Music Award winner when the ELVIS movie soundtrack won the "Favourite Soundtrack," award.

Yola's meteoric rise has been swift and sustained. She has regularly performed on late night TV shows from The Tonight Show to Jimmy Kimmel Live to name a few, appeared on CBS This Morning interviewed by Anthony Mason, and performed at Musicares Person Of The Year, The GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony and at venues and festivals from Madison Square Gardens to The Hollywood Bowl, and Newport Folk Festival to NewPort Jazz Festival, to Stage Coach to Coachella. Through it all Yola defines her path and dashes expectation in her wake.

In examining and embracing the various elements of her identity: black, female, empathic, creative, erotic, sophisticated, curious, intelligent, and more, Yola took listeners on a journey to self-actualization that they might not even realize they’ve been on until the album ends. “I want to trick people into empathy and self-actualization!” she says accompanied by one of her deeply infectious laughs.