Yola has slowly but surely been creeping toward becoming a household mononym, with six Grammy nominations spread out across her two solo albums to date, followed this year by a key appearance as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” film. But for as much as television cameras love her, she’s never had a featured TV appearance quite like the showcase she will be getting on Sunday night’s American Music Awards program (on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT), a show that is carving a few minutes out of its usual nonstop parade of top-10-dwellers for a full production number that, for much of the viewing audience, will count as a discovery moment.
Yola has been happily drafted for the AMAs’ second annual “Song of the Soul” moment, which will have her singing “Break the Bough,” from her 2021 sophomore album “Stand for Myself,” which like her first one was produced and co-written by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. The criteria for picking a “Song of the Soul” to be performed on the live awards show isn’t that it literally belong to the genre invoked in the category title… but in Yola’s case, it doesn’t hurt.
“It’s like a double entendre, because it feels like traditional soul music, but she’s also baring her soul in it. So it fits perfectly,” says Dionne Harman, a producer for the telecast and president of Jesse Collins Entertainment.
Says Yola, a Bristol-born Brit who moved to Nashville resident and often lands in Americana categories as a result: “We don’t really always talk about soul — it’s the elephant in the room with regards to my aesthetic. Through each song, regardless of how much I move through genre, soul’s presence is always there — based in that era specifically, I think, of the ‘60s and the ‘70s — and I feel like there’s definitely a soul moment happening in this song in a big way.”
But pastiche or genre are some of the least interesting things about the song specifically, or Yola generally. “Break the Bough” is a number that is steeped in Yola’s response to her mother’s death in 2013, and part of that is celebrating the kinds of music they loved together, which is why you’ll hear soul in the arrangement, if also a nod to disco in the visual design.
“My mother and I both grew up listening to Otis Redding, and so there’s definitely like a bit of Otis, Sam and Dave, Stax-y energy from that side of her record collection, for sure. That was something that I suppose was one of the first touchstones between us.”
Placing Yola in this spot was a natural, says Harman, who notes, “We’ve been fans of Yola since long before this moment. Stephen Hill, who’s one of the executive producers and heads up music specials for Dick Clark Productions, is a lover of all things music, and he has been raving about Yola for years. So for her to fit so perfectly into this moment and to give her this platform for the first time on this stage… Of course everybody saw her in ‘Elvis,’ but for those who don’t know this side of her, it’s a really amazing showcase. And a lot of times on shows like this, when you have a performance like this, maybe it’s on the dish or it’s on a smaller stage. But this is a full-blown performance, taking advantage of every aspect of all the stages within the space, and we really put a lot of production value behind her in this.”
@iamyola getting READY for her #AMAs performance debut
