“Suffering is promised to us all, but so is joy. You have to find peace in that duality,” says Yaya Bey, who commits to life’s delight — humor, love, the power of human movement and connection — even if she has to do it afraid. With her new album, which follows a run of critically acclaimed releases and marks her debut on art-forward indie label drink sum wtr, the Queens, New York singer-songwriter thrives across uplifting, effervescent material. A rejection of past narratives projected onto her, ‘do it afraid’ finds Bey reclaiming her story with resolutely fun, full-hearted, and nuanced songs that pull from R&B, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and dance music, including the soca stylings of her family’s Bajan roots. do it afraid celebrates all sides of Yaya as part of a collective lifeforce that doesn’t subscribe to fear but to the moments that move us.
