Bristol’s Yola has a busy rest of 2021 ahead of her. The soul singer announced Thursday that her sophomore album is on its way, and that she’ll be joining Chris Stapleton on his rescheduled tour this summer. Her new album Stand For Myself is set for release on July 30 via Easy Eye Sound, and the lead single “Diamond Studded Shoes” is out now.
Yola’s new record was produced by Dan Auerbach. The singer was originally supposed to tour with Auerbach and the rest of The Black Keys, along with Stapleton, before the pandemic began. The new album came from the free time allotted by the cancellation of both the stadium tour and the filming of Baz Luhrmann’s forthcoming Elvis biopic, in which Yola will play Sister Rosetta Tharpe. “Diamond Studded Shoes” is proof enough that her newly found free time wasn’t wasted—deceptively joyous, Yola smiles through disaster after disaster in the song’s music video as the feel-good vintage Americana-pop masks the exhaustion of constantly fighting to make the world better.
Yola said of “Diamond Studded Shoes” in a statement:
This song explores the false divides created to distract us from those few who are in charge of the majority of the world’s wealth and use the ‘divide and conquer’ tactic to keep it. This song calls on us to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity.
The video is in part inspired by the Truman show and is about being trapped in a false construct. It is supposedly perfect, but you’re trapped in a life that wasn’t meant for you. I wanted to convey the feeling that everything you know to be true is not quite working the way it’s supposed to. The island at the end is a paradigm of mental conditioning, we are all trapped on an island of our own thinking, until we change it.
Besides her upcoming tour with Stapleton, Yola has a few festival performances on her busy schedule. She’ll grace the stage at both the Newport Jazz and Newport Folk festivals this year, and will headline a show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 2022.
Watch the music video for “Diamond Studded Shoes” and revisit Yola in the Paste Studio below. Keep scrolling for the Stand For Myself album artwork and tracklist, as well as the artist’s upcoming tour dates. You can find more information on Yola’s tour and preorder the album here.
Stand For Myself Album Artwork:
Stand For Myself Tracklist:
01. Barely Alive
02. Dancing Away In Tears
03. Diamond Studded Shoes
04. Be My Friend
05. Great Divide
06. Starlight
07. If I Had To Do It All Again
08. Now You’re Here
09. Whatever You Want
10. Break The Bough
11. Like A Photograph
12. Stand For Myself
Yola Tour Dates:
July
23-25 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk
30-31 – Newport, RI @ Newport Jazz
August
01 – Newport, RI @ Newport Jazz
06 – St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
07 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
21 – Arlington, TX @ Globe Life Park
September
10 – Bristol, VA-TN @ Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival
16 – Maryland Height, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
17 – Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
18 – Orange Beach, AL @ The Wharf Amphitheatre
25 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
26 – Dana Point, CA @ Ohana Music Festival
October
08 – NYC, NY @ Madison Square Garden
14 – Columbia, MO @ Mizzou Arena
15 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
16 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
21 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
22 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
23 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
28 – Lubbock, TX @ United Supermarket Arena
29 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
30 – Phoenix, AZ @ AK-Chin Pavilion
November
04 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
05 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
06 – The Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
03 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum
December
04 – Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum
05 – Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena
March
03 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
20 – Toledo, OH @ Huntington Center
21 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
23 – Lexington, KY @ A Concert for Kentucky – Kroger Field
