How Iyla Turned Loss Into Liberation

How are you feeling now that the album is out in the world?

I’m honestly relieved and happy and all the feelings. When I make something, especially a body of work like this, when it comes out and it becomes ours instead of mine, I like that a lot.

When I'm making it, I'm so inward and trying to tell the stories and trying to get my point across and create the art. So when it comes out, I think it takes this pressure off of me that it's not just mine. And it feels like I can share this thing that’s been brewing inside of me.

When did you start putting this together? When does it start to feel like this isn't just like a collection of songs, but rather if people don't hear anything else they'll start here and be satisfied? 

Yeah, that's such a good question. I think for years it felt like it was time for a full-length album. I think a lot of artists feel this way. And also a lot of labels feel this way—where it's like you need to have more traction and attention and that kind of thing before you release your debut album. 

And for me, my journey has been so intentional, but also I feel like it's taking so long for me to get my stuff out into the world, and to be seen in the way I want to be seen. Something in me just felt like it was time—whether everything was aligned or perfect or I was getting all the attention in the world. It just felt like I need to tell a full-length story. And so it really started probably three and a half years ago with making sure that we could continue on with the sound that we loved and that we created for the EPs. But I also really trying to elevate and take it to the next level and be like, “This is who I am.” And like you said, that if Weeping Angel’s the first time they hear any Iyla, I’m so proud of it.

Before I listened to the album, I was reading the notes on the album. And you described it as a journey through losing your mom. I don't want to say recovering from that, because I don't know if you ever do, but dealing with that and still trying to find joy and love in life in general. So when I listened to it, I was surprised at how upbeat it sounded. Was that intentional?

There were a good chunk of songs done before she passed. So what's funny is that the more fun, sexier songs is what she loved. She was beauty and life, and she always encouraged me to own my femininity and all that stuff. So those were the songs she loved. A song like “Strut,”  when she heard it, she's like, “Finally, I've wanted you to do disco songs and fun songs for forever.”

And then songs like “Blue Eyes” that I wrote about her, those came after. And so we really tried to weave those in. It was quite the journey to integrate, but I think grief is at the center of who I am now. So everything I do, whether I'm smiling or crying, the grief is still very present. That love that turned to grief and is ultimately love right in the end. That's why “Blue Eyes” is in the center of the album. I needed to tell the story of you can find joy again. There was joy before and after, right?

So, with “Blue Eyes," can you take us through writing and recording that?  When did you feel like that was done and you didn’t need to touch it anymore?

When she passed, I was obviously in an extremely dark place, and I didn't want to even function, really, let alone do anything creative. She had passed in October of 2023, and in January my team was like, “That song ‘Ghost’ is so beautiful. Maybe rewrite that song.” 

And on New Year's Eve, something in me said I'm just gonna take a stab at this. And when I tell you the words poured out of my existence—it feels like I didn't even write it because it just came out. I think she was extremely present, and that's why the song is so detailed. I recorded the song in the room with just the mic set up, and then I did two and a half takes of it, and then I couldn't get through it anymore emotionally. And we picked one of those takes. I couldn’t sing it again, and I've never sang it again since. 

Was there any hesitation about putting it on the album at all?

Yes. She would love the happy songs so much, and she just wasn't a sad-song girl. It's so vulnerable to put a song like this out in the world, let alone on the album. But I've always also been very forward in my music about mental health and where I'm at. So I felt like it was like my duty to put the song out. And also I felt like I could not move forward. I could not put this album out or any other song out until “Blue Eyes” was out. People need to know that this fun stuff might come out, but this is where I'm at, and this is still where I'm at.

For the last couple years, there's been this conversation about R&B being dead and not being appreciated as it once was before. How do you see your album in that conversation of changing that and just changing how people feel about R&B now?

There is so much that comes from soul music, right? And so many things have been taken from it, and then these other kind of genres have come from that, right? So I think that R&B and soul in general is like the foundation of music—especially in America. There are certain songs on my album where I really wanted to hone in on R&B. We love to be weird and add things in. But to me, it was really important to have a couple songs where it's that straight, almost, like, timeless R&B, because I think R&B is timeless. I hope there are listeners who really love alt music or really love pop music, and then hear it and go, “I like this.”

This title, Weeping Angel—what exactly does that mean? How does that tie into the music? Especially because, again, for me, it's unexpectedly upbeat.

I always am a fan of the dichotomy of human beings, right? Like the angel-and-the-devil type of thing in all of us. And what I mean by that is being able to embrace all that you are. 

I hope this album tells the ultimate love story of what we can be and what we feel like in some of those happiest and saddest moments. So Weeping Angel, the title, I had been researching and looking into all different things. I had a different album title and it just wasn't it. Weeping angels are like monsters, and they hide behind beauty. And I think this album is like a beautiful monster to me. Love is a monster and grief is a monster. I wanted all of that in there.

What do you hope people are ruminating on after they’ve heard the album? What questions do you hope they have or what answers do you hope they have?

I hope people feel every shade of love in it. I hope that when people listen to it, they not only want to look in the mirror a little longer and love themselves in their vulnerability, but also love the people around them more.