Cassette
YATTA’s vibrant new album, WAHALA, is an immersive experience. The Brooklyn-based performance artist has crafted a fluid and personal album about their experience being trans, black, and the child of immigrants. Of the album’s tone, YATTA says: “Maya Angelou says to keep a room in your heart just for god. My room is full of rage, questions, confusion, and pain—I’m trying to get it clean and pristine, baby!”
Clearing that room, for YATTA, means staring down all of that discomfort. In album opener “A Lie,” a voice speaks directly to the listener over a disjointed beat: “For my parents, survival was having food. For me, it’s having my feet planted on the ground and hoping no one notices when my brain flies away.” On the melancholy “Francis,” YATTA sings, “Around this part of town, you can do anything to boys that look like my brother.” On the electronic single “Cowboys,” YATTA brings in various elements—recordings, loops, synths, wails, screams, all building to a joyous laugh at the end. With WAHALA, YATTA has opened up a portal to their most intimate thoughts and has laid them bare with all the tools at their disposal, creating a sound that is one-of-a-kind.
