Breaking Boundaries: UHMIYAH Is Undefined
Meet 21-year old UHMIYAH, an indie singer-songwriter, dancer and genre-bending artist who blends elements from her favorite musicians, merging soulful sounds and writing styles. Born and raised in NYC, UHMIYAH’s music is her way of expressing anxieties about humanity and societal systems to which she will not conform.
UHMIYAH is unsure when her desire to be an artist materialized, but knows she has always been interested in getting into music. Recently stumbling upon GarageBand files of her producing and singing from high school, UHMIYAH determined the love for music had always been there, but she hadn’t yet known how to go about it. “I [remember] writing in journals like—I wanna be making music and performing here and here and here—and thinking, ‘I don’t know how this is going to happen, but it will.’”
This maybe, maybe not rhetoric changed over the course of the pandemic, with such an immense influx of artists being discovered online. “If you really want to do something, and you have the tools, like your voice, then you can do that.” Now, tricky and professional qualifications no longer really matter
Photo courtesy of @taiyegodby
And so, UHMIYAH began studying artists that were not traditionally trained, like David Bowie. Inspired by his self-taught musicianship, in 2021, she got the cheapest mic she could find and began searching for beats. What started off as a question of “how,” became a profound obsession.
Growing up, UHMIYAH calls her sources of musical inspiration an “absolute melting pot.” Around the house, as her family is Caribbean, she always heard reggae music. In elementary and middle school, being in Harlem and experiencing raw hip-hop with people rapping on the streets was a huge influence. “And then, the high school I went to was predominantly white, so the most Caucasian music you can think of. MGMT, Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris – that really carefree, light music with dark undertones. I think I really got into my pop era, then I was like, ‘oh my God’!”
UHMIYAH’s most recent masterpiece of an album, THE BLACK SWAN—which was released in August of this year—is a blend of all these things, paying homage to all the places she’s been. “Whenever people ask me to describe my music, it’s frustrating because I’m just a little bit of everyone’s favorite artists. I don’t have a particular sound; it’s just whatever I want to make in the moment…I’m like Lorde if Lorde was a little black girl.” To combat what could potentially be seen as a collection of mixtapes, UHMIYAH intertwines her stories through lyricism and artistic vision. Essentially, themes tie her songs together in tight connection with one another. For THE BLACK SWAN, Shakespeare, Lorde and Lady Gaga all served as “faces,” or muses, helping to cultivate a unique dark-pop album.
”I’m like Lorde if Lorde was a little black girl.”
UHMIYAH’s goal was to make pop music that is untraditional, but still timeless. Her strength lies in her versatility. Every song sounds different and draws from new aesthetics all the time: something or someone very specific.
When it came to writing the album, UHMIYAH thought of music through a lens of creative direction. “I can’t write a song unless I know the theme of the song, period.” Her favorite song on THE BLACK SWAN is “Goldteeth,” not just because of all the hard work that went into producing it, but because of the message behind it as well. “There’s these expectations on black artists to fit stereotypes of what we’re supposed to be, like grills and gold and nudity. And that’s fine, that’s cool, that’s wonderful, but we are other things too.” For UHMIYAH, these stereotypes are something she’s struggled with as an artist, wondering if people aren’t listening to her because she isn’t fulfilling those stereotypes. “The meaning of ‘Goldteeth’ is just very special to me because it’s like, ‘Wake up and be real!’ Be who you want to be.”
“There’s these expectations on black artists to fit stereotypes of what we’re supposed to be like grills and gold and nudity. And that’s fine, that’s cool, that’s wonderful, but we are other things too.”
UHMIYAH says live performances are the most rewarding part of creating and putting out music. “I think I made [THE BLACK SWAN] with the intention of performing it live. A lot of these songs are about performing and presenting myself to a public audience, or even just people outside of the studio.” A born performer, UHMIYAH got her start dancing putting on a show at family parties, executing video-dances and building endurance in school. For UHMIYAH, performing is the one thing that gives her “good” anxiety. It’s all about connecting people in the room. When she’s on a stage, she thinks of performing as momentarily donating herself to other people so they can have a great experience.
UHMIYAH is ready for whatever the world throws at her, including new listeners. “I would say, give me a chance. I think it’s harder for people to get into newer artists because they’re so used to established ones or artists that fit easily into a label. A lot of the great [artists] you’ll find is stuff no one has even heard about. It’s just a matter of being open-minded.” Our advice? Immerse yourself in the music, sit down and listen to UHMIYAH’s masterpieces as though your favorite artist just dropped it. Because just maybe, she’ll become your new one.
CHECK OUT UHMIYAH’S ALBUM THE BLACK SWAN ON SPOTIFY HERE: