After 1.5 million records sold in 40 countries with her four previous releases the soul singer
Ayo comes back once again with a lively fifth album. It's not typical for an artist to
self-title their fifth album. That's normally meant for debut records. But while
Brooklyn-based singer songwriter Ayo has four records under her belt it's actually quite
fitting that she chose the eponymous title. The 14-track record which exquisitely blends folk
reggae and pop with soul influences and a dash of hip-hop marks many firsts for the artist and
serves as her musical rebirth. The musical mission is crystal clear on Ayo: make beautiful
music seeped in positivity love and light and that makes people feel something. This is not a
record for people who like to sit down and think and analyze. This is a record for people who
want to feel... just feel and simply be she says. Written over the past three to four years
during a sea of personal and career changes the 14-track album takes the listener on an
emotional ride from the self-reflection of Nothing to despair and desperation in I Pray to the
innocent hopefulness of young love in the first single I'm a Fool. Ayo (which means joy in her
father's Yoruba language) has sold 1.5 million records in 40 countries with her four previous
releases. Her debut album Joyful hit Top 10 in four countries while Essence magazine
compared her to the great Nina Simone. She's performed with Babyface won prestigious European
music awards has appeared stateside on Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show
with Craig Ferguson and even fortunate enough to open for the funkiest man on the planet James
Brown on one of his last big shows.
