''Stand for Myself'' is the second studio album by English singer and songwriter Yola. It was released on 30 July 2021, through Easy Eye Sound and distributed by

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists have ...

. The album debuted at number 196 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and at number 46 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

chart, being her first entry on both charts. The album was nominated for

Best Americana Album The Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors ...

at the

2022 Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

Background

The album features various songs that Yola was trying to finish over the years. Recording took place in Nashville, where Yola had to locate permanently after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Like her previous album,

Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...

, guitarist and vocalist of

the Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...

, served as producer while songwriters such as

Natalie Hemby Natalie Nicole Hemby Wrucke (born March 24, 1977) is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Kacey Musgrav ...

Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...

Ruby Amanfu A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sap ...

and

Joy Oladokun Joy Oladokun (born April 6, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter. Oladokun's music spans the genres of folk, R&B, rock, and pop and is influenced by her identity as a queer woman of color. She has released three studio albums: ''Carry'' (201 ...

also collaborated on the album.

Promotion and release

On 22 April 2021, "Diamond Studded Shoes" was released as the album's first single, a music video for the song directed by Kwaku Otchere was released the same day. On 27 May 2021, "Stand for Myself", the album's title track, was released as the second single. It was also performed on 21 July 2021, on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...

''.

Critical reception

''Stand for Myself'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 82, based on 11 reviews. Aggregator

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

gave it 7.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Reviewing the album for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Timothy Monger called the album "a fully present and vital collection of timely emotions and timeless arrangements" commenting that the album "is a stunner with plenty of emotional firepower, but it can also feel soft as a wool blanket". Steve Horowitz of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' said, "The dozen tracks here showcase the range of her talents as a singer and a songwriter and that of a human being who refuses to accept life's limitations and stand up for herself". Charles Waring of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' praised Yola's "caressing vocals", calling the album an "enthralling step on her musical voyage". Reviewing the album for ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'',

Stephen Deusner Stephen M. Deusner is an American music critic and part-time record store clerk who lives in Bloomington, Indiana. A native of Tennessee, he has contributed to Pitchfork Media (including ''the Pitchfork 500''), ''Salon'', '' CMT'', ''American Songwr ...

wrote that Yola emphasises "the nuance in her voice" on the ''Stand for Myself'', which he called "lovingly written, arranged and produced". Writing for ''

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

'', Graeme Marsh stated, "The vocals here are telling; it's effortlessly stunning, grabbing attention with how easily she achieves something countless others spend years chasing". Austin Saalman from '' Under the Radar'' enjoyed the album, saying, "''Stand For Myself'' hangs together more cohesively than '' Walk Through Fire'', feeling more urgent and existing upon a grander scale than its predecessor". Writing for '' Paste'', Andy Crump described the album as "triumphant" and claimed that "it's frank and fresh in its fashion, carrying darkness and unguarded emotions on crests of S-tier artistry". Maura Johnston from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' gave the album a 7.4 out of ten writing that the album "isn't a record defined by genre as much as it is by Yola's spirit, which transforms her matter-of-fact assertions of personhood into amphitheater-ready anthems".

Kitty Empire Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic, currently writing for ''The Observer''. Early life Empire says that she was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britai ...

from ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' gave the album three out of five stars mentioning on the "eclectic inspirations" of the album.

Year-end lists

Industry awards

Track listing

All tracks are produced by

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * Tidal (album), ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * ...

. Musicians * Yola – vocals * Andy Gabbard – background vocals (1–3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11) * Nick Movshon – bass guitar * Mike Rojas –

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

(1–3),

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

(1, 2, 6, 11); piano (2–12), synthesizer (2), organ (9),

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

(12) * Aaron Frazer – drums *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in Sou ...

– electric guitar (1–11), acoustic guitar (2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12) * Russ Pahl – electric guitar (1–5, 7–12), bass guitar (2),

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

(3), acoustic guitar (4, 6, 7) * Billy Sanford – electric guitar (1–10, 12), acoustic guitar (11) * Ray Jacildo – glockenspiel, vibraphone (1, 2, 6, 11);, organ (1–3, 5–9, 11, 12),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

(4), harpsichord (6), synthesizer (7), piano (10) * Sam Bacco – percussion *

– percussion (1, 6), electric guitar (2–7, 9, 10, 12), background vocals (7) * Ashley Wilcoxson – background vocals (2, 5, 6) * Raymond Mason – horn (2, 8, 10) * Bobby Wood – piano (2–12) *

Matt Combs Matt Combs is an American studio musician, record producer, composer, arranger, and author in Nashville, Tennessee. Early life Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, his musical life began after seeing a performance by violinist Itzhak Perlm ...

– strings (2, 6, 7, 11) *

Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile ( ; born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer whose music spans many genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. , Carlile has released seven studio albums. She has ...

– background vocals (4) *

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...

– steel guitar (4, 9, 11) * Alfreda McCrary – background vocals (8, 9, 12) *

Ann McCrary Beverly Ann McCrary (born August 24, 1950) is an American gospel musician and Christian R&B singer, who is a traditional black gospel, urban contemporary gospel, and Christian pop recording artist. She started her music career, in 1988, and re ...

– background vocals (8, 9, 12) * Regina McCrary – background vocals (8, 9, 12) Technical * Dan Auerbach – producer, recording producer, mixer * M. Allen Parker – mixer,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Alan Silverman –

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

(1, 3–6, 8–11) * Ryan Smith – mastering engineer (2, 7) * Caleb VanBuskirk – engineer * Josh Ditty – engineer * Trey Keller – engineer * Mickey Smay – assistant recording engineer * Tyler Zwiep – assistant recording engineer

Charts

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.iamyola.com/ 2021 albums Albums produced by Dan Auerbach Yola (singer) albums Funk albums by English artists Gospel albums by English artists Disco albums by English artists Concord Records albums Doo-wop albums