Ayo (Black Vinyl)

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.