Yaya Bey is an artist from Brooklyn who has been making music for several years, but had a big break through last year with the release of her album, Remember Your North Star, which came out on Big Dada. Now she’s back to follow that up with a new EP, Exodus the North Star.

Given the title of this EP and the cover (same photo shoot, different pose), you might expect this to be in conversation with her album from last year, maybe an extension of it. You would be correct to make those assumptions, as Yaya Bey is able to build off of the foundation of Remember Your North Star and begin to look forward with Exodus. While the previous album dealt with issues like misogynoir and generational trauma, on Exodus we get to see Yaya Bey begin to give herself the freedom to look to the future and imagine the life she now wants to build for herself. She’s doing this by bringing together elements of soul, R&B, hip hop, reggae, Afrobeat, and jazz, and singing with a confident voice and great tone. The music ranges from the laid back and introspective to the urgent and bold, giving you a great range of music and emotion over the course of just six songs. What brings it all together is not just Bey’s voice, but her ability to pull back the curtain and really let listeners get to know her through the lyricism of her songs. As a result, it often feels like you’re catching up with a good friend as you’re listening to Exodus, and it becomes easy to develop a personal relationship with the EP.

Yaya Bey has really been coming into her own and building up her musical career in the last couple of years after struggling for a while to gain some momentum. With Exodus the North Star, she quickly gets to assure all of us that Remember Your North Star was not a fluke, and that there’s a lot more to come from this talented artist.