Yola Reveals How New Single ‘Amazing’ Was a ‘Romantic Manifestation’ (Exclusive)

Since the release of her 2019 debut album Walk Through Fire, Yola has flourished.

The British country soul singer — whose real name is Yolanda Quartey — has shared the stage Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples and Dawes, collaborating with everyone from the country supergroup The Highwomen to Ringo Starr.

As her career has blossomed, Yola, 41, has earned six Grammy nominations and expanded her creative ambitions, landing a role as the “godmother of rock ‘n’ roll” Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann‘s 2022 musical drama Elvis and as Persephone in Hadestown last year. Not to mention, her blend of ’90s R&B, country, soulful pop and neo-soul has found her fans in Elton John, Chaka Khan and Joni Mitchell along the way.

Now, after releasing her genre-fluid EP My Way in January, Yola is preparing to enter a new chapter with her latest single “Amazing,” a song she penned as she began dating stateside, imagining who her future partner might be. “I was in a function of actively manifesting those lyrics, and then when I met my person, the lyrics made sense,” she tells PEOPLE over Zoom.

Below, Yola opens up about touring with Maxwell, the significance of her playing Persephone in Hadestown and how landing her role in Elvis was “pure accident.”

PEOPLE: How did the My Way EP pave the way for your new single “Amazing?”

YOLA: Really directly, [“Amazing”] is an exercise in romantic manifestation. So, the single, I actually wrote first before the EP. I teamed up with a writer called Jeremy Lutito, and I was trying out how I wanted to make a record if I was left to my own devices, and I wasn’t fed through a kind of cookie-cutter system. So, it’s almost backwards, I guess. I manifested through the lyrics and the visualization of the lyrics of the single “Amazing.” Then, I started dating after I wrote that. So I manifested and visualized that, and through the process of dating, I used that visualization as a, “you’ll know you found the person when the ‘Amazing’ song lyrics make sense.”

PEOPLE: How does the EP reflect your dating process? 

YOLA: “Future Enemies” is about that moment when you’re sitting down to dinner with somebody, and you realize that not only are they not the person, but they are a potential future enemy. They said something that just red-flagged immediately. You can just evaporate from their lives like David Copperfield. “Temporary” is about how [guys] try and divert your energy away, and that they may have a use, but it isn’t to be the one. They are light entertainment at best. A lot of songs on the EP were the journey of post-writing “Amazing.” “Amazing” is both the start point and endpoint.

PEOPLE: When it came to the making of “Amazing,” which artists were you inspired by?

YOLA: It’s kind of soul, indie-pop energy. I’ve always been inspired by artists like MJ [Michael Jackson], Lenny Kravitz. So, I wanted something that felt mysterious because, [with] the act of dating on another continent, it’s easy to forget that I’m from a completely different continent. Just because we all speak English, although my English is very different, I’ve come to understand, American English and English English are completely different languages. So, in this song, even though I am very steeped in very contemporary American music and American artists like Jackson, Kravitz, The Isley Brothers, Jill Scott, Tina [Turner] and so many artists that speak to me. And I wanted to manifest some of that aesthetically in this song. The lyrical angle of the mental process of finding something super positive was inspired by my love of the album Jill Scott by Jill Scott.

I felt like when I sang those songs that I was putting myself in a more positive mindset and taking steps to lead me to a place that feels like home, even though it came out such a long time ago. Every step I took was leading me to something that felt like home, and now where I am, I feel like I’m at home in so many different ways. 

PEOPLE: How has your life and career changed since you released Walk Through Fire?

YOLA: With Walk Through Fire, I had an instance of being new in a place, not living in America, living in the U.K. So that’s obviously a very big change. I had to learn how to modify my English, to not use terms that were ambiguous to Americans. Gaining the ability to start building a team to be creative with, that’s been a massive change. Having built a team, I put out an EP almost as a tester. Now, I’ve tested that and what comes next leans very much back into soul music — and now I’ve found the people I can do it with.

Realizing that people believe in you, I can’t tell you the confidence it gives you to just go forth and be, and worry a lot less about what you’re doing on your journey. I know people that have written stories creatively that they don’t want to live anymore, and the moment they make enough money to quit, they will and they do. You see it time and again, and I’ve managed to make myself a situation that I’m about to go into production on, but I will not want to quit from, and that’s rare. It’s not lost on me, the privilege. That’s been life-changing because I was homeless.  I didn’t come from privilege. I charted as a writer, and that’s how I got to America. I had songs in the top 10, I had vocal features in the top five, made money, and then I became my own rich daddy. 

PEOPLE: You mentioned you’re going into production. Will “Amazing” be featured on your next album?

YOLA: Maybe.

PEOPLE: You’re set to open for Maxwell on tour this fan. How did you land that slot? 

YOLA: Well, a shout-out to my agent Johnny Insogna at Wasserman, because he’d been pushing for finding people that I adore on my dream list of people that I would love to go on tour with. Maxwell’s definitely on that list and was going on tour. Maxwell hears my music, DMs me once we follow each other, and the show is confirmed to be happening and we’re about to announce, and it’s like, “You are the best artist I have heard in a decade, at least. Anything you need, you are so dope. Keep doing what you’re doing.” My jaw was on the floor of such a considerable cosign. That process found me through me telling my whole story musically, and that’s always been my mission. If I’d stayed in the world of Walk Through Fire, I don’t think I would’ve gotten this opening slot. I needed to tell my whole story. I needed to be a 360-Yola. I think when you listen to Maxwell’s music, you can hear multiple things in his brand of music. It’s not just straight one genre type stuff. He’s more of a melting pot of sounds within his genre that is self-made his way. My journey is an exploration to then bring all these things into a melting pot. And the next record is my first foray into that melting pot. 

PEOPLE: You recently performed at Essence Festival. What was that experience like for you?

YOLA: It’s the dopest thing on earth. I had the best time. You’ve got Muni Long, Maxwell’s performing, Davido’s performing, Isley Brothers, Scott, Jazmine Sullivan, everybody. Now, I was there representing Hadestown along with the Michael Jackson musical, Hell’s Kitchen, Alicia Keys‘ musical. It was about Black Broadway. I was on a panel with Adam Blackstone and the cast of those musicals, and we were talking about our experience and Black joy in that space. So, even though I’m an artist and I was, what they call a “starcasting” on Broadway, where they bring musicians to do a thing, to be in that space was really joyful. A lot of us had experiences outside of Broadway that were then transplanted into that scene. 

PEOPLE: What was it like making your Broadway debut as Persephone in Hadestown, and why was the role so important in terms of Black female representation on Broadway?

YOLA: It was really important for Black female representation on Broadway, because they hadn’t had a plus-size Persephone before. And although I’m not the biggest girl in the whole wide world, I’m thick enough, thank you very much. I ate my meals, and I did my squats in the right way to be thick, and that’s what I want to be. They just hadn’t had a thick Persephone. I’m like, “It’s time you had a thick and chocolatey Persephone for the win.” So, I got to do these kinds of things that you do on Broadway in this body. [It] is a very physical role. People have had injuries in this role. To go into it, knowing that and thriving in it and representing in that way is so positive for young people to see in music, for our younger Gen Zs [and] Gen Alphas to see. Fitness comes in lots of different shapes and sizes.

I still get to get calls to represent [Hadestown] because I did a good job. Especially in the Hadestown cast, you see so many different kinds of [people] from so many different backgrounds, it’s great that we also included an intersection that is often disrespected. There’s the intersection of Blackness and femininity. There’s the intersection of dark skin Blackness and femininity, but there’s also the intersection of dark skin Blackness, plus-sized femininity. All of those have their different spikes of why it’s different to see someone that looks like that versus someone else. Everyone that’s in any one of those intersections then gets the opportunity to see themselves in you. That was madly important because we’re in this Ozempic culture, and people that don’t have that body type are feeling more alienated. The timing was impeccable, so, well done, Hadestown for calling me.

PEOPLE: Back in 2022, you played Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Elvis. Do you have plans to take on any other acting roles?

YOLA: Elvis was a pure accident. I did the voiceover. Baz loves to do the music before he does a movie, so when you see [his movies] and the music feels extremely luscious, it’s because he was in the studio blood, sweat and tears across the whole soundtrack. So, that’s what we did first before we’d shot one scene. I didn’t realize this until Baz’s nose was pressed up against the recording booth glass going, “Have you acted before?” And I’m like, “No.” Looking at me kind of funny [and] looking at pictures of Rosetta put on my face, [he was like], “At a certain angle you could…” I’m like, “I’m feeling myself getting this part already, and I’m just going to keep singing.” And so, he cast me in ABC Studio One where Dolly [Parton], Elvis [Presley] and all these people recorded in Nashville. That’s where we did the soundtrack — and I know that’s where I got the part. 

I am being perpetually approached and being kind of [in] community with actors, they’re finding me. So, I have a thing that something’s going to happen. I tend to leave the door open on things like this. Watch this space — I may accidentally get cast in something.

PEOPLE: Who do you dream of collaborating with?

YOLA: There’s lots of dreams, but my pinnacle dream of every single dream is writer and producer D’Mile. You’ll know him from the dope ass production and writing on Victoria Monét‘s album Jaguar and obviously Silk Sonic. He’s so busy. Everyone loves him. They never want to work with anyone else, and this is a real curse because you’re just so delightful that no one leaves. Yola’s dream of dreams is working with D’Mile. We’re going to manifest it.