Letter From The Editor

When I spoke with local music manager Brandon Apeles for this week’s cover story on singer-song-writer Yoza (he’s not her manager, but they’re close friends who sometimes work together), he said this: “I have always told Yoz that just her and a guitar is a magical thing and she can make the world stop by doing what she does solo.”

As I experienced during my interview with Yoza, Brandon was completely right (side note: You can read more about Brandon here). During the interview, rather than simply tell me about her music, she played her guitar as we talked, singing snippets of a few of her songs. Even pared down to just her and her guitar for an impromptu show in her living room, Yoza’s smoky vocals were completely mesmerizing. Much of what I heard that day will be featured on her new EP, which is set to be released in May.

The EP was created in collaboration with an impressive list of big-hitters in the music industry. To name a few: It was produced by Alicia Keys’ guitarist, and featured musicians who have played with artists like Adele and Prince, and will soon be mastered by people who worked on a Sia album.

The EP is a sort of bare-all confessional about past failed relationships and other difficulties. It’s all deeply personal, but the things she talks about are hardly secrets: Yoza always has had a no-holds-barred philosophy on sharing the details of her life, which haven’t always included things that most people are keen to talk about.

You can read more about Yoza and her upcoming EP here.

Throughout my last few weeks being in touch with Yoza for this story, she didn’t have a name for the EP. She was toying around with a few, but nothing seemed quite right. Then, just hours before we went to press, she sent me the name: Prologue. Given everything that Yoza has been through in the last several years, and the shift that this seems to represent, I think it’s perfectly fitting.