‘WMYT’ FROM Y'AKOTO IS THE NEW EMPOWERMENT ANTHEM

Y'akoto's  [Yah-Ko-Toe] voice is so seductive that you will surely reach the end of the track just for the pleasure of hearing it. ‘WMYT’ is her most recent release, a song about her experience in a toxic relationship. In her words, ‘WMYT’ is “a true story of me taking off in the middle of the night, leaving my ex in the dust, realizing that I will never let another living human humiliate me again.”

The song begins by explaining how she had to leave because she couldn't stay in that relationship anymore, to the point where she interrogates her demons to ask if they expected to hold on to that place of pain and belittlement. Finally, a powerful phrase to remember how powerful she can be: Turn the lights off on me/ I can show you everything I can be/ Turn the lights off on me/ I’m not a star, I’m the galaxy.

Her voice is perceived as soft, raspy, and delicate. A unique style within the industry that catches the listener and makes them travel through the entire song. This singer and songwriter have lived her life on pop's most luxuriously imaginative edge, with her honeyed, totalizing voice tapping into a lineage of quietly powerful vocalists from Sade to SZA.

The accompanying music video shows Y'akoto dancing, finding the healing power of a crystal, and feeling empowered with her emotional release. 

Born in Hamburg – Germany, under the name of Jennifer Yaa Akoto Kieck, but growing up in Ghana, this artist lived in her flesh feeling very white or very black, depending on the place she was. Paradoxically, the remedy she found for that feeling of not fitting in, was to go on stage, since music is one of the few cultures in the world that celebrates and champions differences.

 “The outsider thing really inspired me to become a musician – I got to finally sing about and talk about the things I wanted to talk about,” she says. “I knew when I got onstage and had something to say, nobody would tease me or bully me.”

What began at the age of 13 with a musical band, today is perceived as a solid career that continues to grow.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Mariana González – Venezuelan journalist

I am interested in novelty, talent and creativity. I put my lyrics at the service of those who genuinely strive to build an alternate narrative about the common and humdrum. Rival Magazine has been the open window to put a face on emerging talent.