Words by Rosalind Thacker
This week, the unorthodox R&B sound of Irish artist Aby Coulibaly gets the Discover treatment.
If there were ever a picture-perfect definition of a rising star, it would be Aby Coulibaly. While the rest of us were baking banana bread and watching Tiger King during lockdown, the young artist was quickly making a name for herself in the crowded arena of R&B – and she’s yet to release a single in a pandemic-free world.
Her debut single, “Taurus”, dropped last summer, and provided a nation in the depths of isolation with some soothing, modernist soul music just when it was needed most. The 21-year-old’s progression into the music industry has been an organic one, with her first songs written and recorded in her bedroom. Aby grew up listening to an eclectic mix of reggae, Senegalese hip hop and 90s-era R&B and rap, and it’s clear these genres have influenced her music, blending together seamlessly to create her unorthodox sound.
Aby quickly followed things up with her second track, “Maybe”, and then “Long Nights”, with both receiving an equal amount of buzz as she added another dimension to her already-composite sound. The latter features Aby’s sublime vocals, with the soft touch of her Irish accent shining through when she raps over a minimalist beat.
“Long Nights” is a song about female empowerment; Aby wrote it following an encounter with a girl who treated her badly for no reason. It led her to question why women feel the need to compete with each other instead of empowering and lifting one another up. The Lauryn Hill-inspired beat helps paint a verbal picture, alongside Aby’s impressive vocal delivery and powerful lyricism – “It’s really been a long night, why are you so hurt you take it out on me? Insecurity so loud, it feels like you’re shouting me.”
In Aby’s quest for independence, she has formed her own music label, Chamomile Records, which works to the philosophy that it’s all about the music. The label is home to another rising Irish R&B talent, too, in the shape of Monjola.
The fact Aby has been able to build such a strong a fanbase without yet playing live is a clear testament to the quality of her song-writing, and we have a hunch that her eventual live audiences will be something to behold. If you hadn’t yet guessed, Aby Coulibaly is one to watch.
You can find Aby on Spotify and Instagram.
Check out the other artists in our Discover Weekly series.