INTERVIEW: IYAMAH, blending rnb, soul, hip hop, jazz and reggae from Brighton
Growing up on the sounds of African drumming and reggae music in the seaside town of Brighton (UK), IYAMAH is focused on developing a distinct soulful R&B sound which she describes as ‘Rootsy Soul’; a combination of Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz & Reggae. Last night she presented her music live at Les Nuits Weekender 2026 in Brussels and we had the chance to get to know her better after her first ever show in Belgium.
IYAMAH has performed at multiple festivals including Cross The Tracks, Lost Village, and R&L, had huge support from BBC introducing and recorded live sessions for Metropolis Songs, Red-bull and Majestic Casual, and sold-out multiple headline shows in London including The Jazz Café, O’MEARA and Lafayette. She has accumulated over 35 million streams and received continuous support from BBC 1Xtra, Elton John and The Joe Budden Podcast.
Q: When you first decided to pursue music as a singer, did you already have a clear vision of the kind of artist you wanted to be and the music you wanted to create?
A: I think I'm quite an indecisive person, really, when it comes to a lot of things. But for some reason, I always knew that I wanted to be a singer. I think for me, the hardest part was actually getting up in front of people and being a performer. You know, it's all well singing in my bedroom for myself. But it took me a long time to sort of gain that confidence, but it's been such a beautiful journey.
There was one point where, because I was always quite quick at running, so there was one point where I was like, will it be sport or will it be music? But I think, yeah, the sound of the gun for me, I was like, no, music always over it.
"For some reason, I always knew that I wanted to be a singer. I think for me, the hardest part was actually getting up in front of people and being a performer."
Q: How did you start building your career as an artist? Did you actively seek out opportunities to perform on stage, or did you begin by collaborating with other musicians and gradually finding your place in the music scene?
A: Yeah, so I was always writing songs at the beginning on the piano for myself. But I found it more difficult to sort of find where and how I'd go about sharing those songs. So I actually started writing drum and bass top lines. So yeah, the first song that I ever released was actually a top line for drum and bass track. And yeah, that's kind of how I started my career.
Yeah, so it was crazy because I went from just singing songs on my piano to myself in my room to these huge stages, you know, with the drum and bass tracks, which was amazing. And then I kind of decided, actually, I want to focus on my own stuff now.
Q: At Les Nuits Weekender, you gave us a taste of your upcoming album and mentioned feeling a little nervous about how it will all come together. At a time when many artists focus on releasing singles rather than full-length projects, what made you decide to create an album? And how did you approach shaping it into a cohesive body of work?
A: It's a good question. I think like for me, I've always been writing an album, since the beginning, very, very stages of my career. I always knew what my album felt like and I thought that this was the album that I'd be releasing first. And then, you know, I always felt like I needed to grow to be able to finish these songs because they were almost bigger than me, you know. So I had to sort of release little EPs, little projects here and there, sort of figure myself out as an artist and this album ended up being so big and overwhelming for me that it actually splitted into two. So the album that is now coming out first has evolved from something that it was before. So yeah, it's quite a crazy thing. It's almost like the first thing I ever sort of thought of has taken the longest time to finish. I feel like, yeah, my album that will come later down the line will probably be the first thing I ever started writing.
Q: Many artists use live performances as an opportunity to introduce unreleased music and see how audiences respond. Is that something you do as well, to test how the songs feel on stage and gauge the audience’s reaction? And how much weight does that feedback carry in your creative decisions? For example, if a song doesn’t get the reaction you expected, would that make you reconsider releasing it?
A: It definitely has a weight. But I think, sometimes it depends on what the venue is like, what the mood is like in the room. Some songs might, there's some songs that I performed tonight that I've done really, really well and got an amazing reaction in the past in a different venue in a different scenario. But it definitely helps me make a decision on what maybe the track felt like on stage, if it was missing something, the sort of overall sound of it and how it felt singing it live, do I need more backing in the vocals, stuff like that. Definitely like it's nice to test them out live, especially doing it with a live band as well. That's something that really helps me when I'm finishing tracks and then I take the unfinished tracks to my band. And my band will come up with all these things I hadn't thought of in the studio, so it's really cool to test out stuff live and nice to see people's reaction, definitely.
Q: You mentioned that it's the first time you performed in Belgium, but is it actually also the first time also visiting Belgium? What a privilege for us! Have you performed but in other places than the UK?
A: Yeah, I know, I can't believe it. There's so many amazing places in Europe that I haven't even been and Belgium was one of them. So yeah, I'm so happy to be here.
I've been really lucky, you know, I've performed in quite a few different places. It's my top, top thing that I want to do and aspire to do is, being able to work and travel at the same time. Music is obviously my passion and travel is a huge passion of mine. So I feel very grateful to, it's the best feeling for me going to a new city I've never been to before. It's just like, that's where I get my inspiration.
Q: So what is next for you? So you're working on your album. Do you have also some dates, some concerts, some festivals, or it's more like the 2027 thing?
A: I've got a couple little things here and there. This was my last thing abroad. So I've got a show next week in London, which I'm really excited about, which is where I'm going to also test out my new songs with my people back home. So yeah, so I've got a show on the 5th of November, in Soho, that'll be good. And then I've got another show at the Jazz Cafe, one of my favourite venues. But other than that, yeah, it's sort of like exciting to rest now for the rest of the year, just trying to wrap up this album. And then next year we're going to come in hard.
Are you reading you from London? Catch IYAMAH live in the coming weeks:
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