"Grief became the ethos of my work and I couldn't escape that perception of me. My grief went from human to specifically Black and tasty on the lips of outsiders."
"Her records simply sound like her thoughts, and if grief makes frequent appearances, it does so along with everything else-sex, food, longing, loneliness, resentment, affection, pain, and heartache."
"Fidelity is more wistful and weightless than either or do it afraid. She raps less; she sings more. She leans into the breathier end of her fantastically versatile voice."
"The Great Migration, which mingles those sparkling keys with muted trumpet and a quick-footed drum pattern, might be the lightest and most multilayered thing she's ever made."
Yaya Bey expresses her fatigue with being defined by grief in her essay accompanying her album Fidelity. She feels her grief has become a public perception, detached from her true self. Despite this, her music offers warmth and familiarity, blending themes of love, longing, and pain. Fidelity showcases a shift in her style, featuring more singing and lighter sounds reminiscent of '90s R&B. The track 'The Great Migration' exemplifies her ability to deliver affirming messages to Black people with simplicity and clarity.
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