Since her debut album HEAVN last year (one of my albums of the year), Jamila Woods was a little bit quiet after the tour run and I honestly didn't expect anything new from her so soon. In the past I've described listening to Jamila's music as a form of self-care and so when this thumbnail popped up on my YouTube homepage I couldn't have clicked it faster.



This visual is simply stunning. I had to watch it twice back-to-back just to catch some of the nuances that I was sure that I'd missed. The various sets and LOOKS came together beautifully wrapped around snippets of commentary from empowered yet everyday Black wxmen. The mantra (adapted from Nikki Giovanni's piece - 'Ego Tripping') "there must be a reason why" comes at a time when we're closing in on the end of a confusing and uncertain year and leaves a dim glimmer of hope and purpose for the months to come. Jamila continues to make art that not only represents her, her life's inspirations and how she feels but also that resonates with most of those listening.  In a world that oftentimes makes it challenging to do so, Jamila consistently makes me feel, from my head to my toes, proud to be a Black wxman. She couldn't have picked a more crucial time to bring new music into my life.

Taking us into day four of my favourite albums of the year countdown we have Jamila Woods with her debut solo record - HEAVN - in at number 27.

I actually first stumbled on Jamila's work after somebody tweeted out a link to her video for "Holy" earlier this year. I remember thinking that the thumbnail looked cool and so I saved it to come back to later. I can't tell you how many times I've saved a tweet or a video to go back to and have just completely forgotten about it. Somehow with this track I remembered, and thank goodness I did. "Holy" is still one of my favourites on the record, not only because of how great her vocals sound over the simple melody, but mostly because of how good it makes me feel. A big part of why I liked this album so much is because just singing parts of it or putting it on when I was feeling despondent was such a mood lifter, it almost felt like a form of self-care.

A few words on some other tracks that stuck out to me were "VRY BLK (feat. Noname)", "HEAVN", "In My Name", and "Blk Girl Soldier". "VRY BLK" has the catchy kind of hook that you find yourself humming in the middle of the day, and the addition of Noname on the track only adds that extra sprinkling of carefree vibes. "HEAVN" is actually the track that I play to people to introduce them to Jamila - probably the one I'd most like to hear with a live band on it. "In My Name" was actually one of the more memorable tracks for me because of the skit that came before it speaking on the power in a name, really thought-provoking piece. Finally on "Blk Girl Soldier" that beat knocks out - it reminded me a little of some of the beats on New Amerykah Part One - which is never a bad thing.

I do feel like the length of the record was a little bit excessive. As good as each song was, I don't feel that all of them necessarily needed to make the cut, which meant that from time to time it disrupted the flow of the album. However, the overall concept of the album is fantastic, and speaking on topics that have affected the black/POC community in the past and today; the album ended up acting as a source of empowerment for me on more than a few occasions over these past few months.