Yola American Music Awards performance PR Campaign (by Doug Hall / Big Feat PR)
The Moment
In late 2022 Black British rising superstar Yola was selected to perform at the American Music Awards alongside superstars Stevie Wonder and Pink. This would be her introduction to the nation through their lyric driven and discovery moment, The Song Of The Soul, which spotlights an emerging, mission-driven artist that has inspired change and invoked social justice through their lyrics. Yola was to perform her song “Break The Bough,” written in 2013 following her mother’s funeral. Her genre bending mix of R&B, soul and classic pop, soundtrack her poetic lyrics, which wish for her late mother to find the joy she couldn’t find on earth, and are an anthem for anyone dealing with complicated grief. Yola’s publicist, Doug Hall / Big Feat PR was tasked with making the very best of this cultural moment for Yola, whilst also ensuring the nuanced message of the song was communicated through press interviews around the awards show.
The communication of performance's creative visuals were very important to Yola as they depicted a “false construct” of Yola’s imagined afterlife for her mother and took the form of a vibrant neon lit cityscape. This striking visual, along with a supertight live band, and Yola’s formidable vocals, was set to be one of the most epic of the evening, and Doug needed to ensure it was all everyone was talking about that evening!
The Results
Doug set up a series of exclusive interviews to highlight Yola’s big moment including a in depth interview with Variety Magazine with Chris Wilman which discussed the concept behind Yola’s performance, as well as a high profile BTS photo gallery with VOGUE.com - this in depth PR moments helped share Yola’s true vision for the performance, whilst providing the context for others to understand the nuanced relationship we can have with feelings of grief.
The performance was widely praised by publications including Vibe, Okayplayer, Usa Today, who proclaimed it one of the best of the night alongside and Billboard who stated, “Playing with a revved-up backing band in front of a backdrop that included a skyline and palm trees, Yola also provided her own tambourine accompaniment as she belted out the song’s liberating lyrics.”
It was truly one of the biggest and most important performances of the night and the press definitely agreed.
