NME ELVIS SPECIAL EDITION US VERSION

YOLA
YOLA’S
career is
something even
more stirring
than an overnight
success story:
it’s a triumph of
perseverance, self-belief and pure
talent. The Bristol-born artist has
toured as a member of Massive
Attack and written songs for Chase &
Status and Katy Perry, but now she’s
a star in her own right. With two
brilliant albums melding Americana,
soul, rock, doo-wop and disco, 2019’s
‘Walk Through Fire’ and 2021’s ‘Stand
for Myself’, this genre-fluid musician
has picked up six Grammy
nominations and established herself
as a major live draw who’s soon to
headline Glastonbury’s Leftfield
Stage. First up though she’s playing
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the trailblazing
singer-guitarist who invented
rock’n’roll, in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (as
well as contributing to the official
soundtrack). Here she discusses why
it’s such a pivotal role.
Hey Yola, how does Sister
Rosetta Tharpe feature in Elvis?
“Who she is in the film is who she was
in Elvis’ life: his raison d’être. He grew
up idolising her and would run home
from school to listen to her radio
show. He was drawn to music
because of his obsession with her, so
I come into the film as this incredible
point of inspiration. On the other side
of that, you have this person who
takes all of that inspiration, all of that
excitement, and destroys it: Colonel
Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. He
and Sister Rosetta are almost the
antithesis of each other.”
Will we be shocked to see Tom
Hanks, who’s so universally
beloved, in such a villainous role?
“If there’s ever been a show of range
from Tom – and he’s had so many in
his career – it’s got to be this. I think it
stands to be an iconic moment in
cinematic history when we finally
meet a loathable Tom Hanks
character. I can’t wait for you to
see it; honestly, your mind’s going
to explode.”
Vocal point: Yola as Sister
Rosetta Tharpe in Elvis
Early in your career you were
told by a record exec that “no
one wants to see a Black woman
sing rock music”. Does it feel
amazing now to be playing the
Black woman who quite literally
invented rock’n’roll?
“It’s the ultimate ‘fuck you’. I grew up
listening to Sister Rosetta, so when I
heard that, I thought one thing: that
some people at the top of this
industry don’t necessarily know
about music. I realised you could be
an idiot and still be in a really high
position because of nepotism and
privilege. And from that point on,
I figured it was safe to assume that
this industry might not be a
meritocracy. You know, it took
everything for me to come from
nothing, from literally having lived on
the streets, to where I am today. And
it took a long time. So that moment
was just an early indicator of the way
it was going to be.”
You’re headlining Glastonbury’s
Leftfield stage on June 26.
Are you excited?
“For me, it feels like a real moment of
recognition without any kind of
asterisk or condition attached. You
know, I played Glastonbury in 2008
with Massive Attack. We headlined
the Other Stage and opened the set
with a song that I wrote (‘All I Want’).
And then I sang some songs they had
recorded with Shara Nelson and
Hope Sandoval. I was in this exalted
position, but I was attached to
someone else’s machine. So now, it
feels like a real uplift for me as an
artist to be headlining a stage like
this. And to be doing it with a record
that contains protest songs is
even sweeter.”
Finally, what do you want
people to think when they
hear the name Yola?
“I guess I’d like people to
recognise the unifying I’m doing in my
music. I like rock’n’roll, I like disco, I
like soul, I like Americana – and I find
myself in all those spaces. But those
spaces aren’t separate from one
another. Hopefully people will notice
that the connections I’m making
musically show that everything
is a lot more related than you
think. That’s the message I
want to spread.”
“Who she [Sister
Rosetta Tharpe] is
in the film is who
she was in real life:
Elvis’ raison d’être”