Ayoni

20-year-old Barbadian pop singer Ayoni releases her debut album IRIDESCENT today (independent). The project positions her as one of the most exciting artists to enter the pop arena today with the likes of Lorde and Adele. A vehicle for self-discovery and healing, IRIDESCENT delves into her journey through adolescence, divine femininity, and the ever-changing nature of personal peace.

Born in Barbados and later finding home in Singapore, Indonesia and the US, her music is lined with her experiences as a young Black woman and an immigrant navigating the world and finding her identity through it all. Playing the piano, guitar and producing, Ayoni pushes the sonic boundaries by infusing her moody and ethereal pop sound Aretha Franklin, Patrice Rushen and Frank Ocean. Her music also implores electricity and brightness as she confidently and uniquely uses genre-fluidity to speak to a world audience.


"Iridescent is a good night when you realise it; The dance floor at 3am, the arms of your lover, a freeway ride, and newfound freedom. It is also the morning after, the train ride home, and the silence when the door closes and you’re alone again. Created as a chronology to my first year in South Central from Jakarta, Indonesia, this record is everything at once. It relishes in the intensity of the heights *because* it knows that the lows will come, and it holds you through them. The word iridescent describes something ‘showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles’. I chose this word as the title of this project because each of the 8 tracks differ entirely from each other in theme and genre, but they all still stunningly inform who I am and how I came to be. Iridescent is heartbreak, loneliness, pain, anger, joy, power, peace, lust, love, and destiny, but most of all it is true. I am iridescent. This is my coming of age and an extended invitation to the world I created for myself." - AYONI