Raehann Bryce-Davis drops “The Beauty in my Blackness,” the second single from her forthcoming debut album, EVOLUTION

The beauty in my blackness isn’t open to debate.

My life force irrigates:

Irrepressible, irresistible, undaunted, undimmed, unmistakable, unashamed.

“The Beauty in my Blackness,” an anthem of self-love with music and lyrics by Maria Thompson Corley, is the second single to be released from “Evolution,” the forthcoming genre-bending, self-produced debut album from Raehann Bryce-Davis, “one of the best mezzo-sopranos of this generation” (New York Observer).

“The Beauty in my Blackness” is a celebration of Black joy, released during Black Music Month in the days before the celebration of Juneteenth National Independence Day. With a goal of creating a unique, modern sound, Raehann provided Maria with musical inspirations ranging from Coldplay to music composed by Michael Abels for the Jordan Peele film, Us. The song is produced by Andrew Richards, with Jeanne-Minette Cilliers on piano, Reuben Kebede on violin, and Thapelo Masita on cello. Raehann is joined on vocals by her cousin, Alexandra Gouveia, a rising third grader from Crowley, Texas, who sings the first lyrics on the track, “The beauty in my Blackness isn’t open to debate.”

“There is so much talk in the news about Blackness, much of it describing tragedy and hardship. After premiering Maria Thompson Corley's song, "I Am Not an Angry Black Woman," in 2021, I wanted to sing something celebratory and full of self-love,” said Raehann. “Maria was one of my earliest musical influences, going back my time at the University of Texas at Arlingon. I didn't see people who looked like me in my music history textbook alongside Mozart and Wagner. My older sister Yolanda called me out one day and said, ‘Geez... don't you ever sing anything by people from your own community?’ After a couple moments of embarrassment, I decided to fix that and started on a journey to find out about and program the music of Black composers. The first songs I connected with flowed from Maria's fingers. It felt right that a woman who symbolized my heritage and a young girl that represented a bright future join with me to create this beautiful celebratory anthem.”

"Writing this song was such a joyful experience,” Maria Thompson Corley said. “While the words reflect on my hard-won self-image, they were also inspired by my impressions of Raehann, who embodies abundant confidence and a sense of the undeniable. I loved the opportunity to write a song that, at least in my mind, combines classical music with elements of Black vernacular sounds. I see no hierarchy in musical genres: either it speaks to me, or it doesn't. I am grateful to be part of a project that so beautifully embraces this philosophy.”

A graduate of the University of Alberta (B.M., Piano) and The Juilliard School (M.M., D.M.A., Piano), Corley has performed in venues like the Liszt Academy. Her solo and collaborative recordings are released by Naxos, Albany, MSR Classical, and others. Excerpts from her albums have been featured in films and television soundtracks, as well as on radio and digital platforms, nationally and internationally. She has been commissioned by Cincinnati Opera for a 2026 world premiere based on the life of U.S. Congressman John Lewis, featuring a libretto by Diana Solomon Glover. Corley’s short-form opera The Sky Where You Are (Jenny O’Connell, librettist) premiered in 2020 as part of The Decameron Opera Coalition’s award-winning virtual series, Tales from a Safe Distance. The Place (Sandra Oyinloye, librettist) was commissioned by Lyric Opera of the North.

Raehann says her debut album entitled “Evolution” delineates her own evolution as an artist and tests the limits of how the operatic voice can adapt and evolve in different climates, fusing her operatic vocals with Afrobeats, pop, Latin Beats, musical theatre, Dancehall, and more.  In a time when many opera companies face extinction, the album explores how evolution can create a thriving, opera-sized species for a new age.  The first single, “I Praise the Dance,” composed by Rene Orth, was released on May 24. The full album will drop this fall, following her performance as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore at Houston Grand Opera (Oct. 18-Nov. 3).

“Evolution” is fiscally sponsored by the Living Heritage Foundation and primarily funded through crowdsourcing. Raehann calls the album an autobiography, both musically and thematically, connecting her operatic voice with a diverse cast of collaborators and genres.  An Afrobeats track is produced by South African, OB tha Producer, and features Karl Wine, a recording artist from French Guiana (Fuego, Baila). A Latin Beats track is produced by and features recording artist EJ Galvez and a Dancehall track features Jamaican Dancehall/Reggae artist D.A.Jay with beats by OB tha Producer.  Other tracks are genre-bending explorations by classical composers B.E. Boykin, Peter Ashbourne, Jacqueline Hairston, and more.  The album features pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, who has been hailed as a “pianistic poet;” the Ivalas String Quartet, dedicated to the celebration of BIPOC voices and presently the graduate resident string quartet at The Juilliard School; Juilliard graduates, cellist Thapelo Masita, and Reuben Kebede; and Manhattan School of Music composer/percussionist, Christian X. M. McGhee.

The album comes on the heels of a successful 2023-2024 season in which Raehann debuted at Santa Fe Opera as Ježibaba in Rusalka in a new production directed by Sir David Pountney and conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, and at Opera Philadelphia as Lizzie in the world premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse by Rene Orth and Hannah Moscovitch. She also returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Ella in X: The Life and Times of Malcom X in a new production by Robert O’Hara, and Dutch National Opera to sing La Zia Principessa in Il Trittico, a new Barrie Kosky production conducted by Lorenzo Viotti, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Amneris in Verdi’s Aida with Marco Armiliato conducting.