Chicago hip-hop and soul artist Ifeanyi Elswith first released her debut album Everything Festyle in summer 2020 through a label that is now defunct. After having her album pulled down, she’s working with Chicago label and collective Forever Noir to re-release her debut with the bonus tracks “Changeability” and a live, reggae version of her song “XO,” both teasing her new direction for later this year that she’ll be sharing through her new label as well.
She was nominated this year for “Best R&B Artist” in the Chicago Reader’s “Best of 2023” polls, and her music video “Fefestyle” was selected as a favorite by the hosts of the Genius’ show The Cosign Live. The Chicago Tribune featured her, writing Everything Festyle is “a strong introduction to Elswith’s music,” calling it a “warm, easy, charming listen rooted in sounds of the near-past.” They wrote her song “Don’t Call Me Babygirl” is a “real, true and unassuming new generation anthem.”
She frequently collaborates with other artists, including C3zR on his new album Round Voyage, and her music has been placed in shows such as HBO Max’s South Side. Vocalo wrote, “Elswith raps and croons her way through intelligent storytelling with her boundless confidence and refreshing vulnerability” and the Chicago Reader wrote the album feels like “an intimate conversation with the coolest girl on the block.”
Are you going to be giving Ifeanyi Elswith’s album Everything Festyle a spin?
