Miss Black America

KIRBY Client Information

29 August, 2025Print

Miss Black America

KIRBY Releases First New Album in Four Years, A Love Letter to The Rural South & Audiovisual Experience of The Mississippi Delta

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"When I go to the Dockery Plantation and stand on the land that my ancestors picked cotton on, sang on, danced on, and cried on, how can I not feel a responsibility to tell their story? To try and own my masters because those who started the blues indeed had a master. If you've never been to Mississippi this record should take you there"

-KIRBY

Today, KIRBY returns with her first new album in four years: Miss Black America. Short for Mississippi Black America, this 12-song collection is "an album about growing up in Mississippi and understanding how the fight of your ancestors, the love of your family, the blood on the land and the joy of the Sunday choir shaped how you see the world," says the Memphis-born, Mississippi-bred hitmaker. "It is an audiovisual experience of the Mississippi Delta, and a love letter to the rural South."

Listen to Miss Black America, and watch the videos for "Miss Black America" (feat. BIG K.R.I.T.), "Thick n County" (feat. Akeem Ali), "The Man" & "Reparations"

Hailed as "the epitome of Southern Soul" (VIBE) and a "bluesy stroke of brilliance" (Okayplayer), with "a voice molded by the gospel church and a near preternatural handling of the deep-down intensity of the blues" (KCRW), Miss Black America further expands KIRBY’s mission to reclaim her roots, and bring Mississippi music and culture to the masses. As Elton John recently proclaimed, KIRBY is "destined for great things," and with this album, she turns the page on a profound and personal next chapter, daring listeners to hear the foot-stomping, humming and yearning, and transform those sounds into purpose and power.

While KIRBY has co-written and collaborated with everyone from Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney to Beyoncé, Black Thought, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Donald Glover and more, cultivating millions of fans including Hayley Williams and countless others, Miss Black America is entirely her own. Choosing hymns over hits, stories over samples, and truth over trends, this project marks the most inspired work of her career, taking you from the Saturday cookout to the Sunday church service, while getting you through working for "The Man" on Monday. It is blues and soul music for the future, and made for those who came before her: the ancestors who danced, cried and sang on the land of the Dockery Plantation where she descends from, and where many credit as the birthplace of the Delta blues.

"I sing for those who sang on the land they worked and tilled for, but never owned. The music is unapologetically Southern, unapologetically Mississippi. When I go to the Dockery Plantation and stand on the land that my ancestors picked cotton on, sang on, danced on, and cried on, how can I not feel a responsibility to tell their story? To try and own my masters because those who started the blues indeed had a master. I believe that by shedding light on the heaviness in the soil—and in the beauty—something new can grow. You visit places where ancestors toiled, died, and bled, and somehow the grass is still green. There's sadness, yes. But also resilience. I want to reclaim what has been linked to oppression. I want to say: Today, this empowers me.

Miss Black America is a love letter to Mississippi, my family, Southern culture, and the voices of our ancestors who were gifted but not widely heard. If you’ve never been to Mississippi this record should take you there, and for anyone missing or struggling to find their roots I believe you’ll end track 12 asking yourself, ‘When you coming home?’ For me, home is my Mississippi and my Mississippi is Miss Black America."

-KIRBY

As her first full-length project since 2021’s Sis. He Wasn’t The One, Miss Black Americawas produced by Thomas Brenneck (Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones) and Homer Steinweiss (Amy Winehouse, Lee Fields), featuring a wrecking crew of like-minded musicians such as Akeem Ali, BIG K.R.I.T., Victor Axelrod, Nick Movshon, Paul Spring, Leon Michels, Dave Guy, Dan Edinberg, Robin Hannibal and more.

From the millions-views, viral title track, to album highlights like "Reparations," "Jump The Broom," "Afromations," "Mama Don’t Worry" and more, Miss Black Americacarries the weight and tension of racism and poverty, her grandmother’s passing and her father’s handwork, history and heritage, fear and freedom ("You wanna free us pay them teachers like they senators, I made a million and I never went to Harvard. I told my daddy he gone have a wealthy daughter, Blacker the berry melanin my Alma mater"), while delivering the most exhilarating experience that a politically-charged record can offer.

KIRBY has previously toured with John Legend, Leon Bridges and Pink Sweat$, and brought her raw, raspy and masterful vocals to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, COLORS and beyond, and will have more to announce soon.

Photos by Chauncey Magnum

Praise For Miss Black America

"Across the LP, she resists the idea that Mississippi represents the dregs of society and transmutes the state’s checkered history into empowerment...KIRBY sought to courageously face systemic oppression through protest music, something that's been lacking in the post-Black Lives Matter era"

Genius

"Nothing about her music is simplistic–it’s thorough while simultaneously pushing against the sounds that algorithms seem to be chasing...KIRBY fuses politically charged lyrics about racism over music that you can also dance to. This juxtaposition is impressive"

ESSENCE

"An emotionally charged demand for accountability that recalls the Sankofa spirit of Nina Simone, Taj Mahal, and Rhiannon Giddens...Miss Black America demonstrates music’s power to help us remember, help us grieve, make us laugh, make us sweat, and remind us to love ourselves"

Oxford American

"The epitome of Southern Soul...This next musical chapter will unapologetically honor her Mississippi roots as well as those who broke barriers in order for her to thrive today"

VIBE

"A musician whose soulful sound carries the influence of her Mississippi roots...a deeply personal record that blends modern soul with family history, weaving the voices of her loved ones and the stories of her home state"

Southern Living

This bluesy stroke of brilliance is from one of the more accomplished songwriters in popular music. Channeling generations of soul"

Okayplayer

"More than a musical project — it’s a cultural reclamation. It's a homecoming, a preservation effort, and a personal archive of what it means to be Black, Southern, and proud of it"

YAMS

"A voice molded by the gospel church and a near preternatural handling of the deep-down intensity of the blues"

KCRW

Miss Black America Tracklist

When You Coming Home

Bettadaze

Miss Black America

The Man

Thick n Country

Na$ty

Under Pressure

Mama Don't Worry