UMI
“When it’s meant, it’s meant.”
The courage to consistently have introspection has never sounded more lovely. This CUT in Blaque feature is a growing musician whose soul-touching music keeps us in tune with ourselves: UMI.
UMI (aka Tierra Umi Wilson) was born on February 9, 1999 in Seattle, Washington. UMI is a singer and songwriter whose artistry is a blissful combination of meditation and healing. For her to be relatively young, her music speaks as though she’s lived through many lives and many lessons. It’s a talent to embody this wisdom; it’s an even greater talent to translate that wisdom into songs that allows listeners to enter a whimsical wonderland.
Growing up, UMI was incredibly shy. Even with her musically-inclined family supportive of her to branch out, she would still opt to record videos of her singing instead of performing live. This led her to making several covers of songs (typically from her favorite artists, such as Frank Ocean!), which she would upload to the popular music platform Soundcloud. Eventually, copyright issues prevented UMI from continuing to upload her covers. In a graceful pivot, she decided to write and create her own original songs to continue releasing music.
Song of the Show
A CUT in Blaque segment highlighting Black LGBTQIA+ musical talent from around our community across genres through a series of artist videos, song snippets, and reviews to increase awareness amongst our people.
Armed with several songwriting journals and meditation practices, UMI began to release singles that immediately left a healing impression in the music industry. Combining a soothing mix of R&B and neo-soul, UMI creates songs with lyrics that tell stories of wellness, self-awareness, and universal intimacy. “Remember Me”, one of UMI’s first singles, was released in 2018 as part of her debut EP. This song, full of heartache and reminiscence for a past lover, set the tone for UMI’s music career. UMI released a series of more EPs, including Balance (2019), Love Language (2019), Introspection (2020), and Introspection Reimagined (2021).
UMI released her debut album, Forest in the City, in May 2022. In addition to releasing her first album, she also took to the road to start her first headlining tour, also titled Forest in the City. With this new music, UMI gives us a transparent glimpse of her growth in navigating loss, heartache, and the overall downs that we often experience. Identifying as a member of the LGBTQ community, UMI uses her platform to highlight same-sex relationship and struggles, often featured in her music videos and lyrics. This type of representation is not only incredibly relatable, but stemmed together beautifully in the name of art. UMI releases the type of music that is forever evergreen, and with every project she releases, everyone is nourished and inspired to create their own forest within their respective city.
We’re definitely in tune with UMI’s soulfulness, and we look forward to listening to her next projects! Let us know some of your favorite songs from UMI in the comments below!
Starter Pack: UMI
Each Starter Pack playlist is a curated compilation of a Black Queer artist’s greatest musical hits, further exploring the music of the African diaspora. This includes jazz, blues, gospel, rock and roll, hip hop, and R&B.