Yung Baby Tate

If “give back my keys, and get the fuck out my house ‘cause I’m bout to get back on my shit” had a sound with some knock to it, it would certainly be Yung Baby Tate’s current project, After the Rain.

After the Rain is a playful but slappin’ EP that chronicles her tumultuous, year-long relationship. The singer, songwriter, producer, femcee and dancer tells her story using a seven-track arc as her sonic attempt to escape from being codependent. “I just got tired honestly,” Tate said. “I had to be me because that wasn’t working.”

So the 24-year-old Decatur, Georgia native did some soul searching to find herself again. The only child of singer Dionne Farris, Yung Baby Tate kicks off After the Rain with “Lesson Learned,” a brief summary of her failed relationship set to ‘90s-era, mid-tempo R&B. The volume cranks a few notches when Flo Milli hops on the reaffirming “I Am.” The multi-talented “dope ass chick” grows a spine with her breathy yet seductive vocals on the percussive “Bounce” before putting the keys in the ignition of her bumpin’ “Rainbow Cadillac.” “First Date,” a breezy island-flavored groove, is her longing for a getaway. With the tender “Cold,” Yung Baby Tate yearns for cuffing season. “Let it Rain” featuring 6lack concludes the EP with electro-soul production: pondering if she wants to potentially revisit the toxic past she walked away from.

Yung Baby Tate, who released the EPs ROYGBIV in 2015 and GIRLS in 2019, brought in songwriters and producers for the first time in her career. Admitting that she wears her heart on her sleeve, she created music after talking about her problems in detail with her collaborators.

“It’s a story that was happening in real time as I was creating it,” she said. “I was losing my essence within the person I was with. I didn’t like this, and I wanted to be myself again.”

After the Rain is the first project Yung Baby Tate is releasing in partnership with Issa Rae’s record label, Raedio. It’s a proud moment for the multi-hyphenated talent to work alongside Rae after having her work featured on season four of the Emmy-nominated HBO series Insecure and its soundtrack.

“Issa is a strong, hard-working, Capricorn Black woman,” Tate said. “Her team is super excited about this project and to finally put something out. She told me she loves ‘I Am’. God is working real hard, and I’m honored to be guided by Issa.”

After the Rain symbolizes Yung Baby Tate’s renewed energy after taking a hiatus from creating and recording. The distress from Covid-19, racial injustice, and her relationship that dissolved became too consuming. From that pain, she hopes the new music and renewed spirit can encourage someone else to embrace self-love and self-confidence.

“I want people to feel good about themselves,” she said. “This year has been pretty rough for a lot of us, and at times, it can be very bleak. At the end of every storm, the rainbow comes back out, and this project is me becoming that musical rainbow again to remind people it’s gonna be alright.”