Aby Coulibaly

Aby Coulibaly is a genre-spanning singer-songwriter from Dublin, blending elements of soul, R&B, pop and experimental soundscapes. Singing from childhood, the playful, soul-baring 25-year-old popped up, seemingly fully formed, in 2019, as an incognito independent. The next three years brought a myriad of success, allowing Coulibaly to make her name as one of Ireland’s leading emerging artists; winning new fans at summer festivals including Radio 1’s Big Weekend and All Points East; making a memorable TV debut on Ireland’s Late Late show; a performance at Boileroom; and being tipped by the likes of NME, RTÉ, The Irish Times and Wonderland as a name to remember.

To date, she has been streamed over five million times, and this year will see Coulibaly take to some of the UK’s biggest stages in support of Coldplay and Olivia Dean. Influenced by reggae artists, Senegalese beats and the soulfulness of ‘90s R&B, she first posted lyrics on Soundcloud in 2019, later taking to Spotify in 2020 to post her first track. “I didn’t realise how big of a deal that was at the time,” she says now. “I guess I thought it would be the same as posting on SoundCloud. Looking back, I guess it was officially the beginning of my music career.” As a kid, she was confident and outgoing, before insecurities took hold later in life. “I tried so hard to fit in by wearing what they wore, going to discos, straightening my hair...” she says. “It took me until around the age of 20 to fully accept and find myself.”

As audiences grow to crave authenticity, Coulibaly provides this in spades––eschewing bigger record labels for the independent collective Chamomile Records alongside contemporaries collaborators in her scene Monjola and MOIO. Together, they host intimate listening nights, raucous events and festival takeovers, culminating in a bonafide pioneer project that continues to push the envelope for independent artists. Her work, too, speaks to the authentic. “I haven’t yet released something that isn’t a personal story or situation of my own––writing is my way of processing things and also getting things off my chest,” she says. “When my dad suddenly passed in 2023 I refused to write about it or anything that happened surrounding it because I wasn’t ready to face those emotions or accept what happened. So this year, I’m in a state of wanting to face those emotions and write about anything I wouldn’t have over the last while.”

With her soulful lyrics and thoughtful beats, she has cemented herself as one of Ireland’s most promising young stars, described by Gal-dem as “teetering on a precipice, with neo-soul on one side, and confessional rap on the other.” Last year she released her debut mixtape “At The End Of The Day... It’s Night,” released with AMF Records, a project that doesn’t tell one specific story but captures different times in the young artist’s life. “There’s something in there for everyone and that’s what I wanted. Since releasing that project I’ve been through a lot in such a short space of time, that my next project will be more cohesive in telling my story.”

Though music has a tendency to exaggerate or over sentimentalized, Coulibaly’s work is as true as her spoken voice. Lyrically, she turns her gaze outward, exploring her frustrations with a culture that tethers itself to black art without sufficiently valuing its sources. With a painfully earned soulfulness, Coulibaly is that rare thing: a musician whose raw approach comes across as utterly, utterly real.