Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae to release a ten-track album Grateful— where soul, reggae, and spoken word trace the sound of liberation.
Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae is set to release her new album Grateful that is both personal and political. It is a sonic extension of her acclaimed research-creation project, Black And Free, which examines Black expressive culture across music, performance, literature, and digital media. The project asks what freedom looks like and feels like for Black people — and this album is one of her answers.
Multidisciplinary artist, award-winning scholar, and truth-teller, Keleta-Mae’s work moves at the intersection of art, activism, and ancestry. For over 35 years, she’s used music, theatre, and critical writing to explore — and now, propose — responses to the social, political, and economic forces that shape our lives.
Written and recorded in 2024 after a five-year pause from songwriting, the ten-track project marks a shift in Keleta-Mae’s creative approach: from analysis to offering, from bearing witness to building vision. Inspired by artist Zak Ové’s reflection that he tries ‘not to bleed on the canvas but to propose solutions,’ Keleta-Mae brings her full self — feminist scholar, artist, mother, and woman — to every lyric.
The opening track “ABCD” lays the foundation — a mantra of persistence through failure and uncertainty. “Grateful” is a tender acknowledgment of struggle that insists on hope. “Move,” rooted in the traditions of dancehall and protest, rejects hollow words in favor of lived action: “Mi nuh inna di long talking.”
Part mantra, part memoir, part mirror — this album is Grateful. A declaration. A reckoning. A legacy in motion.
Release Dates:
June 27, 2025: “ABCD” + “You Are The Light” + “I know”
July 11, 2025: “Grateful” + “Love Again” + “Better Than”
August 8, 2025: Grateful Album Release with “Move” single release
Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae Selected Accomplishments
- Principal Investigator of Black And Free, a multi-year research-creation project supporting Black artists, communities, students and scholars
- Canada Research Chair in Race, Gender and Performance and former Dorothy Killam Fellow
- Royal Society of Canada College Member
- Author of Beyoncé and Beyond (2023) and Performing Female Blackness (2023)
- Curated exhibitions and produced events spotlighting Black artists with institutions like THEMUSEUM and Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum
- Co-editor of special issues on Black performance and futures for Theatre Research in Canada and Canadian Theatre Review
- Featured commentator for CBC, BNN, CTV, The Globe and Mail, Vice, and more
