Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae releases a ten-track album Grateful— where soul, reggae, and spoken word trace the sound of liberation.
With Grateful, Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae delivers more than an album — she offers a living document of art, politics, and personal truth. Rooted in her acclaimed Black And Free project, the record expands her decades-long exploration of Black expressive culture into a deeply felt soundscape that is equal parts testimony and vision. Across ten tracks, Keleta-Mae bridges scholarship and songcraft, transforming lived experience into music that resonates as both a personal reckoning and a collective call.
The album opens with “You Are the Light,” an anthem of vulnerability and empowerment. Confronting conformity, shame, and intimidation, the track instead soars with resilience — its chorus a mantra of hope and its bridge a call to inner freedom: “Stay close to you, hear your whispers, you are free.”
Naila explains,
“I wrote this for my children. I wanted to put in song one of the central lessons/understandings that I’ve gained from almost five decades of living the ebbs and flows of life… This song is also a mantra: ‘No matter what you may face, know there’s a way.’ One of the most difficult and unexpected realities of parenting is that you can’t fully protect your children from the harshness of life. What can I offer them instead? This song is an offering to them. What’s surprised me though, is that I’ve been singing the lyrics to myself lately, reminding myself to believe in myself and to listen to my heart, head and universe.”
Midway through the album, the title track “Grateful” rises as a mantra of resilience. Its chorus — “I am grateful for today, so very grateful for today” — turns gratitude into both shield and practice, acknowledging life’s instability while insisting on hope. Prayer-like in its repetition, the song transforms hardship into a declaration: no matter what comes, there is still today.
Naila shares,
“I wrote ‘Grateful’ as both a declaration and a prayer — a way for someone facing a deep valley in life to still sing along with hope. What began as personal reflection grew into something larger, shaped by the political tensions of that week in 2024.”
At its heart, Grateful is both a mantra and a manifesto. Naila Keleta-Mae doesn’t shy away from life’s hardships, but instead turns them into songs of resilience, gratitude, and love. Across ten tracks, she weaves together the personal and the political with honesty and hope, leaving us with music that feels like both a prayer and a promise — a reminder that even in uncertain times, we still have today.