Yhanni Simone - GEMINI [EP Review]

R&B is on a rise in the DMV as artists are gravitating toward soul music versus rap, like they have the past few years. Yhanni Simone in particular, is one of the rising R&B acts hailing from Prince George's County. The 26 year-old singer-songwriter has been pursuing music since an adolescent. However, her music career and visibility has been on an incline since 2021. With influences like Smino, Jhene Aiko and Drake, it is tough to pin Yhanni's sound to simply just R&B or simply just Hip-Hop. Her latest project GEMINI further exposes her use and intertwining of the two genres.

Yhanni's debut project GEMINI is roughly 20 minutes or so of the singer . Though arriving at just seven tracks, the EP project was years in the making. Her address on tracks like "TTG" and "Thats Cool" paints a picture of the two-sided, often combatted as adaptable, personality of a Gemini. On "TTG" she details how quickly she can go from being the life of the party to shutting the party down. On "Thats Cool" Yhanni wishes her former partner would have communicated his unhappiness but she no longer has room to sweat it (“That's cool, that's cool / do you, screw you" she chants). She emphasizes her sexual prowess and assures her sneaky link of the lowkey-ness of their situationship on "Freak Na$ty". "Without You", a rendition sampled from Aaliyah's "I Dont Wanna Be", is an ode to a toxic partner Yhanni finds herself ready to let go of.

Though delivery was never a short coming of Yhanni's, as she evolves so does her storytelling. Much evident in her writing. Shortly after the release of GEMINI in 2022, Yhanni landed her first performance at House of Herbs DC. Maximizing the reintroduction of the Maryland singer.

January of 2022 Yhanni's single "Im Good" premiered on local station, 93.9 WKYS FM, exposing her to audiences beyond her previous local slew of listeners. Following her radio debut, Yhanni performed at LVRN Alex Vaughn's AV Sessions where she further gauged visibility from new listeners and, almost certainly, industry officials.

Looking forward to watching the rise of Yhanni Simone and R&B in general, in the DMV area.