Bobbi Taylor and Folayan Kunerede, the dynamic duo who make up the hip-hop group Flyana Boss, radiate the essence of Black girl joy. Last summer, their social media takeover was undeniable as videos of them energetically performing their hit single “You Wish” flooded the platform. As they sprinted through Times Square, Disneyland, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, they seemed to manifest their evolution from musical newbies to mainstream superstars. Last week, when they called us from the road in San Francisco, they were in between sound checks on their first headlining tour and gearing up for the release of their fourth EP, This Ain’t the Album. So, for this week’s edition of Tour Diary, Taylor and Kunerede talked to us about life on the road, touring with Janelle Monae and Kesha, and carving out their own lane.
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VICTORIA GOLDIEE: Thank you guys for taking the time. So this is your first headline tour. How’s it been?
BOBBI TAYLOR: Great. It’s been stupendous, a dream come true. We have a show tonight, so we’re going to leave for sound check soon. We’re in San Francisco right now, or the Bay Area.
GOLDIEE: You’ve previously toured with Janelle Monae and Kesha, right?
TAYLOR: Yeah. We did Janelle for six weeks and we did three dates for Kesha. Janelle was our first tour.
GOLDIEE: What was that like?
TAYLOR: Amazing.
FOLAYAN KUNEREDE: Amazing.
TAYLOR: She’s the best. She’s so sweet. She was so hospitable. She kind of showed us the ropes through her action, the ropes of being a great touring artist.
GOLDIEE: You guys just released a new single called “yeaaa.” Tell me about it.
KUNEREDE: Yes, and we actually also just released one today called “Money At,” but “yeaaa” was the previous single. It’s been getting a lot of traction on social media. There’s been a lot of dances made to it, and now this new single that we released today hopefully gets a lot of love as well.
TAYLOR: Yeah. And the new EP is a collection of songs that we’ve been working on over the past few months. It’s not a fully cohesive project, per se. It’s a bunch of songs that we like so that’s why we called it This Ain’t the Album. Because it’s not an album, but it’s just a little taste.
GOLDIEE: Do you guys make music on tour?
TAYLOR: Not as much.
KUNEREDE: We’re always thinking of different ideas, but we don’t have a studio or anything set up on tour. Not this time.
GOLDIEE: How do you prepare mentally and physically for tour? Walk me through a day in your lives.
TAYLOR: We love performing, so it kind of comes naturally for us. Each day is kind of different depending on whether we’re already in the city or we’re just getting to the city and then we have a show. So it just depends, but we’re always on.
KUNEREDE: It’s basically a lot of sleep because we don’t have to drive, so we get a lot of sleep in the van, or we get a lot of sleep at the hotel. We go in for sound check and then we crush the show and then we go back. It’s like a never-ending cycle.
GOLDIEE: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
TAYLOR: We talk with each other and our DJ, OGK, or our tour manager. It’s just another day in the life. It comes naturally, so we don’t really need rituals per se.
KUNEREDE: But our tour manager gives us a hug every time before the show. He goes around and gives everyone a big hug and he goes, “Have a good show. Have fun.”
GOLDIEE: I really liked those green outfits you guys wore.
KUNEREDE: Thank you. The vibe is just like, garden fairy. So we changed from the green to pink, and then we changed from the pink to this lavender purple. But that’s basically the vibe. It’s just cute and very whimsical.
GOLDIEE: Who are your favorite artists to listen to while you’re on the road?
KUNEREDE: Really, we’ve been either sleeping on the bus or watching reality shows. We watch Love Is Blind, the new season, and our tour manager has been listening to Dissect, I think it’s called. The Kendrick Lamar album, podcast thing. I’ve been reading a Maya Angelo book, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing.
GOLDIEE: Who are your inspirations? Or anyone whose career you might want to emulate?
KUNEREDE: It would kind of be a culmination of a bunch. It wouldn’t be specifically modeled after one person’s career. We want to really stand out as a duo, as something that’s different and that people have never seen before.
TAYLOR: Yeah, we’re carving out our own lane. We’re multimedia artists, so stay tuned to what’s next.
GOLDIEE: Do you have any skin-care or self-care routines on the road?
TAYLOR: Well, I normally have a good one when I’m at home, but I’m lucky if I wash my face every day.
KUNEREDE: For me, just shea butter and the essentials: brush your teeth, wash your face, nothing special.
GOLDIEE: Bobbi, I saw you got a tattoo on tour.
TAYLOR: Yeah, in Austin. I wanted to get five tattoos on tour, but I only got that one so far and we only have three shows left. It was sporadic, but also I knew I wanted to get it.
GOLDIEE: What’s been your favorite city so far?
TAYLOR: There’s been a few. We always love Chicago. Detroit was awesome. Toronto was awesome.
KUNEREDE: Detroit was very lit. I liked Detroit a lot. Nashville was fun, too.
GOLDIEE: Do you have a least favorite?
TAYLOR: We do, but we won’t share it. [Laughs]
GOLDIEE: Did you guys get to visit your hometowns?
KUNEREDE: We went to Dallas, that’s where I’m from, and we went to Detroit, that’s where Bobbi’s from. Our families are so supportive and loving and they all came out. They knew we wanted to be big stars our whole lives so none of this is surprising to them.
TAYLOR: Yeah, exactly. I think the main thing is when we’re with our fans, sometimes our family is like, “Come on, let’s take a picture right quick.” And it’s like, “No, we have fans here.” They’ve got to get used to us having people to attend to. But our families are very supportive.
GOLDIEE: Do you guys have plans for a full-length?
TAYLOR: We do have plans. We don’t know when yet, but we are making plans.
KUNEREDE: No details, but it’s in the atmosphere.
GOLDIEE: Are there any big stars you guys would want to open for?
TAYLOR: I think the next step for us would be opening for an arena artist. There’s so many: Doja, Meg the Stallion, Nicki, Cardi B, Lizzo, we could go on and on and on. Oh, Lady Gaga.
GOLDIEE: What’s one thing you wish you could tell your fans that you just haven’t gotten around to?
TAYLOR: Every night we kind of give them a speech of appreciation. For the fans who haven’t come to a show, we just really appreciate all the support and how cute and creative and queer and welcoming and loving they are. We love the way they dress and decorate themselves. We’re in awe of them.
GOLDIEE: How chronically online are you?
TAYLOR: Oh, we’re internet children.
