Chart-topping rap duo Flyana Boss are having their best year yet. After releasing several singles and the EP hello christ? I’m about to sing again, the two struck gold with the viral hit “You Wish,” and they haven’t looked back since. In route to their domination of the music industry, Bobbi and Folayan have set their sights on the tech space by partnering with JBL on its newest brand campaign, “JBL Makes Earbuds (For Every-One).”
The focus of this campaign is authenticity, something that Flyana Boss embodies all too well. Their eccentric style, boundary-videos and provocative lyrics have gained these young women millions of fans worldwide. Last week, Bobbi and Folayan further increased their listener-base by debuting “UFHO,” an out-of-this-world single that served perfect for the atmosphere of the NYC SoHo Store, where it premiered behind a high-energy live set by DJ Stonie Blue, alongside immersive photo experiences, JBLien activations and more.
Throughout their still-growing careers, Flyana Boss has come to be known as the epitome of individuality, which exudes JBL’s mission to champion unique self-expression. In this collaboration, the two entities will be able to amplify their respective brands, while also highlighting themes of acceptance, self-love, and confidence, among others.
In the wake of the release of their new single, Bobbi and Folayan spoke with ESSENCE about how their music aligns with JBL, life after the success of “You Wish,” and their first impressions. Through positivity and great records, Flyana Boss is poised to have a long and prosperous career in entertainment.
ESSENCE: How did this partnership with JBL come about and how do you feel about partnering with the brand of this magnitude?
Bobbi: Well, JBL reached out to us because our aesthetic fit there, aesthetic, our creativity and what we have to offer to this campaign. Being JBLiens, ourselves, being weird girls. I think it fits very well with JBL and it’s crazy because we’ve both been having JBL products for a long, long time.
Your new single that you released in partnership with JBL—was it something that you made prior and it just kind of fit the theme of the campaign?
It pretty much fits the alien theme of the content that we made for JBL.
Folayan: Yeah. That’s what’s so beautiful about the partnership that we’re doing now is because we had a song that we really loved. And it’s about us embracing our weirdness, our authenticity, and it was alien themed as well, so it was just the perfect blend.
So, I have a question about you two. Can you tell me how you two met and what was your first impression of each other?
We met each other at music school and our first impressions were just like, “Oh my God, this person is just adorable. But it took us a little bit to warm up because we’re very shy.
Yeah. She was the cutest girl I’ve ever seen, but we never told each other that.
After that first meeting, when did you decide to create music together?
About four years ago. We were both putting out our own individual stuff and I was obsessed with what Bobbi was doing, and I was just like, we should do this together. And since then it’s been pretty magical.
How much have your lives changed since the release of “You Wish” earlier this year?
So much.
I mean this is even proof of it being so crazy, like we’re with JBL on a bus right now, living the star life. It’s crazy.
Yeah. And we’re interviewing with you. That’s crazy. We’re doing stuff like this. We were just making our music and posting our TikToks and Instagram Reels and now we’re here.
But we feel very blessed and abundant, especially working with companies that fit our aesthetic as well. This is such a blessing.
Outside of your amazing music, one thing that stands out to me is your unique style. Can you tell me either individually or together, where did you guys get your fashion sense? Or what do you draw inspiration from when you’re putting pieces together?
A little bit of this, A little bit of that.
Yeah. It just depends on the day our aesthetic changes. Like today, I’m like, I’m full fur, thugging it out. But then sometimes I’m like Bohemian or emo sometimes. It just depends on the day, but we’ll see somebody wearing something cool. And then figure out a way to put our own twist on it.
This is also the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop this year too. I want to know for you, how much has Hip-Hop influenced your style and your music?
A great deal. We both grew up with brothers that were so engulfed in Hip-Hop and showing us what was cool and everything. So we always looked at it as something that was an awesome expression of blackness and—
—And creativity and even friendship. And we both looked up to our brothers a lot and they introduced us to Hip-Hop. So whatever they said was cool, we thought was cool too.
And luckily they had great taste!
What can the world expect next from Flyana Boss?
Well, we have a little music video, a short form music video that’s came out.
Yes to our single that goes along with this campaign. I don’t know if we’re allowed to say the name of the song. It’s called “UFHO,” which is not fully pg, but it’s not like a dirty song.
It’s not rated R.
Yeah. So “UFHO” dropped today and we’re going to drop a visual along with our JBL campaign and we’re so excited about it.
We’re excited about that. And then we have a tour, we’re doing our first headline tour in February next year that we’re really excited for too.
Yeah. So stay tuned. Global Domination Loading.
That’s the name of the tour?
No, but that’s actually a good name!But it’s called ‘The Bosstanical Garden Tour,’ because we want to take people along on our growth process.
