Backstage playlists are rarely just casual background noise to pass the time before a set. For an artist taking a project out on the road, the tracks spinning in the dressing room often reveal how they focus their energy and prepare for the crowd. Uche Yara, the Austria-born and Berlin-based songwriter, recently offered a direct look at the sounds shaping her routine by putting together a playlist of the songs that set the tone before her Bodyscanner live dates.
Shared across Spotify and Apple Music, the selection pulls together work from Princess Nokia, Little Simz, Doechii, Leikeli47, and Alewya. Each of these artists operates in a distinct lane across alternative rap and club rhythms, yet they all share an ability to combine lyrical precision with an uncompromising performance energy. In Yara's dressing room, these records serve as a functional bridge between the stillness of waiting backstage and the physical demands of the stage itself. Instead of easing into the night, she turns to artists known for sharp vocal delivery and raw presence, channeling that momentum and rhythmic weight before stepping out under the lights.
That focus on high-impact music matches the ambition of her debut album, Bodyscanner, which arrived in September. The record deliberately steers clear of easy escapism, engaging directly with historical injustice and the climate emergency. Rather than treating those crises as remote political concepts, Yara approaches them as immediate physical sensations. She has spoken about how witnessing a burning globe felt like a horrific reality registered directly within her own body, a sensation that motivated her to translate that exact physiological weight into her lyrics. Carrying that kind of thematic gravity into a live room every night demands intense focus, which makes her energetic pre-show lineup feel like a deliberate preparation for the show.
Tackling such heavy subject matter without losing artistic freedom comes down to Yara's creative method, which relies on instinct rather than rigid formal structures. That approach reaches back to her formative years, shaped by early mentors who encouraged her curiosity. Yara has noted that she was fortunate to learn from teachers who nurtured her inner child while instilling discipline and an avant-garde fearlessness. Those educators, as she describes it, laid down the fertile soil where everything she makes today continues to grow. That blend of technical discipline and open experimentation is central to Bodyscanner, where personal instinct dictates the path of every arrangement.
When an artist tours a record that carries real conceptual weight, the rituals surrounding the show become an essential extension of the performance itself. Gathering tracks by Doechii, Alewya, and Little Simz is less about casual listening and more about setting an intentional charge. For Yara, the playlist functions as a clear statement of intent, locking down the rhythm, focus, and energy she plans to unleash in front of an audience.
