Lyyra – What Was I Made For?

Today, the new, all-women a cappella ensemble Lyyra releases their cover of Billie Eilish’s“What Was I Made For” from their debut album, Rising, due out March 27 via Warner Classics.

Lyyra’s rendition of Eilish’s GRAMMY-winning song floats as a haunting, ethereal meditation on identity. But where it diverges from the Eilish original is in its composition: with her strong background in jazz and popular music, Lyyra’s Anna Crumley doubles as the soloist and arranger for “What Was I Made For?”, and the song expands the treble and upper voice canon under her expertise.

“I think it’s such a common yet isolating experience to question what our purpose in life is and to wonder what the next steps we should take should be,” says Crumley. “This piece I think does a really, really beautiful and haunting job at sharing that all too familiar human experience. I also love genre crossing and it was a really, really  fun endeavor for me to take the pop and choral worlds and try to blend them together.”

A bright, exhilarating blend of upper voices, the groundbreaking treble ensemble is the only professional women’s a cappella sextet based in the US. “What Was I Made For?” follows Lyyra’s first release “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”

Formed by The VOCES8 Foundation, Lyyra – made up of the six bright singers Anna Crumley, MaryRuth Miller, Elizabeth Tait, Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Ingrid Johnson, and Cecille Elliott – takes its name from the constellation of stars in homage to Orpheus’s lyre in Greek mythology. The group comes from diverse traditions and backgrounds in classical, jazz, pop, and folk, which is represented in their repertoire that spans genres and decades. Rising brilliantly exhibits Lyyra’s full, exhilarating spectrum of women’s vocal artistry; the multi-genred album forms a constellation of connections between time periods – from medieval to modern – and features brand new compositions and arrangements.

“As a newly formed ensemble, our road has been full of uncertainty and incredible growth. Along the way, we’ve found deep community through music,” shares the ensemble. “This recording is a reflection of that journey, and of the powerful connection we’ve built. Our album is an ode to hope and togetherness.”

The album’s opening song, “The Hymn of Acxiom” by singer-songwriter Vienna Teng, muses on a modern concern, humanity in the digital age, through an ethereal harmonization that is magically ambiguous of era. This flows into the album’s oldest selection, 12th-century composer Hildegard von Bingen’s “Caritas abundat” (“love abounds”), a step back in time that feels soulfully seamless. Other highlights include the colorful “Dusk in June” by late-Romantic American composer Amy Beach; the romantic standard “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”; the traditional Appalachian folk song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” in rich gospel style; Donny Hathaway’s 1973 single “Someday We’ll All Be Free”, a moving expression of the singer’s struggle with a mental disorder that has since grown into a deeper ode to resilience; and Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”, two lovers’ quest for meaning across the United States. Lyyra also offers a nod to one of recent years’ most iconic celebrations of womanhood with Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”, from the 2023 Barbie movie.

Embodying the spirit of friendship and harmony, Rising offers a sweeping, angelic exploration of upper voice music in the choral landscape.

Tracklist:

THE HYMN OF ACXIOM Cynthia Yih Shih, arr. Kerry Marsh

CARITAS ABUNDAT Hildegard von Bingen, arr. Nancy Grundahl

DUSK IN JUNE Amy Beach

MOONRISE Blake Morgan

A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE Manning Sherwin & Eric Maschwitz, arr. Gene Puerling

WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN trad. Appalachian, arr. J. David Moore

RISE UP MY LOVE Leslie Savoy Burrs

SHE Laura Mvula & Steve Brown, arr. Michael Brisentine

WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? Finneas O’Connell & Billie Eilish O’Connell, arr. Anna Crumley

DARK OUT OF THE NIGHT Peter Eldridge, arr. Erik Jacobson

SOMEDAY WE’LL ALL BE FREE Donny Hathaway, arr. Isaiah Carter

AMERICA Paul Simon, arr. Blake Morgan

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