Thank Yous
I thank you Father God for your love. In each song You remind us that we are made in the image of real, true, steady, good love. In this image we have the power to meet our potential. And a life with You is the best choice we can make to meet our potential, be our best selves, and truly change the world.
Thank you to my partner and love of my life, Tyrone Birkett for believing in me when it was so hard to believe in myself. You are my best friend… way after Jesus (lol) Love you FL.
To my family - You believed in me and I thank you!
Thank you to the musicians (Jason, Reggie, Pablo, Benny) for taking the ride with me. You are excellent not just in your craft but in your spirit. Be continually blessed!
Thank you to all the craftsman: engineers (Dave Kowalski, Rasheed Ramkissoon); photographer (Will Vaults); and style consultant (Tandra Birkett) for your professionalism, creativity, and expertise.
And thank YOU. Yes YOU reading these liner notes. I wrote this music for me, but am releasing it for you so you will know how very precious you are. Your dreams are something better and your pursuit of those dreams are worth the risk.
With love and strength - Paula
BIO (Brief)
Paula’s music and presentations are equal parts Bill Withers, Dianne Reeves and Essence Empowerment Festival.
As a vocalist, songwriter, and actress Paula has played in venues big and small including the Schomburg Library for Black Culture, the Apollo Theater, The Greene Space at WNYC, and the United Nations, and has toured as a featured vocalist with choral ensembles throughout Europe. She is also the featured vocalist in the progressive jazz group Tyrone Birkett | Emancipation.
Because she believes everyone has a champion inside that could use some reinforcement, Paula crafts performances and presentations for people going through some kind of transition. She says, “Every champion needs a soundtrack to win, and Something Better is that soundtrack.” Journey with her through trials and triumphant stories, to imagine your own path of possibilities.
BIO (Full)
Paula’s music and presentations are equal parts Bill Withers sincerity, Dianne Reeves sound and Essence Empowerment Festival soul.
Creating music ever since a child, Paula has always found joy in helping others with her gift. However, she began her professional career in musical theater working in regional theaters throughout the New York Tri-State area. Paula developed her vocal production and songwriting abilities performing R&B, Gospel, and Dance/House music, including the James “Sleepy Keys” Preston dance tune Ain’t No Runnin’ Away, produced by Willy Washington. She has toured as a featured vocalist with choral ensembles throughout Europe, and has performed and written dramatic presentations and spoken word pieces in the New York Metro area. Paula has sung in venues big and small, such as The Greene Space at WNYC, the United Nations, the Apollo Theater and the Schomburg Library for Black Culture. She has also presented and performed at several local NY entrepreneur and women’s empowerment conferences.
Currently Paula is the featured vocalist in the progressive jazz group Tyrone Birkett | Emancipation (TBE). She shines her gifts on their releases In The Fullness of Time and Postmodern Spirituals - The Promised Land. Some reviewers have said…
...the lush voice of [Paula] Ralph-Birkett is a pure joy. With the emotion that she puts into her singing one is pulled into the music to the point that you almost have the feeling that you are sitting in the same room with her, hanging on every word and phrase.”
~ Jazz Improv - Jazz Improv Magazine
..Paula Ralph-Birkett... Hers is a voice that can soar, can snap time with the best of them, and sing from the heart in a manner that not only is communicative but also deeply spiritual.”
~ Grady Harp - Amazon.com Customer Review
Although she enjoys interpreting the genius of TBE music, she has something of her own to say.
Paula wrote Something Better believing everyone has a champion inside that could use some reinforcement. But after fighting her own battles, especially the ones in her head, she found herself giving up. However one night quarantined from the global pandemic, she started listening to her own music as a source of encouragement. That’s when she realized this music was not about her, but about the freedom and joy in it to lift someone else out of a pit. For example...
Gotta Open Up Your Eyes, Paula’s take on jazz fusion, is her rebuttal to the argument that love is blind. She says “I believe God is Love, and that Love wants to show Himself to us. But Love can be hard to see through tough circumstances.” Her heart can be heard in the lyrics “Darkness is telling Lies/ Love hurt the last time/ But devotion is not blind/ To clearly see what can be/ You Gotta Open Up Your Eyes”. Empathy, originally written as an ode to the disenfranchised children at the border, takes a broader meaning with the lyrics Maybe this is the day someone will listen/ The day someone will see/ Your life has meaning/ Maybe today you’ll find just what you need/ In Empathy. And the inspiration for the title tune Something Better, with its pop-funk feel, was initially written as Paula restlessly sat at a corporate job. It too takes deeper meaning with the lines What she left on the shelf/ Dreams to Change the world/ She needs courage/ To hold them again knowing/ Life is worth the risk/ There’s gotta be something better than this.
Paula wrote this music for people going through some kind of transition. She says,
“Every champion needs a soundtrack to win, and Something Better is that soundtrack.”
In addition, to promote and expand the idea of Something Better, Paula created a keynote concert entitled Perception to Decisions: See Yourself / Be Yourself. This grant-winning presentation centers around self-perception and empowerment. She is currently booking music and speaking engagements. Connect with her on her social platforms.
