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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCommercial Appeal journalists cover the important moments in Memphis<\/p>\n
Commercial Appeal journalists cover the important moments in Memphis and the Mid-South. Support local journalism by subscribing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/story-highlights> For Memphis-born, Mississippi-bred musician Kirby Lauryen Dockery, the last decade has seen her songs and determination bring her to an exalted place in the music business.<\/p>\n The 36 year-old KIRBY \u2014 as she\u2019s known professionally \u2014 has been hailed by global icons like Elton John (who predicted she was destined for greatness) and had her songs cut by a who\u2019s who of the world\u2019s biggest hip-hop, pop and rock stars, with tracks like Rihanna,\u00a0Kanye West\u00a0and\u00a0Paul McCartney’s “FourFiveSeconds,”\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9’s “Die With You\u201d and\u00a0Ariana Grande’s “Break Your Heart Right Back.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n She has also released several solo projects in that time, but with her latest, \u201cMiss Black America\u201d (out Aug. 29), she\u2019s digging deep into a personal and cultural experience. An ambitious concept album, KIRBY describes it as a record \u201cabout growing up in Mississippi and understanding how the fight of your ancestors, the love of your family, the blood on the land and the joy of the Sunday choir shaped how you see the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Though she still maintains a residence in Brooklyn, for most of 2025 KIRBY has been back living and working in North Mississippi. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do this project as an outsider,\u201d KIRBY says. \u201cI’ve been here since February, and it’s been quite rewarding to be here and create.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMississippi has always been a place where I’m from, but I just never carried a flag of pride about it. It might be because for most of my life, somebody was flying the Confederate flag in our [faces].\u201d<\/p>\n But sparked by the passing of her grandmother, KIRBY began to reconsider her relationship to the state. \u201cIt boils down to family,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd all of my family is here. So I had to reframe Mississippi from being a place that I left, to a land that\u2019s good, a land that\u2019s mine. It became a question of, \u2018How do I cultivate and honor where I come from?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After attending the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, KIRBY went to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. She eventually dropped out and moved to Atlanta in 2009, when a personal tragedy reshaped her life.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first love from college ended up getting killed in a car accident,\u201d she says. \u201cThat shook my world completely. When that happened, I came back to Mississippi, quite depressed. I was still very much in grief.\u201d<\/p>\n It was at this personal low point when she refocused on music. She became determined to write and record and upload a new song to the internet each day, and began reaching out to industry figures, looking for a break. \u201cI would tweet at people,\u201d she says, \u201cI would write people. I would message people from ASCAP and BMI and Universal. I was hustling and I had no shame.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually that persistence paid off as she got her songs in front of an executive at Roc Nation, which signed her to a publishing deal.<\/p>\n\n
Songwriting success opens door to career as solo artist<\/h2>\n