Vocalist Ekep Nkwelle Releases New Single “Good Morning, Heartache” | LISTEN!
Ekep Nkwelle Releases New Single
“Good Morning, Heartache”
Off Upcoming Debut Album
Caged Bird
Out September 25th via Mack Avenue Records
September 9, 2026 – Today, rising vocalist Ekep Nkwelle announced her newest single, “Good Morning, Heartache,” off her long-awaited debut album Caged Bird, out September 25th via Mack Avenue Records. Inspired by Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” the record details a journey from sorrow to inspiration, representing human suffering and the pursuit of a better future.
On “Good Morning, Heartache,” Nkwelle takes on the intimate understanding of a desire to leave heartache behind while realizing that it will remain waiting when a new day begins. “‘Good Morning, Heartache’ is an opportunity for lamentation,” Nkwelle explains. “The goal is not to remain in mourning but to acknowledge that, yes, we have suffered, yet we have survived.”
That balance between confronting pain and finding a way beyond it is central to Caged Bird. Across the album, Nkwelle explores the many forms that grief, longing, displacement, and resilience can take, ultimately arriving at a sense of possibility. “Good Morning, Heartache” occupies an important place in that arc, giving voice to the moments when moving forward does not mean leaving everything behind.
Nkwelle has quietly become one of the most compelling new voices in jazz today, having performed at the world’s most storied stages—such as Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, and North Sea Jazz Festival—and collaborated with legends including Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Russell Malone, and Cyrus Chestnut. All before the age of 27 and without an album of recorded music.
The singer’s love of jazz developed while attending D.C.’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where she received classical vocal training. A performance by her peers of “Sophisticated Lady,” though, proved transformative. “Oh man, I think that I really belong in this space,” she remembers thinking, dazzled by the big band swing — and less than a decade later, she was fronting the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
At the time, she dove into the music, coming up with reverence for Sarah Vaughan and Natalie Cole as she began taking jazz courses and gigging around the Capitol at bars like Jojo’s and Mr. Henry’s. Mentored by local jazz legend Davey Yarborough, Nkwelle entrenched herself in the jazz tradition as she was finding her place within the music’s next generation. She continued her jazz studies at Howard, allowing her to continue building her live chops locally while studying with pianist Cyrus Chestnut — her mentor to this day. Nkwelle then moved to New York to pursue a master’s degree at Juilliard — a shift that put her talent under an entirely new spotlight, opening doors first around the country and, not long after, around the world. With her voice, shaped by years of enchanting audiences across genres, front and center, Nkwelle’s opening statement as a recording artist gives that enduring message a vital, new sound.
Follow Ekep Nkwelle
Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Spotify | Apple Music | Tidal Music
Missing Piece Group