Hannah Williams & The Affirmations

Hannah Williams & The Affirmations are a British soul and funk outfit built around vocalist Hannah Williams, working in the raw, horn-driven vein of classic 1960s and 70s deep soul rather than a more polished retro-soul sound. Their music draws on gritty, live-band instrumentation, punchy brass arrangements, and Williams' powerful, emotionally direct voice, placing them alongside the broader UK and European deep-funk revival scene.

The group gained significant wider attention when their song «Late Nights & Heartbreak» was sampled prominently on a track by Jay-Z and Kanye West, introducing their sound to a hip-hop audience far beyond their existing funk and soul fanbase and highlighting how their material has proven fertile ground for sampling. Beyond that crossover moment, songs like «Tame in the Water», «In Your Arms», and «Still in My Head» showcase their core strengths: tight rhythm-section grooves, soulful vocal delivery, and arrangements that recall the golden era of deep soul without simply imitating it.

Hannah Williams & The Affirmations occupy a respected niche within the contemporary soul and funk revival, valued for authenticity of performance and songwriting rooted in the emotional directness of classic soul traditions, and for demonstrating how that tradition continues to feed into modern hip-hop and sampling culture.