Following on from an array of bright and uplifting offerings these past few years, emerging singer and songwriter YVA has now returned with her stunning new single 'Missing Me'.
Channelling a warm and vibrant aesthetic from start to finish, 'Missing Me' makes for an incredibly heartfelt return. Using little more than an acoustic guitar and her sensational voice before building the atmosphere throughout, this new delight makes for an extremely bold and euphoric listen.
So with the new single out now, we sat down with her to find out more about her origins and what has inspired her most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
I first learned to play the flute, which not a lot of people know! Then I moved on to the guitar simply because I couldn’t sing at the same time as playing the flute unless I imited Ron Burgundy. But truly, the first instrument I heard and saw played in real life that I fell totally in love with was the cello. It was a cover gig at a pub in Northumberland and they were playing Eleanor Rigby. This woman just played the shit out of it. There’s a darkness to the cello that is hard to imitate with plugins or any other instrument; the bow across the strings is a shadowy lament. I am obsessed with the power of a drone and I think that the cello covers some of that sonically. I made it my task to make my voice sound as much like a cello as possible over the years.
What kind of music did you love as a teenager?
I constantly hopped from one genre to another. I adored TLC when I was really young, but when the hormones found me I was obsessed with Evanescence, then John Mayer, and then I discovered Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell and BB King. I fell more in love with songs than artists, but I think they really formed my approach to music in my earlier years. I wish I could say I was listening to Radiohead and Bjork when I was fifteen but I didn’t get to them until my twenties!
What was the first album you remember owning?
If it was an album my Mum bought for me, it was NOW 50 or something (my sister absolutely ripped into me for wanting it). I think the first one I bought myself was American V: A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash. I used to get albums for Christmas but that was the first real one I went out to buy and hold in my hands.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell. I think that song will follow me all through my days. We always tell ourselves we know who we are now, we’ve learned our lessons. The truth is we never really know anything at all. We’re always learning. And accepting that unknown and lack of control is really frightening; it makes you vulnerable. Both Sides Now just encapsulates that eternal, existential sadness that life is totally out of your control so, so perfectly. It’s growing out of your innocence and finding hardship and that’s something that everyone can connect with. Beautiful.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
The only thing I follow is my instinct. If I don’t feel like writing, I don’t write. I can tell if I need to because the words come unbidden when I’m making a cuppa or on the bus or something, but I try to not focus my mind on writing as an intention any more as my anxiety starts getting involved and it stops it being an enjoyable, cathartic experience. Instead, I trust words will come when they’re ready, at which point they form in my head, but I can go months and months without writing a word. I usually write in the idea as it comes together in my head, and then try to find the right sonic landscape for it. I find it hard to continue developing an idea if I don’t have a firm visual or palette in my mind. The most important thing for me to write is to nourish a safe, open space. If I don’t, my creativity just clams up and hides. The blarney stone just doesn’t flow for me.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
I love Anna B Savage at the moment, and I’ve been listening to a bit of Carabou and The Staves’ new album. Another band that I’ve been obsessed with since last year is IRAH who are fucking amazing.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
I would open for Justin Vernon or Radiohead if I thought I wouldn’t have an anxiety attack beforehand.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
I’ll be really honest here. I find the most rewarding thing about being a musician is the end result; the single; EP; album. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s the culmination of all that hard work. You bled it into existence. I know that sounds really self-involved, but I’ve spent a long time worried about what other people thought of my music and the result was I never recorded anything for a decade. So when I buckled in and focused, I had my EP to show for it, and that was more than enough. It was proof that I could do it. And every time I finish a song I just think, ‘Christ, it’s more than I thought it would be.’
I love when fans get in touch though. I’m at a point in my career and life where I’m just trying to write songs for me, and anything that follows is a huge bonus, so having people relate to what I write and how I perform is really special. Someone messaged me last week saying they were listening to me non-stop to get them through a break-up and I thought that was really wild. Music reaches people’s souls and it’s really a privilege to be able to heal someone like that. I don’t like to take credit for that though, I see music more as a tool for catharsis. If my song helps you, then that’s great, and being thanked is awesome, but take the credit yourself. You got you through that shitty time, you were strong and you healed yourself. I was just the soundtrack!
And what is the most frustrating part?
It being totally and utterly financially unrewarding. Not to mention streaming having changed the way audiences listen to music into consuming it like endlessly hungry beasts. Streaming has saturated the market, our ears and diluted its value. While the listeners get all this music for a few pounds, the independent artists suffer while the majors get richer. The irony is those same majors want you to do all the work too. I’d love to know what they do with their money. We’re being treated like invaluable, transient assets more and more, and that really sucks. I’m really hoping the #BrokenRecord and inquiry into fixing streaming that’s currently ongoing in the UK changes that. Soundcloud have spearheaded the movement into user-centric streaming, so hopefully Spotify gets up off their arses and catches up.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
"Know what you’re good at, and know what you’re not." An old friend told me that and it stayed with me for a long time. I think I had asked him why he didn’t want to be better at another instrument, or if he felt bad about not being able to do something better, and he just shrugged me off. It was the kind of confidence I think you have easier as a bloke in this industry, but it really inspired me. It took me a while to really shoulder it and come to understand it, but in the end it was the best thing anyone has ever told me. I definitely suffered from imposter syndrome a bit in my mid-twenties when I told myself repeatedly I’d been winging it, but when I remembered that advice I took courage in knowing I could top-line anything, and it was okay that engineering and tech stuff isn’t my bag. I could write parts with my voice and let my partner play them, and that was cool too. I don’t have to, nor want to, be good at everything. I think the standards are higher for female artists, but right now, I couldn’t give a shit. I’m good at what I do, and I’m bad at what I don’t. Having self-esteem and inner courage is the best armour you can have as an artist, but it takes time to get there. Once you do though, you’re untouchable.
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YVA's new single 'Missing Me' is available to stream and download now. Have a listen to it in the player below.