WEBVTT - Nilüfer Yanya 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.916 Pushkin. Hey, y'all's justin Richmond. Today on the show, we 0:00:23.036 --> 0:00:27.116 have twenty seven year old British singer songwriter Nilafer Yanja. 0:00:27.756 --> 0:00:30.676 Nilafer Yanja is a West London native who comes from 0:00:30.716 --> 0:00:33.676 a background as diverse as her city. All of that 0:00:33.716 --> 0:00:37.596 finds its way into her music, overlaid with her rich voice. 0:00:38.436 --> 0:00:41.636 After several years of hitting London small stages and open 0:00:41.716 --> 0:00:45.196 mics with her guitar, Nillifer broke through in twenty sixteen 0:00:45.276 --> 0:00:48.756 with a series of soulful indie poppy pas and singles 0:00:48.876 --> 0:00:52.196 that started leading to some critical acclaim. I spoke with 0:00:52.276 --> 0:00:54.836 Nilapher in April, just after her performance at the first 0:00:54.876 --> 0:00:58.716 weekend of Coachella about the release of her second album, Painless. 0:00:59.396 --> 0:01:02.676 The album's tracks, laden with electronic drums and rockets guitar, 0:01:03.116 --> 0:01:07.676 play like a diary entry wrenched with heartbreak, loss and hope. 0:01:08.276 --> 0:01:11.836 Painless follow Nilla Fer's debut album, Miss Universe, which also 0:01:11.956 --> 0:01:15.756 hinted at her fascination with nineties alt rock melodies. On 0:01:15.796 --> 0:01:19.636 today's episode, Nilafer shares the collaborative songwriting process she has 0:01:19.756 --> 0:01:22.716 that created her new album with her producer Will Archer 0:01:22.796 --> 0:01:28.556 and friend saxophonist and multi instrumentalist Jazzy Bobby. She also 0:01:28.596 --> 0:01:31.036 talks about writing her first songs at ten years old 0:01:31.316 --> 0:01:33.756 and about how she always dreamed of being a guitarist 0:01:33.756 --> 0:01:39.756 in a band, not a solo act. This is broken 0:01:39.796 --> 0:01:43.156 record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richard. 0:01:44.276 --> 0:01:47.276 Before we get to my conversation with Nila Freyanya, here's 0:01:47.276 --> 0:01:50.276 a live performance of her song The Dealer with frequent 0:01:50.316 --> 0:02:25.396 collaborator Jazzy Bobby. It's been baking on my mind. Oh 0:02:26.676 --> 0:02:30.876 seems to lose me for the time, for count the 0:02:31.036 --> 0:02:35.156 decision you are for You are someone to life and 0:02:35.436 --> 0:02:39.876 smell like you to say, said speaking to the bone. 0:02:41.716 --> 0:02:46.156 Can somebody see? Somebody says I might ends up be 0:02:46.276 --> 0:02:50.156 all alone this smart bush, I need some time to 0:02:50.556 --> 0:02:54.236 I can't, They says, I need to know that wh 0:02:54.716 --> 0:03:00.396 umty the was the kind of pace she spakes your part, Baby, 0:03:00.516 --> 0:03:07.116 it's me that stake that set apart. I should start. 0:03:07.276 --> 0:03:14.316 Sh Goes can eat our set and stop, Patien star 0:03:14.556 --> 0:03:21.756 shot Goes can eat our sight and stop. It's been 0:03:21.996 --> 0:03:26.516 hing on my mind since I live all the time. 0:03:28.076 --> 0:03:31.436 I gonna tell a decision who I phone. You are 0:03:31.636 --> 0:03:37.316 someone to life? No nothing lost beving that do the 0:03:37.516 --> 0:03:43.996 times come back soon? Somebody asks, I hope it's just 0:03:44.076 --> 0:03:47.796 the summer time to call touch two. I need some 0:03:47.916 --> 0:03:51.956 time to work out this sit I need to Nona 0:03:52.276 --> 0:03:58.596 who Undy. What is the kind of patience takes your part? Baby? 0:03:58.716 --> 0:04:19.716 It's need a stake. I sat part m patien sta. 0:04:19.956 --> 0:04:26.956 She goes, can't eat on satin and stop patient STA. 0:04:27.236 --> 0:04:35.356 She goes, can't eat on satin, stop patient stats. She goes, 0:04:36.876 --> 0:05:00.116 can't eat on satin, stop patient stats. She goes. I 0:05:00.276 --> 0:05:15.836 listened to say, known, got of so, baby, but sometime 0:05:15.916 --> 0:05:23.316 to this is I need to know now what kind 0:05:23.356 --> 0:05:35.436 of patience. I haven't had the chance to see you 0:05:35.516 --> 0:05:38.636 live yet, Unfortunately, I want to correct that soon. So 0:05:38.676 --> 0:05:40.996 that was my first time sort of seeing you, you know, 0:05:41.516 --> 0:05:44.916 do something live. And the incredible thing I was realizing 0:05:44.916 --> 0:05:47.836 as I was listening is as great as the songs are, 0:05:48.316 --> 0:05:50.476 you know, in the way that they uniquely produced like 0:05:50.556 --> 0:05:53.996 on the records, Like even these you know kind of 0:05:53.996 --> 0:05:56.436 bare versions are just as good, like just in a 0:05:56.476 --> 0:05:59.076 different way. I would miss the recorded version, but those 0:05:59.076 --> 0:06:01.676 are so good. Thank you. I'm glad you think so. 0:06:02.116 --> 0:06:04.836 You never know if you've gone like too far away 0:06:05.116 --> 0:06:08.436 from the original version. Yeah, it's always fun to like, yeah, 0:06:09.196 --> 0:06:12.116 things out and maybe wonder how you like write the 0:06:12.156 --> 0:06:15.836 songs because they stand alone so well away from the production. 0:06:15.956 --> 0:06:18.076 But then like on the recordings, there's so much production 0:06:18.116 --> 0:06:20.276 going on, Like are you writing them with all of 0:06:20.276 --> 0:06:21.876 that stuff in mind, all the stuff that ends up 0:06:21.876 --> 0:06:23.676 on the record or did they sort of evolve into 0:06:23.796 --> 0:06:27.316 what people here on the releases? I mean it depends, 0:06:27.356 --> 0:06:31.756 Like broadly speaking, when I'm writing, there's not much production 0:06:31.836 --> 0:06:34.796 involved at the early stages, like I'll just be playing 0:06:34.796 --> 0:06:39.116 something on guitar or working something out and then taking 0:06:39.116 --> 0:06:41.276 it to the studio and then working on it from there. 0:06:41.796 --> 0:06:44.516 Once I kind of have the song. But for this record, 0:06:44.796 --> 0:06:47.676 a lot of it was made like in the studio. 0:06:47.876 --> 0:06:52.036 So I was working with my friend Will Archer, and 0:06:52.196 --> 0:06:56.356 he had a lot of not like all the produced 0:06:56.476 --> 0:06:58.516 kind of effects in there, but a lot of it 0:06:58.516 --> 0:07:00.636 was kind of feeding the process as we went along. 0:07:00.716 --> 0:07:02.996 Did you write a lot of it in studio? Yeah, 0:07:02.996 --> 0:07:05.516 So he had a lot of the guitar parts this 0:07:05.676 --> 0:07:08.796 record with like drums already in there or like effects 0:07:08.796 --> 0:07:12.436 already in then I'd write over it, I guess. Was 0:07:12.476 --> 0:07:15.476 that pretty different from Miss Universe, which was your first record, 0:07:16.076 --> 0:07:19.356 the Miss Universe was it was another kind of experiment, 0:07:19.396 --> 0:07:21.596 I guess because a lot of the songs were like 0:07:21.596 --> 0:07:24.236 old songs I've been working on for a while, and 0:07:24.276 --> 0:07:27.636 then some of them I was like writing in the studio. 0:07:28.516 --> 0:07:30.836 At what point do you bring in like say Jazzy, 0:07:30.916 --> 0:07:33.916 like you've written a song, yeah, you figure you wanted 0:07:33.956 --> 0:07:35.916 on a record. At what point do you bring someone 0:07:35.956 --> 0:07:38.796 like her into like work out parts, And you mean 0:07:38.876 --> 0:07:41.676 like for like live shows or for I guess for 0:07:41.796 --> 0:07:44.436 the records. For the songs, well, I mean Jazz wrote 0:07:44.676 --> 0:07:47.116 a couple of songs together on this record, on the 0:07:47.116 --> 0:07:49.356 new record, Like one of them was totally from scratch 0:07:49.396 --> 0:07:51.036 and one of them was more like help me, I 0:07:51.076 --> 0:07:55.236 need help. Yeah, I guess it depends. But when it 0:07:55.236 --> 0:07:57.716 comes to like doing stuff live, like I'll take it 0:07:57.796 --> 0:08:02.236 to my band, Jazzy's my band and kind of rearrange 0:08:02.636 --> 0:08:04.676 the songs or like arrange the parts for like the 0:08:04.756 --> 0:08:07.196 live shows. On the newest record, you're saying a lot 0:08:07.236 --> 0:08:09.036 of it was written in studio, So how did that 0:08:09.236 --> 0:08:12.076 work with Jazz your band? When I was working with 0:08:12.796 --> 0:08:15.396 Jazz on our song together, we just lard from the 0:08:15.436 --> 0:08:17.996 beginning together and we were writing it together and then 0:08:18.756 --> 0:08:23.876 she recorded it and produced it as Belong with You. 0:08:24.076 --> 0:08:26.476 Otherwise Jazz's not playing on the rest of the record, 0:08:26.556 --> 0:08:30.876 so mean will on most of the songs we wrote 0:08:30.916 --> 0:08:34.796 those together, recorded those I had. Ellis plays drums in 0:08:34.916 --> 0:08:36.796 my bands, come in and we do some of the 0:08:36.836 --> 0:08:41.076 drum parts, like we've already had the demo drums. Some 0:08:41.116 --> 0:08:43.076 of them are good enough to like keep, and some 0:08:43.116 --> 0:08:45.156 of them we were like, let's do live. Let's do 0:08:45.236 --> 0:08:46.836 live versions of these, and some of them is like 0:08:46.876 --> 0:08:48.756 a blend. Which ones did you end up keeping the 0:08:48.836 --> 0:08:52.436 demo drums, like, Chase me, maybe demo drubs is the 0:08:52.516 --> 0:08:57.036 right word, but like produced the first version of it. Yea, yeah, 0:08:57.276 --> 0:09:00.796 Chase Me trying to think now stabilize as a blend 0:09:01.796 --> 0:09:04.076 has like the drum machine and live drums. It's a 0:09:04.076 --> 0:09:07.636 really cool drum party. Yeah, he's kind of He's always like, 0:09:07.636 --> 0:09:11.236 why did I make this so hard when we're doing 0:09:11.236 --> 0:09:13.436 it live? Maybe the rest of them of like blends 0:09:13.596 --> 0:09:15.756 or we have live drums on that, and said, yeah, 0:09:16.116 --> 0:09:17.996 speaking of like the kind of production on this record, 0:09:18.036 --> 0:09:20.916 there's a part in the song Shameless, like maybe three 0:09:20.996 --> 0:09:24.036 quarters the way through it sounds like maybe it was 0:09:24.076 --> 0:09:26.276 a demo version of the song, which it's like you guy, 0:09:26.316 --> 0:09:29.356 it goes into like another world. Yeah, it's like piano 0:09:29.596 --> 0:09:35.396 and oboe, Yeah, some sort of ye clarinet. There we 0:09:35.436 --> 0:09:37.596 go exactly. That was Will, Like I can't only speak 0:09:37.636 --> 0:09:40.356 for him, so it felt like a very Will section 0:09:40.396 --> 0:09:42.836 as well and Will part um and that song. I 0:09:42.876 --> 0:09:47.796 was actually on the fence for a while, like, yeah, 0:09:47.916 --> 0:09:49.676 kind of what's just how I felt about it, Like 0:09:50.236 --> 0:09:52.636 something about it was almost too honest and like too 0:09:52.876 --> 0:09:54.596 up front, and it's like I felt okay writing it, 0:09:54.676 --> 0:09:57.236 but then when I was listening, like singing it, I 0:09:57.276 --> 0:10:00.476 was like, I just don't know, but I love it now. 0:10:01.436 --> 0:10:03.236 What was it about it that didn't feel right when 0:10:03.236 --> 0:10:06.956 you're singing it? I think, um, the lyrics for me, 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:09.036 and like the melody and everything kind of felt on 0:10:09.036 --> 0:10:13.796 the place two or Guy Got You Too Simple? It 0:10:13.916 --> 0:10:16.676 just fit too well. Yeah. I feel like most people 0:10:16.716 --> 0:10:18.956 would say, like if the lyrics and the vocal melody 0:10:18.996 --> 0:10:21.236 like fit really well into the song, like that's that's 0:10:21.276 --> 0:10:23.796 like a good match. I guess. So yeah, I guess 0:10:23.916 --> 0:10:25.916 maybe it was like you know, when something falls into 0:10:25.956 --> 0:10:28.596 place and then you kind of doubt yourself. You're like, well, 0:10:28.756 --> 0:10:31.596 should it that have been so like easy got you? 0:10:31.876 --> 0:10:33.836 Maybe not easier about have been a bit more of 0:10:33.836 --> 0:10:37.196 a struggle. Yeah, well, I guess it was meant to be, 0:10:37.276 --> 0:10:40.516 you know, yeah, not only like is the rhythm in 0:10:40.556 --> 0:10:43.316 your music, but also there's like a dynamic, so many 0:10:43.316 --> 0:10:46.156 of the songs sound equally kind of loud and raucous 0:10:46.156 --> 0:10:49.036 and like quiet and beautiful at the same time, like 0:10:49.036 --> 0:10:53.236 you're looking to fit opposites together. I guess, you know. Yeah, always, 0:10:53.316 --> 0:10:55.156 I think, and it kind of takes me back to 0:10:55.196 --> 0:10:57.196 how I used to write, when I was just like 0:10:57.276 --> 0:11:01.036 always working by myself. A lot of times it kind 0:11:01.036 --> 0:11:02.436 of be a challenge because you come up with one 0:11:02.436 --> 0:11:04.956 part for a song and then I'm like, for the coolest, 0:11:04.956 --> 0:11:06.476 I don't want to do the same, so I need 0:11:06.516 --> 0:11:08.356 to come off other parts. You can't need to take 0:11:08.356 --> 0:11:10.916 yourself into another like headspace, and I come up a 0:11:10.916 --> 0:11:12.876 whole of a section and then go back to the 0:11:12.916 --> 0:11:15.076 original things and just see if they fit and see 0:11:15.076 --> 0:11:17.836 if it works together. But for me, that's how I 0:11:17.956 --> 0:11:23.476 kept things interesting for myself. So I think maybe finding 0:11:23.516 --> 0:11:25.556 ways to like keep that I don't know, I guess 0:11:25.556 --> 0:11:28.116 that's always stayed with me, trying not to do something 0:11:28.156 --> 0:11:33.316 that feels too obvious. But I think I'm learning that's 0:11:33.356 --> 0:11:36.556 totally like what's obvious to me is different to you 0:11:36.676 --> 0:11:39.116 kind of thing. So sometimes I felt like there's too 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:41.276 many different things going on in one song, so it's 0:11:41.276 --> 0:11:43.916 like how to pull it back and how to simplify it. Yeah, 0:11:43.916 --> 0:11:46.196 because even on I guess like Midnight Sun, you know, 0:11:46.196 --> 0:11:48.796 like the ending you have like this, you know, crazy 0:11:49.156 --> 0:11:53.116 distortion going. It's amazing Sacks, beautiful sweet sound in Sacks. 0:11:53.156 --> 0:11:54.636 It makes me smile every time I hear it from 0:11:54.756 --> 0:11:57.116 Jazzy and such a cool, interesting contract. It makes the 0:11:57.196 --> 0:11:59.876 music such an interesting listen and just never know what's 0:11:59.916 --> 0:12:02.316 happening next, keep you on your toes. It definitely keeps 0:12:02.316 --> 0:12:04.996 me on myself. Yeah, I don't know. For me, that's 0:12:05.276 --> 0:12:08.756 the point of kind of writing a song. It's like 0:12:09.156 --> 0:12:11.516 just get bored up always, like if it always stays 0:12:11.516 --> 0:12:13.116 the same, or just go well, it has to be 0:12:13.156 --> 0:12:15.876 a really good reason why it's going to stay like that, 0:12:16.236 --> 0:12:18.196 or just not trip you up, or I'll surprise you. 0:12:18.596 --> 0:12:21.436 Maybe I'll get into that phase a got later. It 0:12:21.556 --> 0:12:23.956 sounds like you you've kind of had that inclination from 0:12:23.996 --> 0:12:26.156 the beginning. Even listening to like the EPs and stuff, 0:12:26.196 --> 0:12:27.996 it sounds like that's kind of there. I feel like 0:12:28.036 --> 0:12:30.676 the static maybe has changed a little bit, but it 0:12:30.716 --> 0:12:34.076 sounds like that basic element of your music, the element 0:12:34.076 --> 0:12:36.516 of surprise, has sort of always been there. Yeah. It 0:12:36.556 --> 0:12:38.836 kind of creates like for me, like attention and like 0:12:38.876 --> 0:12:41.436 a place to go to like a direction. Are there 0:12:41.436 --> 0:12:44.156 other artists that you can think of that do that 0:12:44.196 --> 0:12:46.036 in a way that's interesting to you? I mean I 0:12:46.076 --> 0:12:48.756 say this one a lot, but like PJ. Harvey A 0:12:48.796 --> 0:12:50.436 should do a cover of rid of Me at the 0:12:50.476 --> 0:12:53.636 moment with jazz Um. It sounds really good. I think 0:12:54.076 --> 0:12:57.796 that's a beautiful song. Thanks. I mean I didn't write it, 0:12:57.916 --> 0:13:05.156 so I can't say thanks. Yeah, yeah, no, it's just 0:13:05.676 --> 0:13:10.276 I find the way Harvey writes it's like kind of 0:13:10.276 --> 0:13:13.076 does a lot of that, like tension pulling release and 0:13:13.116 --> 0:13:16.476 like stripping things back and then kind of letting things go. 0:13:16.596 --> 0:13:18.716 And like for that with that song as well, it's 0:13:18.756 --> 0:13:21.756 like the guitar kind of has this really strong rhythm 0:13:21.796 --> 0:13:23.316 and then the voice just does this like kind of 0:13:23.556 --> 0:13:26.836 crazy thing. I was surprised that, you know, like a 0:13:26.836 --> 0:13:29.236 while back. I found your cover of the Pixies song 0:13:29.316 --> 0:13:31.876 Hey Yes. I was gonna say Pixies another band as 0:13:31.916 --> 0:13:34.116 you were explaining the way PJ Harvey does. You know 0:13:34.116 --> 0:13:35.756 her songs are sort of constructed, and I was like, wow, 0:13:35.756 --> 0:13:37.876 it's kind of similar with even that song, like I didn't. 0:13:37.916 --> 0:13:40.316 I was surprised you covered it. As you're explaining it, 0:13:40.316 --> 0:13:41.676 it makes a lot of sense, like there's a super 0:13:41.716 --> 0:13:44.716 strong melody, it's always going different places. That song, you know, 0:13:45.116 --> 0:13:47.436 that was one of the first songs I heard and 0:13:47.556 --> 0:13:49.116 I was like sixteen, and I was like, wow, like 0:13:49.396 --> 0:13:51.636 this makes sense, Like it makes sense. I kind of 0:13:51.636 --> 0:13:54.196 see what they're doing and I want to do the 0:13:54.236 --> 0:13:56.836 same thing. Do you remember where you heard it first? 0:13:56.876 --> 0:13:59.716 On YouTube? Just just I was like hor I was 0:13:59.756 --> 0:14:02.756 on YouTube and I was like, actually, a guitar teacher 0:14:02.836 --> 0:14:04.116 told me to listen to it. He was like, I 0:14:04.116 --> 0:14:07.556 think you're kind of like this band. I was like, okay, cool, 0:14:08.236 --> 0:14:11.916 so good. I remember I saw them you just got 0:14:11.916 --> 0:14:13.956 downe playing Coachella. I remember the first time I went 0:14:13.996 --> 0:14:18.316 to Coachella was like two thousand and four, fourteen. I 0:14:18.436 --> 0:14:21.076 built it out telling my mom and I went out 0:14:21.116 --> 0:14:23.356 through some friends and yeah, that was like their reunion show, 0:14:23.716 --> 0:14:26.956 and I remember that. I just like fucking was the craziest, 0:14:27.076 --> 0:14:29.876 Like just they're they're insane, They're amazing. Yeah, you know 0:14:30.436 --> 0:14:31.796 that's all like as well, and the lyrics as well 0:14:31.836 --> 0:14:34.476 as totally insane Blair, I have no idea to this 0:14:34.556 --> 0:14:36.396 day with I almost and I don't want to. I don't. 0:14:36.516 --> 0:14:38.436 I don't want to focus too much on what they are. 0:14:39.076 --> 0:14:42.316 Some of the lyrics are scary and like, but some 0:14:42.396 --> 0:14:44.116 of them makes sense, like, they makes sense some weird 0:14:44.116 --> 0:14:48.156 abstract ways. It's a devil between us and hears in 0:14:48.196 --> 0:14:50.796 the door. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I'm 0:14:50.836 --> 0:14:53.076 glad to make sense. It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't. 0:14:53.836 --> 0:14:56.996 It doesn't make immediate sense because each each line kind 0:14:56.996 --> 0:15:00.876 of means its own thing. Yeah, and the feeling like 0:15:00.916 --> 0:15:03.356 they wanted to vokes like them. It makes emotional sense 0:15:03.396 --> 0:15:05.956 to me at least, Yeah, emotional sense. Logical sense, it 0:15:05.996 --> 0:15:08.156 makes like and it might it might it might be 0:15:08.156 --> 0:15:10.036 like a really great meaning but makes like logically I 0:15:10.276 --> 0:15:12.916 don't know, but yeah, emotionally I'm like, yeah, it's a great, 0:15:12.956 --> 0:15:14.716 such a good band. Did you find a lot of 0:15:14.716 --> 0:15:16.716 bands through like YouTube and stuff? I think so yeah, 0:15:17.116 --> 0:15:19.476 definitely it was a very good. It worked very well 0:15:19.516 --> 0:15:21.396 for me. I still spend too much time on They're 0:15:21.396 --> 0:15:23.956 going on YouTube bowls and like old old music that 0:15:24.116 --> 0:15:26.116 is on there, and you're just like, what is this? 0:15:26.196 --> 0:15:29.276 You know, it's really interesting visually as well. It's like 0:15:29.276 --> 0:15:31.756 you all this different kind of information of like and 0:15:31.796 --> 0:15:33.556 then you get the comment. It's just like wholes like 0:15:33.636 --> 0:15:36.236 whole world. The comments are though, the comments make me, 0:15:36.556 --> 0:15:40.476 you know, not really believe in humanity too much. Though, Yeah, 0:15:40.516 --> 0:15:41.876 I mean I learned the hard way not to look 0:15:41.916 --> 0:15:46.196 at video comments. Before we pause for a quick break, 0:15:46.356 --> 0:15:49.196 let's hear Nilafer play her song Midnight Sun from her 0:15:49.236 --> 0:16:12.556 new album Painless comment book The Things a sob man 0:16:12.676 --> 0:16:19.036 to feel. Found myself a better do, so maybe be 0:16:21.396 --> 0:16:29.916 better time this chouse you still like to say say, 0:16:30.036 --> 0:16:36.716 say do this a job of riding and none snug talk, 0:16:37.796 --> 0:16:43.796 can't keep my head, don't don't blood not tell me 0:16:45.876 --> 0:16:50.556 pete and better I noticing blood and mos w left 0:16:50.596 --> 0:16:56.556 my skin. The feelings of your conking God they can 0:16:56.676 --> 0:17:10.036 justice anyway, So maybe be better. Don't chouse you still 0:17:10.116 --> 0:17:13.756 like to say say sorry, I can do it a 0:17:13.876 --> 0:17:21.196 job and now I SnO okay, can keep my head, 0:17:21.316 --> 0:17:27.156 don't don't like and for no time, pardon I never 0:17:27.476 --> 0:17:34.316 try explaining? Do you all? I say, con keep my 0:17:34.516 --> 0:17:38.836 mouth shot this time still let to say say say 0:17:44.116 --> 0:17:50.036 this raise by com face. Didn't I lose the sleeves? 0:17:50.556 --> 0:17:55.796 Always I did it for you. I felt so short. 0:17:57.396 --> 0:18:02.196 You're my best, my ship, you, my man. I so 0:18:03.956 --> 0:18:25.636 always I did it for you. Remember every life, go 0:18:25.836 --> 0:18:29.516 through it one more time, so showing me how to 0:18:29.516 --> 0:18:38.516 speak through him, think me the spinning, do so but 0:18:38.916 --> 0:18:49.076 to this joys you stop that so so sad? Do 0:18:49.276 --> 0:18:54.076 it the job of a value, and no man slung? Okay, 0:18:54.796 --> 0:18:59.596 can keep my eye supposed to low and they have 0:18:59.996 --> 0:19:07.116 not to en and never try expanding. Do you hold 0:19:07.156 --> 0:19:13.116 on sight? Can my hands up from it's still like 0:19:13.316 --> 0:19:24.516 to say so sad? This rays bout figures I dins 0:19:24.756 --> 0:19:30.516 best means always I did it for you. I felt 0:19:30.636 --> 0:19:37.076 so short You're my best, my sheet, you, my men, 0:19:37.396 --> 0:19:50.516 my son. Always I did it for you. I didn't 0:19:57.596 --> 0:20:47.516 so short you might my sheet, my son. M We're 0:20:47.516 --> 0:20:51.316 back with my conversation with Nila for Janya. When did 0:20:51.396 --> 0:20:54.596 you first start writing songs? Probably I was quite young. 0:20:54.836 --> 0:20:57.396 I had a like lots of notebooks. I was just 0:20:57.476 --> 0:21:00.236 like write lyrics in like as poetry or as no 0:21:00.396 --> 0:21:03.156 like as a song. But I didn't have like I 0:21:03.276 --> 0:21:05.876 was just I either hadn't started learning guitar yet or 0:21:05.876 --> 0:21:08.916 I didn't. I just imagined the parts and just heard 0:21:08.956 --> 0:21:11.276 them in my head kind of thing. How old would 0:21:11.276 --> 0:21:14.436 you ben ten? Like before I went to high school? Yeah, 0:21:14.436 --> 0:21:16.676 I wasn't playing guitar then, so I was just kind 0:21:16.716 --> 0:21:19.996 of writing songs where they weren't real songs. What inspired 0:21:20.036 --> 0:21:22.636 you at tend to be writing songs? That's ambitious? I 0:21:22.676 --> 0:21:24.676 just thought like bands were really cool. The idea of 0:21:24.996 --> 0:21:26.796 a rock band was really cool, and I really wanted 0:21:26.836 --> 0:21:30.156 to play guitar and being a band, I didn't want 0:21:30.156 --> 0:21:33.276 to sing them. I just wanted to be a guitar player. Yeah, 0:21:33.436 --> 0:21:35.716 playing guitar in the band. And then I thought, you know, 0:21:35.796 --> 0:21:37.396 if you have a band, you have to write the songs. 0:21:37.476 --> 0:21:41.876 So yeah, I was always interested in the songwriting. Is 0:21:41.876 --> 0:21:43.876 there a band or a group of bands early on 0:21:43.956 --> 0:21:47.476 that would have yeah, like Blink one A two, Yeah, 0:21:47.476 --> 0:21:49.956 when I was younger, like, yeah, they're one of my favorites. 0:21:50.276 --> 0:21:52.996 What you do is so far away from Yeah, I 0:21:53.076 --> 0:21:56.716 came I think I've you know, changed since then, which 0:21:56.756 --> 0:21:59.876 is good. Yeah, absolutely, But this is when I was like, 0:21:59.876 --> 0:22:02.036 you know, nine, yeah, yeah, that's a good age to 0:22:02.076 --> 0:22:06.076 be in the blink, that's that's the appropriate age. You know, 0:22:06.796 --> 0:22:09.356 very catchy songs, you know. Yeah, and they He had 0:22:09.356 --> 0:22:12.956 loads of good guitar parts and melodies. Just loved to 0:22:12.956 --> 0:22:15.836 sound as a guitar. That's funny because I feel like 0:22:15.956 --> 0:22:19.276 pop punk's an adjective that comes up when I'm reading 0:22:19.316 --> 0:22:21.756 stuff about you. It's never occurred to me like when 0:22:21.756 --> 0:22:24.676 I listened. I mean I was very young, so yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:22:24.676 --> 0:22:27.356 and I understood. So if you start writing songs at ten, 0:22:27.556 --> 0:22:29.476 but really with that like a melody, just sort of 0:22:29.476 --> 0:22:31.996 writing words but imagining their songs, when do you get 0:22:31.996 --> 0:22:35.716 a guitar? I started playing guitar maybe like eleven twelve, 0:22:36.476 --> 0:22:39.316 just kind of like a messing around on it. First 0:22:39.316 --> 0:22:42.436 at home. It was like some random guitar my granddad 0:22:42.316 --> 0:22:44.636 had given my sister. I don't think he had all 0:22:44.636 --> 0:22:47.356 the strings, and it was not very good, but it worked. 0:22:48.116 --> 0:22:50.116 It worked, and I thought it sounded really good. And 0:22:50.156 --> 0:22:53.196 then I started having some lessons. That's cool. Took her 0:22:53.276 --> 0:22:56.676 from there. It was any of your family musically inclined. Yeah, 0:22:56.716 --> 0:22:59.476 I would say everyone was kind of musically inclined. My uncle, 0:22:59.516 --> 0:23:03.036 he's a producer and like musician writer, so he was 0:23:03.076 --> 0:23:06.636 another guy who played guitar, played bass, made lots of music, 0:23:07.396 --> 0:23:10.196 had a studio where at was the studio. He was 0:23:10.196 --> 0:23:13.036 working in London for a while in like acting, and 0:23:13.076 --> 0:23:17.516 then they moved like out to the countryside build his 0:23:17.596 --> 0:23:20.676 own studio. Cool, did he anything? We would now? He 0:23:20.756 --> 0:23:25.396 did a lot of like Spanish acts, Spanish pope or 0:23:25.956 --> 0:23:28.676 Spanish pop rock, I guess. And then he was like 0:23:28.716 --> 0:23:31.236 in some like britt funk bands when he was younger. 0:23:31.516 --> 0:23:32.996 I don't know if there's anyone you would know, but 0:23:33.276 --> 0:23:37.156 his name's Joe Stiff Dvornik. He who showed myself on guitar. 0:23:37.356 --> 0:23:40.116 He would encourage me as well. And then my parents 0:23:40.196 --> 0:23:44.276 are like visual assists. So my mum got me to 0:23:44.356 --> 0:23:47.476 piano when I was younger because she loved piano. Started 0:23:47.516 --> 0:23:50.716 doing that from like seven years old. Cool. My dad, 0:23:50.916 --> 0:23:54.156 he's Turkish, so he loves taxis music. He was like 0:23:54.636 --> 0:23:57.756 musically inclined because he'd always be playing the saz what's 0:23:57.796 --> 0:24:00.996 the sas kind of a folk instrument like an ood 0:24:01.116 --> 0:24:05.036 or something not too far away. Six strings, five groups 0:24:05.036 --> 0:24:06.636 of strings, but they come in groups of like three, 0:24:06.876 --> 0:24:09.916 so they're all tuned to like the same peg, so 0:24:09.996 --> 0:24:13.716 it sounds like a double string guitar kind of. Yeah, 0:24:13.756 --> 0:24:15.436 it's a lot like has a lot of richer sound, 0:24:15.756 --> 0:24:19.796 like thinner sound as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. 0:24:19.796 --> 0:24:23.036 Had did you appreciate the Turkish music you were hearing 0:24:23.036 --> 0:24:25.796 grown up? I don't think I did when I was younger, Yeah, 0:24:25.796 --> 0:24:27.396 because I didn't really get it because he played a 0:24:27.396 --> 0:24:30.276 lot of like kind of classical traditional stuff and it 0:24:30.316 --> 0:24:32.836 was a bit like my mom was really into like 0:24:33.116 --> 0:24:36.876 getting into like Mozart, and I was like, you can 0:24:36.916 --> 0:24:38.956 hear the melodies and you can understand that, but like 0:24:39.076 --> 0:24:43.916 I didn't really like appreciate it. Very grateful to have headaches, fosed, 0:24:44.476 --> 0:24:47.076 very cool. When did you start performing I started doing 0:24:47.116 --> 0:24:50.716 like open mics just by myself. I just left school, 0:24:51.036 --> 0:24:54.676 so maybe eighteen around that time, so within the last 0:24:54.676 --> 0:24:57.836 ten years. Yeah, okay, what was it coming from like 0:24:58.076 --> 0:25:02.276 just writing songs, you know, by yourself to performing them? 0:25:02.316 --> 0:25:05.236 It was abstract, like it was totally weird. Like I 0:25:05.356 --> 0:25:08.076 knew if I wanted to do music, I perhaps to 0:25:08.156 --> 0:25:10.196 kind of get used to the idea of performing. So 0:25:10.236 --> 0:25:13.516 I was really pushing myself to just get good at it, 0:25:13.556 --> 0:25:15.996 I guess, and feel comfortable with it. But it was 0:25:16.076 --> 0:25:19.836 really strange because like you write something you're playing at home, 0:25:19.916 --> 0:25:23.596 you're singing at home, or like even like recording like demos. Yeah, 0:25:23.996 --> 0:25:26.116 oh it sounds so different to how I imagine it? 0:25:26.716 --> 0:25:28.236 Why is that? And then you play it on stage 0:25:28.276 --> 0:25:31.716 and like it sounds so different power imagine it? Had 0:25:31.716 --> 0:25:34.076 you been recording demos at that point, Yeah, I've done 0:25:34.076 --> 0:25:38.996 a few demos at school with my friends for music class, 0:25:39.036 --> 0:25:42.996 I guess as well. And then I did record a 0:25:43.036 --> 0:25:45.556 song on my uncle studio as well. Yeah that was cool. 0:25:45.636 --> 0:25:47.596 Did it ever come out or now it was on 0:25:47.636 --> 0:25:53.556 YouTube for a long time a video as well. Yeah, yeah, 0:25:53.596 --> 0:25:56.396 I'd love to hear that. Oh my god. No, did 0:25:56.476 --> 0:25:59.596 performing then? Did it change the way you wrote after that? 0:25:59.836 --> 0:26:02.156 I think so a little bit. Yeah, because in my head, 0:26:02.196 --> 0:26:06.396 I guess I was always writing for like an imaginary band, 0:26:06.436 --> 0:26:08.916 so like the guitar parts I wrote were like more 0:26:08.956 --> 0:26:11.556 like little riff, and then when I was on stage, 0:26:11.556 --> 0:26:13.036 I was like, oh my god, like how is this? 0:26:13.396 --> 0:26:15.676 It's kind of hard to sometimes it doesn't have all 0:26:15.716 --> 0:26:18.996 the components of like rhythm like too strongly in there. 0:26:19.076 --> 0:26:22.156