For a few years now, English musician Nilüfer Yanya has been one of the most exciting artists on the scene.
Writing songs from the age of six and playing guitar from the age of 12, it was Nilüfer Yanya’s uncle Joe, himself a producer and session musician, that inspired her to follow her dreams.
Arranging her own compositions thanks to her high school music teacher, and eventually deciding to hit the stage as a teenager, it wasn’t until a few years ago that she felt comfortable sharing her music with the world.
Uploading a number of her original compositions to SoundCloud, these tunes soon caught the attention of esteemed London indie label Blue Flowers. Three EPs later, and Nilüfer Yanya was a name that was hard to ignore.
Before long, Nilüfer found herself on the BBC Sound of 2018 longlist, and was scoring support slots for huge acts like Broken Social Scene, Interpol, The xx, and more recently, Sharon Van Etten.
Now, after much anticipation, today sees the release of Nilüfer Yanya’s debut album, Miss Universe.
An intriguing, immersive listen, the record sees the artist at her best, expanding her songwriting capabilities and truly letting her presence be felt in the world of music.
To celebrate the release of this new record, we sat down with Nilüfer to chat about the new record, growing as a musician, and the problems faced by citizens of the modern world.
Check out Nilüfer Yanya’s ‘In Your Head’:
You’ve been playing music for quite a while now, where did this love of music start?
I started with piano, when I was six, but I always wanted to play guitar from the age of seven, or something, or eight. I just always loved the sound it made and was just really attracted to it.
Were there any specific musicians and artists that influenced you growing up?
I didn’t really have any idols, no, it was more just like various sounds. But I did have some really good people in my life like my uncle, who’s a producer, and I always just thought he was really cool, and whatever he did with music.
I had a guitar teacher at school [The Invisible’s Dave Okumu] who was really cool, and I got to learn a lot. But kind of just like various people that were kind of dotted around, but I didn’t have like a pop idol or something like that.
Having people like that in your life, was that the sort of thing that helped you decide to pursue a career in music?
I think I had already decided by that point, but it’s very reassuring to see people that have already done it.
You’re not just kind of fantasising about things and thinking about… You’re admiring someone for not only their talent, but the work that they’re putting into it, like their perseverance and the story behind it.
It was about five years ago you first started putting your music out there, as someone who seems quite humble, were you surprised at all by the positive response to your work?
Was I surprised? Yeah, because you never know if it’s just… I mean, I felt like what I had written was worth people hearing, but you never know if you’re just – I had the confidence in it, but you never know if it’s all in your own head and that no one really cares.
So it’s like, so nice to obviously see people responding to it. I couldn’t be more grateful for that, to be honest.
It does humble you as well because you notice that; “yeah, people like my music, but they might not like everything I do.” You know, it doesn’t mean it’s the best music, but it just means that people like it, and that’s kind of all you need.
Over the last few months, it seems as though there has been almost constant praise coming your way from various publications. Do you feel pressured by all the hype? Or are you just grateful for all the support?
I feel grateful for the support, but yeah, I think you do feel a bit of pressure because you do want to live up to what people are saying, in a way. But luckily on things like the album, I’d already kind of made it so people are just going to say what they’re going to say, and whether it’s true or not, I don’t know.
But it’s harder, that stuff, when you’re writing it and in the writing process. Like, I found it quite hard to write the album because I knew that people were kind of expecting something so I wanted to be good.
It wasn’t like I was just writing away and no one was going to hear it, it’s like someone was going to hear it, and their opinion would mean if more people would hear it or not.
So yeah, I do feel a bit of pressure, definitely.
Check out Nilüfer Yanya’s ‘Tears’:
You mentioned that the attention has changed the writing process for you, do you feel the attention has changed your general approach to music as well?
Because more people will listen to my music, when I came around to do the album, I’m not just writing anymore.
I’m doing shows, I’m performing, I’m doing press, I’m like, busy, basically, and the time to write gets smaller and smaller and smaller because you’re away so much on the road and putting your music out there because people want to hear it, which is really nice.
But, it does make it harder to write because everything is distracting.
So I ended up writing a lot in the studio and kind of creating songs there, and sharing my writings there while working with co-writers, producers. And I guess the input from them has probably grown a bit more.
So in a direct way, yeah, because I’ve been collaborating more and my music, it’s… it sounds a bit different.
But it’s still my music, so I don’t really mind as much as I… When I finished the record, I didn’t really feel like it was my record and I didn’t feel so connected to it, but now I can sort of see why I feel like that, and I’ve decided it doesn’t matter [laughs].
Your new album is such an interesting mix of genres and sounds. Was there a set vision or sound you were trying to capture with it?
No, there wasn’t. I knew the kind of sounds that I was already capable of producing and the kind of music I write, so I knew – from reference of what I’d done before – what I was capable of doing, and I wanted to push that, and push it in new directions.
Which is a good thing about working with so many different people, because everybody kind of has their own style of working, so I was able to do that quite well.
I kind of just wanted to be more expressive with my music. Also with so many people involved, I didn’t want people thinking, “Oh, you can only make this type of music.” I didn’t want people to perceive it that way.
Working with different producers in the recording process, did that make it hard for everyone to share the same vision of the end product?
To be honest, most of the people working on it didn’t hear the other songs on the record, so I didn’t really give them a chance to… [laughs].
I was kind of just like, “yeah, this song’s probably going to be on my album”, or if we worked on a few songs together, yeah. It’s weird, because like the song dictates the music in a way…
Were all of the songs written especially for the new album, or were there any you’ve had tucked away for a while?
There was two, so the rest was all written basically for the album. ‘Monsters Under The Bed’ was really old, I had that since I was 15. I didn’t honestly think I was ever going to record it again, so it was a surprise, really, that it was on the album.
And ‘Baby Blu’, I started maybe like, three years ago? About 2017? Like, a while ago, and it was one of the first co-writes I did with someone.
It was more of an experiment, so again, I didn’t think I’d ever release it, to be honest. I just thought I was going to keep it as a file on my computer.
Did you end up revisiting ‘Monsters Under The Bed’ a lot, or is it more in sort of the same vein as it was when you first wrote it?
It’s a bit different in terms of production, but it’s more less the same, to be honest. This version’s probably more stripped-back than the other version I did, it’s a bit more chilled.
The other, I think production was suggesting it’s a bit more grungy and a bit more indie. This one is a bit more open.
Check out Nilüfer Yanya’s ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The Year’:
From listening to your music from over the years, your music appears to become ‘grander’ each time. Tracks like ‘Small Crimes’ are quite minimal compared to new songs, was this a natural progression or more of a conscious decision?
I think it was natural in the sense that the first thing I ever put out, I wanted it to be really clear. Like, what sort of music I wanted to create and my intention of the music and the kind of, way… Also I wanted it to be more or less true to what it sounds like when I perform.
So I was a bit conscious of that and the fact that people, in a way, they judge you based on production and I wanted it to sound like me.
I didn’t want anyone to be confused or anything, but I think that now I’ve kind of done that in a way. I kind of feel more free to explore other sounds each time I work on something. I’m like, letting go of the preconception of what I think that my music should sound like.
Was there a specific place that these new tracks came from? I’ve noticed there appears to be a theme of anxiety running throughout the record, but was that something that evident in the writing process?
Yeah, I think I was thinking about those things. A lot of those things I hadn’t really felt before, like anxiety and paranoia, they were kind of… I don’t want to say “new”, but I’d never really been aware of them, I guess.
It was like I’d been made aware of all these emotions and feelings and also how much they impact you on a daily basis, living in a city like London.
But also like, travelling a lot and doing things that I do, you kind of go inwards a bit on your thoughts and yourself, and you can kind of be your own worst enemy in that sense. So yeah, I was kind of exploring those themes and trying to think about them in a healthy way, I guess.
More of a, “these are like normal things that everyone feels and thinks about.” And we should be more aware of them I think, especially nowadays, so much of it has to do with the way we think about things.
You know, the world as we perceive it is only just… it’s just like our own version of reality, but there’s so many different types of reality. How do we really know that we’re living in the true version of our reality?
Because we’re constantly being told different things and being sold different things and being told this is how it is, but really, it’s also another way.
Throughout the album there are some intriguing spoken word interludes, how did this idea come into play?
I wanted it to be like you’re on the phone, on hold. You’ve been placed on hold and instead of getting through to anyone, they just keep playing annoying songs [laughs]. I placed them the way they are so it can sort of guide you through the themes of the album as well.
So if you want, someone can listen to it from top to bottom and hopefully it would make more sense with the interludes than without.
That’s what I did, because I felt like the songs were all quite different and I just wanted a way to bring it together and give them another context.
But yeah, it’s like a fictional health company, and you get through to them and they’re not very helpful. I just wanted to frame it really and give it kind of a story.
You’re obviously in high demand at the moment, with this trend obviously looking to continue, but have you got plans to bring your live show to Australia in the future?
Yeah, hopefully, I haven’t got any dates or anything in the calendar, but yeah, I’ve spoken to quite a few Australians this week, so hopefully it leads to something. That would be really cool.
Nilüfer Yanya’s Miss Universe is out now.
Nilüfer Yanya Australian Tour 2019:
Wednesday, 4 December
Northcote Social Club | Melbourne VIC
Friday, 6 December
The Foundry | Brisbane QLD
Saturday 7 December
Fairgrounds Festival | Berry NSW
Monday 9 December
Lansdowne Hotel | Sydney, NSW
Check out Nilüfer Yanya’s Miss Universe:
