INTERVIEW: YDE on her debut single 'Stopped Buying Diamonds': "It's really time for us to embrace our passions and our emotions and positive change and push that out into the world"

Nov 11

Nov 11 INTERVIEW: YDE on her debut single 'Stopped Buying Diamonds': "It's really time for us to embrace our passions and our emotions and positive change and push that out into the world"

Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Kristin Gallegos
Last month, 17-year-old YDE (pronounced EE-dee) launched her music career with a bang with her debut single ‘Stopped Buying Diamonds’.

Initially starting her creative career as an actor, appearing in many Netflix and Nickelodeon series - even scoring a Kids’ Choice Awards for Favourite Female TV Star - after a casual meeting with superstar songwriter, performer and producer Justin Tranter (Julia Michaels, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato) the Australian born, Los Angeles based teenager found herself with a record deal on Tranter’s record label Facet Records.

‘Stopped Buying Diamonds’ was co-written with Tranter and Grammy award winning Swedish duo Mattman & Robin (Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Dua Lipa) and is a blistering rock-infused pop track that presents a wry, bold and honest take on growing up as part of Gen Z. “I came up with the guitar riff, and it felt like such a vibe,” YDE says. “Justin brought up this horrible article about how Gen Z is ruining the economy because we don’t buy diamonds, go on cruises, or have nice houses. It’s not that we don’t want these things; it’s that we physically can’t afford them. The song is a commentary on that.”

The track also brilliantly takes aim at an older generation who refuses to accept their behaviour is no longer acceptable: “I’d like to apologise for changing your language / But the names you were calling me guys were pretty fuckin’ racist / Don’t say I’m the fragile type cause trust me I can take it / But why should I have to grow thicker skin when you can just stop sayin’ shit?” she sings.

The 80s-inspired music video features YDE playing four different characters performing the song, each with their own name and personality - YDE (electric guitar, vocals), RUE (acoustic guitar), LUX (keytar) and JAX (drums).

YDE is creating music with a confidence and clarity of vision well beyond her years and is one of 2020’s new talents who deserves some serious attention. Big things are possible for this young artist and we can’t wait to see how her career develops. We recently caught up with YDE to find out more.

YDE, we are such fans of ‘Stopped Buying Diamonds’ here at Women in Pop. Seriously, thank you for writing, recording, releasing it and taking the time to chat to us.
Thank you so much. I’m so glad that you guys love it. That makes me so happy. Thank you.

Before i get into it, how are things with you these days?
Umm, it's been quite hectic over the last few months and you know everything with the state of the world, the state of the US. And then obviously all the music. It's been hectic, but we're getting there…we're getting there.

You've been a household name for years with your acting career. Did you yourself have reservations or were people trying to put you off switching to music and releasing this single until the world was in a better place?
Yeah, there's definitely some pushback. I think my music is so timely just with everything going on and lyrically I'm so passionate about everything that I'm talking about and I think it resonates so deeply with everything going on that there was no reason to push back and to wait. I felt so passionate about it that. I wasn't going to listen to other people either way.

Good, and of course, even that attitude goes hand in hand with the track. I want to talk about ‘Stopped Buying Diamonds’. You clearly love yourself some guitar and that hook plays out like a distorted Prince-esque funk. I'm sure he'd be so happy in the afterlife.
Oh, that makes me so happy. Thank you!

I was like ‘oh it's Prince, but not Prince.
Oh my god, that makes my heart so happy. Thank you!

And then you've got your brutal frankness of the lyrics and they kind of go hand in hand with that gut vibrating bass line. What a debut. Can you talk me through this beautiful thing melodically and then lyrically.
Well, there's a lot to it. I co-wrote it with Justin Tranter and then Mattman and Robin and it was one of those things where the second we got that initial guitar hook, that little riff you hear all throughout the song, it was just like shit, I've got to keep up with the song. I've got to keep up with what's going on because the song just takes you on a journey. We are just a means of transportation for the song to get out into the ether. So the entire time it was just trying to keep up with where the song wanted to go. I think that's the beauty in it and I think you can really hear that. For me, it's really just my own articulation of the pressures I feel as somebody within this generation and the pressures that I feel as somebody growing up in this generation who is inheriting consequences of previous generation's decisions. It was originally this very Joni Mitchell-esque sound. It was all acoustic. It was very homey and folky in a sense. We just brought it up with these drums and gritty bass underneath and obviously the insane guitar solo. It turned out amazing just with the vocals and the vocoder and the harmonies put together. It was one of those things where conceptually you would sit there and go ‘ahh that probably wouldn't work with this song’. But then the second we brought it to life, it was like, that's it.

How great is that? I love to hear you say you have to just keep up with it. That's so true. And also, as a multi-instrumentalist yourself and clearly a music lover, I want to know how important is that to you, as an artist, with being able to play so much? Did that basically charge you to want to learn so many instruments in the first place?
The thing about me is that my theory is the more you know about everything, the more you know about anything. Or, the more you know about anything the more you know about everything. It is this paradox in and of itself. I think the same thing goes for music. The more you know about a bass guitar, the more you know about drums and just the way that everything works harmoniously together. It's like growing your vocabulary in a sense as well in that you have more tools to articulate your thoughts and you've got more ways to say something.. You just don't have to say it out lyrically and you don't have to blatantly say it out in a guitar solo and you could blatantly scream it with everything. With the drums, the guitar, the bass, the acoustic guitar, a keyboard, synth. You can articulate it through all sorts of different sonic elements, lyric elements, ad libs, harmonies, whatever it may be. As a musician that's all you strive for, to be able to articulate this transrational experience that you are feeling within because the thing about humans is we don't articulate our emotions through words perfectly, succinctly and obviously cogently. It's hard to articulate everything that we're feeling through words. I even have trouble trying to articulate that sentence itself because it's hard to articulate these feelings that I'm feeling. That's what so beautiful about music, you can take these words that you semi think are accurate to depict these emotions and these thoughts that are going on inside your head, but then beyond that, you can take these sonic elements and you can take one single guitar riff and one single drum hit and that can articulate and resonate on a totally different level that can't even be explained through words.

That is beautiful and incredibly true. It clearly charges you up with something else. You’ve got this 80s inspired video with the voice of Gen Z, and a while ago pop music was incredibly catchy but quite conservative in its lyrics and its production, but today pop music’s got so much power to it now with regards to statement and honesty. What in your opinion has contributed to the change?
It's interesting. My theory is that art reflects society generally and I think amazing great beautiful transcendent art curates society and it pushes society forward in a sense. We are in such a crucial time for change and for a push forward. We are in such a crucial time in history to make change that can resonate with everyone like music, like art, like television, like movies. People are taking that platform and using that to help push society forward. We saw it during the civil rights movement back in the 60s and 70s, rock stars making music that was absolutely life changing. Different periods call for different types of art. Right now, we’re in such a crucial time for change that I think artists are really recognising that and they're using their platforms for speaking out about what they're truly passionate about. I think it's amazing. I think it's beautiful. We really, really needed it because things were starting to get sterile in a sense and very cerebral. It's really time for us to embrace our passions and our emotions and positive change and push that out into the world.

Yeah and I just love that because everything becomes an anthem and we remember what that word means as well. So, that's very important. You've been in the spotlight from a child to adolescence and beyond. I want to know, what are your thoughts particularly around support and empowerment with regards to young women in the entertainment industry?
You know, it's kind of interesting because it's one of those things where you always hear that. Some of my closest friends are people that I met on Nickelodeon, like Lizzy Greene and Riele Downs who are two young powerful amazing young women who both got their start on Nickelodeon and having a support system with people who are just genuine and people who understand where you're coming from is so powerful and I cannot say that enough. It is so powerful and it is empowering in and of itself. We will be on Facetime for hours on end just talking and relating and just connecting with each other. It's a beautiful relationship and I think it really for me stands as a metaphor for a relationship with the whole world, you know? We as people need to learn how to just sit down and have an open minded, open hearted conversation with each other and be willing to learn and be willing to just love one another. I think I really learned that just from relationships with young women in the industry and having those conversations and having them be willing to be open hearted and open minded has really inspired me and it's so beautiful.

That's a really nice take away and hella important. It's just lovely to hear from that perspective. On that note, because you've just got this incredible break out track and accompanying video and statement that of course is nothing like your characters you've ever played, were you ever concerned with the way you might be perceived as as a performer as opposed to one of your much loved Nickelodeon characters?
It's always a thought in your head where you're like ‘ahhh, damn, I don't know how people are going to take this’. It's always a thought. But I am so passionate about everything that I'm saying and everything that I'm doing and I never really let anything from the past hold me back. Something I firmly believe in is true whole self-expression in real time. This is a very odd metaphor, but if you wear something one day and you feel amazing in it and then a week later you're like ‘oh i want to wear the same thing because I felt really good in it’ and then you put it on and you're like ‘ahhh I don't really feel good in it but like people said it looked good and I know i felt really confident in it last week, so I'm just going to wear it anyway’. It's one of those things where no, wear what you genuinely want to wear and express yourself how you genuinely feel is necessary in that very moment. Right now, I feel so passionate about singing these songs and expressing myself in the way that I'm expressing myself in fashion, in music, through social media. Whatever it may be. It's such a crucial time for true self-expression without curating the words in your head and sitting there trying to perfect every little detail and just saying hey, ‘this is who I am and this is what I'm passionate about’. You may see me as this character, you may see me as the 12 year old that you met on Nickelodeon, but this is me now and I'm going to express myself how I feel necessary and I'm not going to worry too much about how you used to see me or maybe how you still see me because that's really up to you how you perceive me. I'm just here and I'm just going to express who I am and how I feel is necessary.

That's just so good and of course with that integrity, people will just relate to that and even on a subconscious level, when someone's actually singing their own thoughts and feelings. So beautiful. And lastly before I leave you YDE, what's up next for you?
Oh, a lot! You'll definitely be hearing some new music very soon. That's all I can say right now. I'm very excited about it and it's all very personal and it all really means something to me. I'm so passionate about every single song that I have written and put together for the world to hear. I really just hope that someone out there really resonates with it. I'm just really excited.

‘Stopped Buying Diamonds’ is out now via Facet Records/Warner Music. You can download and stream here.

To keep up with all things YDE you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.