YellowStraps talks the creative process & inspiration behind his new album ‘tentacle’ and latest release ‘flowin’

YellowStraps

Founded in Brussels, YellowStraps has been nurturing a unique neo-soul blend that caresses the senses for nearly ten years now, proudly championed by the bubbling Belgian rap scene in which they are a part of. An evolving musician and songwriter, he has gathered success from names like VICE and Complex, and gained tastemaker support from brands like COLORS, Vans and Fred Perry.

What or who inspired you to begin a career in music?

I really fell in love with music when me and my brothers started listening and discovering a lot of artists when we were very young.

Then we started playing instruments and I started to be really inspired by other artists. At the beginning we only used to do covers, then we decided to composing our own songs. We instantly realized it was something special. Then we discovered artists like King Krule and it actually really changed our vision. He really opened our minds and inspired us to try new things and try to find our own sound.

What differs you and your sound from other artists in the music industry?

I think the fact that we always loved mixing a lot of different styles together helped us to have a more ‘unique’ sound. We also made a lot of collabs that helped to improve our creativity!

Your new album, ‘Tentacle’ is out now. Can you please describe the creative process and inspiration behind the project?

When my brother left the band I really struggled to find something new, something more personal. I’m really inspired by love and relationships so I really wanted something with a lot of emotion but powerful at the same time. I started to work hard to improve my songwriting process and I’ve put a lot of effort to find the melodies and the vibe that could fit with what I wanted to tell. A story about the complexity of love and relationships and the feeling of being stuck that can result. It has been a long process to find the right sound but in the end I’m really happy with it.

My latest release ‘Flowin’ talks about the paradox of love! You know it’s beautiful and amazing but you also know it can be a struggle and be painful at the same time. That’s also what the whole album depicts.

In your own opinion, what is the most meaningful song you wrote? What makes you say that one?

I would probably say ‘sorrysorrysorry’ because it really depicts the complexity of love and it’s a really deep song. But there’s also the song ‘blue’ which is also a nice description of how paradoxal love can sometimes be.

Throughout your musical career, have you experienced any ‘wow’ moments?

Yes I did – Most of the time it helped me to get out of a writer’s block state. Those moments are really special. When you start to create a song and from the start you know where you want to go and you also know that it was exactly what you wanted to do.

YellowStraps

What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue this career?

The thing that helped me the most was to not overthink too much and to trust myself. If your music touches you then keep on doing it, and most of all stay true to yourself!

What does the foreseeable future hold for you as an artist?

Hopefully being able to continue to make music is for me the most important. Be able to travel all around the world with my music and spread it as much as I can would be amazing. I’d also love to keep on making connections and collabs with artists that I love.

Anything else you would like to add?

Hope you will love my new album haha 🙂

‘tentacle’ is available now via all major platforms.

Connect with YellowStraps

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