In Conversation with Yna
By: Amy Tang
If you’re looking for a new indie musician to produce the soundtrack of your life, look no further. Combining her smooth vocals, emotionally-rich lyricism, and soft, dreamy instrumentals, Yna seamlessly delivers an intimate listening experience with her music—and it’s absolutely breathtaking. In between working on their debut record and preparing for their first venue performance, Yna and I chatted over Zoom about their musical inspirations, recent creative projects, and navigating the industry as an independent artist.
777 Collective: First off, would you mind introducing yourself to 777 Collective readers?
Yna: Well, my name is Yna, I'm a 22 year old indie artist, producer and songwriter based in Chicago. Little bit about me, I make a lot of sad music. But it's all drawn from struggles and experiences that I've faced in hopes that it inspires people, or that people resonate with the lyrics or music that I create. I draw a lot of inspiration from artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadobee, Clairo, Sara Kinsley, a lot of female producers and writers themselves that really are raw with their lyrics and music, which is something that I strive to maintain with mine. But yeah, I'm originally from California, I moved to Chicago about a year and a half ago, solely because I've always wanted to move here—the creative community is just absolutely amazing. And yeah, I work a nine to five job at a music agency, which is ironic. I get to see like the other end of the music industry, doing ticket counts for other artists, in hopes that someday, it could happen to me. But yeah, I do that and I also produce and write my music outside of work. I'm working on an album right now and doing some shows with friends and just connecting with a lot of people.
Photo: JP Eduria
I read in your Spotify biography that your music is a blend of alternative indie, acoustic, and cinematic influences. What films have inspired you as an artist? And do you have any songs that were inspired by a particular film?
Y: Oh, great question! Um, as of recently…the only film that I can really think about is Everything Everywhere All at Once. There's a song called “This Is A Life” and the cinematic orchestral production of it really stuck out to me, and it kind of influenced one of my songs on the album. There's just a certain way that the film makes you feel, you're able to not only like, really view it as a viewer, but you're able to experience it. And I think with my music, a lot of my friends have told me that it's really more of an experience with my music, and that's something I want to create. One of my friends told me that they can, like, hear colors with my music, which is an interesting compliment, like, it's a great compliment. That's how I feel about Everything Everywhere All at Once. You can feel, see and hear everything and all the motions in it. So yeah, I definitely say that's one of my big influences, as well.
You’ve been pretty candid about your song “camino santa fe” and how it’s the most vulnerable song you’ve ever written. Was it scary to release those raw feelings out into the world?
Y: Oh, yeah, absolutely. It’s a song about the night that I ran away from home and almost ended my life, which sounds super counterintuitive to write a song about it. But music has always been my way of coping with my emotions since I was a kid. I didn't really grow up with supportive parents who allowed me to kind of escape and like, let out my feelings. So music was always my escape. So writing “camino santa fe,” I think about a month or two after everything that happened was a way for me to sit down and process these motions and everything that happened. I wrote it back in California where I'm from, because the name of the song is from the road that's like in my hometown in San Diego. Ironically, I didn't finish producing the song until I moved to Chicago. Not sure if it's some kind of like, like inspirational thing. I just felt more inspired in Chicago where I was just away from home, but I was able to finish it when I was here. And I was like, super, super scared to put it out there. I had some of my good friends, Anne Navarro and Kobe Henderson—they did drums and strings in the production—and I just wanted people to feel my emotions and understand where I came from, and hear all the lyrics coupled with the cinematic influences in it. Um, yeah, it was super scary. I wasn't sure if this was going to, like do anything or mean anything to anyone. But then a lot of people came up to me and told me that they resonated with the song, which warmed my heart, but also broke it into a million pieces at the same time. Knowing that a lot of people have met with this crossroads, especially in our generation today, knowing that I'm not alone is such it's a relieving thing to hear, but also really sad to know that a lot of us whether it's like familial, cultural or societal, like factors that kind of push us to the edge, like it's really, really sad. But yeah, even after all this time that it's been released, when I perform it live, or hear it back, it doesn't hurt me as much anymore because it's merely just a memory. So for me to just play it out there and remind people that like if they resonate with this message, I want them to know that I'm so proud of them, that they're still here. Even though it was super scary in the moment to release it, I'm relieved that I put it out there, because knowing that a lot of people kind of relate to it and understand and hear me, is a feeling that is beyond words can describe.
The music video for “camino santa fe” is another project you’ve spoken highly about, what are some of your favorite moments from shooting it?
Y: Yeah, it was my first music video and Cee [Pham] told me it was their first direct debut and music video as well. So we were both just like coming together and this is like our first time doing any of this. But we shot for two days, I think around like 10 to 11 hours each day. And I was super nervous. But my favorite part was…there's this scene where I'm like running in the music video, and I'm actually like, not running. I'm fake running, and so we had to pretend that there's like wind in my hair, but it was actually really hot that day. So a bunch of the crew were in front of me, fanning me with binders and really stiff papers to make it look like there was wind. But yeah, it was like it was such a great time. I also like came into this music video process not really knowing anybody besides Cee—and same for them. Like they didn't know who I was, they didn't know my music. Then we came out of it really great friends and everyone was just super amazing. It was a lot of revisiting specific moments that inspired the song most importantly, like with my parents and my father. So to kind of reenact that was really really heavy. But I was grateful to be in the hands of Cee and their crew. They treated the song with utmost respect and held it like it was something really fragile and they didn't want to break it, which was something that I really, really enjoyed. But yeah, I loved working with all of them.
I saw that you’ll be opening for Nick Wagen and WOAH the Band later this month! How excited are you?
Y: Super excited. Me my band, Yna and The Seasons have been practicing. We practiced yesterday and the day before. It's our first–– it's my first venue performance. And I think for two of the other bandmates it's their first venue performance as well. But yeah, we're super super excited to just finally be all together in like a great and prominent venue like Schubas. I know a lot of performers have performed there. It's an honor to be opening for Nick and WOAH. It's also very nerve wracking just because…not to self sabotage myself but I was like “Wow, they really want me? They want us?” I mean, my band is fantastic. But like me alone. I'm like, I'm surprised but you know, I'm super grateful. My manager Sloane was the one that got me the gig, super grateful for her to give me this opportunity. But yeah, we're excited to perform my songs. Josh, Judii and Romello have been super amazing with the process. So we're really, really excited.
I hope the show goes well! Also earlier, you mentioned that you're working on your debut album. Can you tell us a little bit how that's been going? What do you have planned so far? And do you plan on releasing any more singles in the meantime?
Y: Yeah, totally. So my debut album consists of a lot of songs that I've either left in the backburner or have recently written. There are a lot of songs that talk about my struggles with my anxiety, my depression, familial trauma, heartbreak and love. All of these experiences and emotions that I've gone through within the past think like four or five years. There have been songs where I've written like four or five years before, or maybe like a month or two before. And it's been a lot trying to kind of produce, because I produce my own music, and also write it. But I have been asking help from a lot of amazing other artists in Chicago, like Samuel Aaron and Saint Lewis, and a bunch of my friends to add certain elements to the music, like strings or guitars or drums. It's been super stressful because I'm doing this independently with Sloane as my manager, not assigned to any record label or anything. So as an independent artist, there's a lot of factors that can lead to exhaustion and burnout. It’s trying to find balance with putting myself out there as an artist, but also trying to be like a human being and live, which has been like the hardest thing to figure out for myself. I also work a 9 to 5 job, but I also produce after work. So I'm basically working 24/7 every single day trying to plan this all out. I'm hoping to release the album early in the fall, and we are going to release a couple of singles to promote it. I've been working with a great group of friends who are working on music videos, animations, merch, and visuals. So yeah, it's all been super stressful, but like, it's a good stressful, like, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. And being a post grad…if I didn't have this album, I honestly wouldn't know what I'm doing with my life right now. So it's really, really exciting to be doing it. I'm learning a lot through my peers and just putting it out there. The amount of trust that I have in my team, and the trust they have in me is really, really heartwarming to know that they really want to execute this vision that I have for my album. And I'm super excited for everyone to hear all of it. It's a lot of raw, authentic music, and a lot of–– it is dark too, which kind of scares me a little bit to put it out. But that has always been my music, and I have a feeling that a lot of people will resonate with it.
Photo: JP Eduria
That all sounds super exciting, I really love what you have put out so far and I can’t wait to see what you release next! Last question, do you have anything else to share with our readers?
Y: Hmm, I think I'm just stream my music, I guess! Follow me and keep up with me for any updates and I also just like, just like a huge thank you for even interviewing me. People like me, you know, being queer and Asian and being a woman in music, it's like hard to find a platform to be heard. So it's really inspiring to be, you know, called out and being given a spotlight or a platform for my voice to be heard. So I'm super super honored and grateful and thank you so much like from the bottom of my heart.
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