Music allows Yumi to shed the protective shell that the magazine covers, stylists, and photographers see and truly bare it all. office had the chance to sit down with Yumi to discuss her debut EP, her Hannah Montana-esque “double life,” and the self-care routines that help her to juggle all of it.
As a multidisciplinary artist, you are involved in so many different creative outlets. When do you feel most creatively free?
I think I feel most creatively free when I feel creatively safe. So with studio sessions or songwriting, if I don't feel comfortable or safe to express myself in the way that I really want to, which is, you know, a decent amount, then I don't really produce my best work. But I produce my favorite songs and write the best when I'm with my best friend Kayhan, who produces about 99% of my stuff. It's just because we have this flow and we have a sense of safety with each other where we feel like we can do anything. And I think that's really hard to come by.
It's really cool that you get to surround yourself with people from your personal life while working. Now looking more toward the modeling side of your career, when do you feel most beautiful?
I feel the most beautiful when I'm wearing something that actually fits me — and it's actually cool. Because a lot of plus-size stuff is so nerdy and lame. We're working on it, but I think when a stylist comes prepared and the looks are really dope and the hair and makeup is good and it's a perfect storm of everyone doing their job — that's when I feel my best. I really value good stylists. I think that's a night and day difference for me because it's not every day when I can have clothing options on set.
It's definitely super, super important that we're improving in that space. You've reached so many impressive milestones. What do you think success meant to you when you were younger and do you feel that you have reached that standard now?
I think when you're younger, your perspective is so small and warped by whatever you think is cool at the time. I guess success when I was younger just meant that I would be famous — like Hannah Montana or whatever. Now, I think — I mean, everyone defines success on their own terms. Maybe being successful is just being happy. It's surviving and thriving. It doesn't have to be so massive. I think my form of success now is just doing what I love for a living, which is amazing. I've already accomplished so many of my modeling goals. And honestly for music, my biggest goal is just to have people hear my music. It's not that crazy. Everyone wants to be validated for the things that they love to do. So, of course, it's a dream to feel seen — but I feel, in a way, that I could die tomorrow and I would be happy regardless. I've already had the privilege and the blessing of accomplishing so much of what I wanted to, and even more.
I fully agree that as long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing, that in itself is fulfilling. Yumi on the cover of magazines and editorial spreads is a QUEEN! But do you channel a different version of yourself when recording and writing music? Is that a more intimate side of yourself?
Oh, one-thousand percent. I mean it's a completely different personality. I almost wish I could bring my modeling confidence with me sometimes because music is so vulnerable and tender for me that it's almost too much. Sometimes I overthink and it's just too close to the core, where with modeling, I can hide behind whoever's project it is because I'm essentially fulfilling a service or a role for them. But music is really just me. There's no creative director. There are no references of what I want it to look like. It's literally just my art. With modeling, I do feel connected to it, but I get to play more with what other people want, where my music is really what I want. So if people hate it, I can't be like, 'Oh, it was so and so's idea.' I absorb all of the feedback from music. It's so personal. When I'm modeling, if someone says something I'm like, 'Whatever, it's just physical.' I can switch my feelings on and off because it is about my body and my face. Music is my voice and what I have to say and my writing style.
It's your inner workings. It can be scary to put it out for everyone to see. But I also think that's the magical thing about any artist, is learning how to be more comfortable with doing that along the way. And then when it's received well, it's that much more satisfying. Does your self-care routine change when you shift from modeling mode to recording music?
Yeah; when I'm busy with modeling, I'm traveling a lot more. And my modeling career and my music are never coexisting. If I have time off, then I'm doing music. If I don't, then I'm doing modeling. When I'm modeling, I'm definitely more tired and on-the-go. So I definitely do more face masks and baths. But music is almost like its own form of self-care for me when I'm not modeling. So I guess modeling is more of a physical self-care routine. And when I don't write music or make music for a while, I feel very backed up emotionally. It's like its own form of emotional release or therapy for me. So I wouldn't even say that I have a self-care routine with music because it is its own form of self-care.