It's Women's History Month, so we're showing some serious love from home to our favorite female artists. Pass the time at your casa, and share it with your cat, your plant and your friends on FaceTime.
They're poised articulation comes as no surprise, as anyone who has heard yeule’s music knows they have a way with words. In our conversation, yeule recounts how this piece has served as an audible safe space for them to connect with their inner child, giving a bit of tend and care where it was once lacking. While the creative process could involve painful confrontations to darker memories, it's all part of the healing process. softscars is a bit of a diversion from their previous cyber-pop sounds, using cathartic punk riffs and ethereal electronics as they examine the anatomy of their long held emotional wounds. The album is a melting pot of the math rock guitar riffs and punk melodies that once filled their iPod Nano.
Accompanied by lullaby vocals that sometimes turn into raging screams of deep rooted emotion, yeule lays it all out on the table in the form of emotional ballad addressed to no one but themselves. As someone who identifies as non-binary and a cyborg entity, the human body felt alien and uncomfortable for yeule growing up. Their music explores this discomfort, the scars it left and how they're working to heal them. While studying cybernetic theory through readings of Donna Haraway, they learned to observe the body from a post-human perspective. Exploring identity beyond the human form and a cisgender society allowed yeule to meet in the middle of being both non-binary and someone who is embodied in physical flesh.
The fascinating thing about yeule is that they fit the idea of “punk” so effortlessly. A raw elucidation of their most inner darkest thoughts, with no regard to whether or not it follows the “rules” of music… and there's nothing more punk than that. While many artists try too hard to be genre bending or non-conforming, yeule doesn't have to try at all. Their music is never trying to overtly reject mainstream ideas, it's simply a conglomeration of what they like and who they are, and you can't get more original than that.
Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming album softscars and the inspiration behind it?
When I was writing the record, I had this reference where the songs had to sound something like [the music] I was listening to when I was a teenager. There would be moments of going through the songs from my iPod Nano I had as a kid, and I would go through it like, "What the fuck was I listening to? Oh my God it's Liz Ferrer, its Ali and AJ, it's 5 Seconds to Mars, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth." It ranged from like, late '80s to like early 2000s alt music — I guess they were referred to as alternative music. I was into math rock, and progressive guitar stuff. That inspiration definitely came from me trying to feel like I'm safe in my teenage bubble.
As you get older, when you're in your mid 20s, you just want to recreate that feeling of an era that you lived through. A particular song that did that was “fish in the pool”. It's actually based off of a film, directed by Somai Shinji, who wrote a coming of age film, he writes a lot of scripts based off coming of age. I really liked this genre and it's very hard to execute this genre without misinterpreting it, or making it seem too cheesy. So I wanted to do something very similar but in a very sonic way.
There are many films that inspired the music, and there's a lot of music that inspires film. I think for me, Shinji, is one of the directors that not only inspires a lot of my visuals, but also his sensitivities and intentionality to this topic of, and creating nostalgia in a way that is not so exploitative. There is a lot of honesty in his work, and sometimes honesty gets misinterpreted as shocking. That’s why I chose that song “fish in the pool” because I love the piano and softscars was kind of like a graduation or like evolution from my previous walks that were very heavily piano influenced.
How did you get your start in music? Did you have a musical upbringing?
I did not. But I did have access to a lot of music on vinyl because of my father. So it was the first time I've seen a gramophone. I thought that vinyls were like magic, you know, like how did the music come out? It was so interesting to me. And having to practice piano at school really, really helps. There's not a lot of access to classical instruments, I wasn't given the opportunity to learn the violin or like the cello, but my parents put me through piano. I did a few grades and then I stopped doing it because I hated how it was. I was too — I guess too punk to sit there and listen. I was like I’m not gonna do the fucking cannon in D, I’m gonna do a crazy Arabesque.
In my experience with classical training, it's been rather traumatizing. I think there's a lot of heaviness to do with a classical music upbringing, and I think a lot of my peers can agree with this. It’s very stifling, it's very perfectionist, it's very mean, it's very competitive, I don't know there's a lot of things to do with it. It's not creative at all to me, but I feel like having the classical knowledge as a baseline is really important. You can use elements of what you learn to feed into what you make. That's what I've done with my work. With piano, it was really helpful to know chord structures and basic songs I've learned in the past and integrating those songs into my songwriting.
Definitely conflicting in the way I wrote music though because I imagine it as a whole, I don't like to conform to certain styles of composition. I like to have it very free. And that was what softscars was, I was trying to create something that was pulling often from references of relatively older music, but also I don't want to make it sound structurally similar. I wanted to give the electronica aspect of what I know as a new pop and electronic artist. In “glitch princess" I was experimenting a lot with that and how it intersects with classical emo music and alternative music.
I think that that kind of nostalgia that you bring into your music is really comforting for a lot of your listeners. How do you feel like you have tapped into this kind inner-child that you bring out in your music?
When I'm writing the songs, I tend to draw a lot from entries that are very painful to me or pivotal for me. I find that in writing it, I'm finding out a lot more about the way I'm dealing with things or coping with things too. So “sulky baby” was definitely an obvious thing to do.
I understand that it's therapeutic to write about it in this way. Usually, songs are like written about someone or written about a person or a lover you know, but for me, it's like most of the songs that refer to someone else sometimes feel like I'm referring to myself, or I'll have a conversation with myself. “sulky baby” was a conversation with myself. And the regrets I have about my youth and the fragility that was imbued on me, past my youth. Because of that, being stripped of innocence and being stripped of affection. I think in another interpretation, it could also be about a lover, who is who you see like a child, or you get treated like a child by a lover. There's so many ways you could exchange but for me it was about confronting my childhood.
There are many songs in there too, that have a lot of imagery regarding rotting and flowers and I love this idea of vast greenery because I've been so cyber and online most of my life that I think in the past three, four years I've been exposing myself a lot more to nature. I think nature is really important to my visuals, because I keep seeing a lot of beauty in the death of something beautiful. I think when flowers rot or when things rot, people want to throw it away and want to discard it. Things are disintegrating and the smell of decomposition is something quite dark that I find quite beautiful because that is a cycle, and that’s the end of the cycle of life.
I feel that's why I wrote about daisies and that's why I have a lot of like imagery of gardens. I always feel like my mind is a garden that I tend to. Most of the time there's a space in the middle, like the core of the garden of my mind, which is so beautifully tended to, and everything else around it is rotting. I've been seeing this visual for so long for a lot of the music I was writing about. I think many of the scars I refer to also very much have to do with healing over something that was so drastically, drastically wounding.
How do you balance having enough alone time to sit and reflect with yourself to make music, and know when it's time to stop and get out again?
I don't. I don’t know — I’m just so punky I just do whatever the fuck I want.
I really don't have a rule set like oh, I have to go outside, or I socialize too much. I usually can tell by how much energy is drained from me. Honestly, I'm generally very, and have always been, isolated my whole life. I feel like now I've changed. I’ve always found myself being so isolated, where I bring myself into a spiral and into a hole that is so dark and so deep that I can barely pull myself out. I've been in that so many times that I just chose to make sure I don't get to that point again.
I've learned a lot more about the person I am. I need to surround myself with people who love me. I need to be around people who are good for me. I need to show a bit of tend and care to what was broken in here. I think a lot of that has to do with being able to deal with a lot of trauma that I've been repressing, and I think softscars was also like trauma processing for me. There were a lot of memories forgotten or like things that I didn't want to face or revelations of self that I never thought I would feel.
I just try not to get so low to that point of total darkness because at that point, you can't even write music, or do anything creative. My teenage years were very much like that. And I think maybe that's also why I revisited the music I was listening to at the time — it's like how smells remind you of things, music reminds me of things too.
I want to go more into the cyborg entity that you identify with and associate with your music. How did that start and how do you want it to evolve with your music in the coming years?
When I was at UNI I was doing a lot of readings for research because I was building these circuits. I called the project “circuit bender” and it was about building sounds through pedal circuits. So that was the first time I ever dive into pedal making, really fun by the way, if you're into computer building or pedal building stuff like that go hand in hand. So intricate, so modular, I love anything circuitry based.
I was just experimenting with that kind of stuff. And when I was doing that project, I read a lot of Donna Haraway and I read a lot of academic art philosophy. I was really into the idea of mental illness in relation to the Oedipus Complex and stuff like that, and the technologies of gendered bodies.
Which is when I realized, my gender dysphoria is directly correlated to my love for the digital realms. Not just internet based, but also circuitry, because dysphoria, and disordered eating was all correlated to how much I didn't like the human form, and that also relates to how I didn't like processing human emotion, and the way I was processing it was flawed.
So when I was going into softscars I learnt a lot more about the human mind, I learned a lot more about human emotion and how to deal with them. I think this was very pivotal for me. And the answer is because, in an era where I was so indulgent, and antibody, I started to move forward into that fleshed body so that I can further relate and understand my own devices as a human being and accepting what I am as a physical entity, trying to meet in the middle of being both nonbinary and someone who is embodied in physical flesh.
There's this whole joke out there that I’m like AI or something but, no, I’m not.
Before you were mentioning how you pulled a lot of inspiration from film and are in your background in art. Are there other artistic realms that you want to learn more about or you want to integrate more into music?
So film scores have always been a huge part of my music. I think before I'm a musician, I'm definitely a visual artist first. I come from a fine art background, I was a painter at uni. I was so drawn to visual elements, and I think a lot of musicians are multidisciplinary. A lot of artists come from many different backgrounds, architecture, or even software.
There are many kinds of “genres” I would like to dive into. Music videos have always been very fun for me to do because I love filmmaking. I think it's, you know, it's difficult to do when you don't have the resources. But when you are put in a position where you have to make it without any resources, like when I did “Pocky Boy”-that was a zero pound budget. It was all my friends pulling me favors and they were all super into it because they wanted experience. But I really want to make a film or something like that to accompany an album. Like how Gaga did it for Art Pop, the way she executes her work is very, very visual and I would love to do something like that.
What else can we expect from you in the coming months?
I'm going on a US tour at the end of September, which you can find on my website, yeule.jp. Then I'm working on my visual projects, working on more music, but I think I should really take a break from making music because it’s been crazy and a break is always good.
TiaCorine’s first viral moment was her hit single Lotto in 2018. Next came FreakyT, which debuted almost a year ago. This song was so viral on social media that it led to Latto hopping on the remix soon after Latto brought her on stage at Coachella. Since then, TiaCorine has performed at more festivals and events than ever before. Now, she’s selling out venues, and FreakyT and Lotto are still rising in streams. She just finished a tour with Key Glock; a duo that no one expected yet works perfectly.
Her unparalleled style isn’t just present in her music, but also through the different clothes and makeup she puts on every day. Whether she’s dressed up in pastel colors and face full of fun makeup or sweatpants and a t-shirt, she emphasizes that like her music, cannot be bound to one concept.
Do you think that any of your upcoming songs or projects will be as viral as FreakyT and Lotto?
That’s a hard question to ask because you really never know. I didn’t know it was going to be FreakyT, but I hope so. I feel like it has to do with the fans, the listeners, and the supporters. I have some new music coming out and it’s always the songs that I don’t like that go viral.
Why do you think those songs went viral?
FreakyT is just really relatable. The beginning of the song is ‘Look at me, where she wanna be…’ I feel like a lot of people feel the same way. I feel like they felt, ‘Never needed you, but you needed me…’ A lot of people understand that lyric and it hits everybody at the same time.
I Can’t Wait was your last project. When can we expect new music?
Of course – definitely more features. I’m never really a feature person. A lot of my projects have just one or two features, but they’ll have more features and bigger features. I’m putting together an EP right now and working on an album as well.
Will your sound be any different?
It’ll always be different because I’m always changing and always growing. I never know what I’m going to make. Everything is really natural and organic when I make music. I don’t go into the studio and say ‘I’m going to make this type of song.’ I just go through beats, get with people, and then it just happens. That’s why I put I Can’t Wait together the way I did; so you are used to expecting something out of the box from me at all times.
You often incorporate anime and cute stuff in your music. What does that representation mean to you as a Black woman rapper?
I’m not just Black. My mom is Native – I’m more Native than anything. I feel like if I just say that, I’m ignoring the other sides of me as well. I just call myself an artist and a person. I’m just doing what I’m doing. It really just boils down to being all the way myself. I’ve always been into anime/ I’ve always been into Toonami, Dragon Ball Z, and Inuyasha. That is where I started. It’s a core memory of being a kid and unlocking that aesthetic. I feel like those things keep that inner kid in me alive. I also make sure that my music is always fun because this is my job, but when something feels like work, you don’t tend to love it anymore. It keeps that passion and fun stuff alive, as well as that very creative, imaginative part of me.
TIACORINE wears TOP and BAG by ZITA TAN, SKIRTS by NODRESS OFFICIAL, SHOES by FLORENTINE LEITNER, RINGS by NINNA YORK, NECKLACE by MOCO
You’ve recently performed at a lot of festivals. How does that feel for you?
It’s crazy. Every week it was like, ‘They want you to come, they love you.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ I’m always shocked that these people like me. I’m just this person from Winston-Salem. But I did my first tour with Key Glock and that was awesome. He called me personally and asked for a favor. To feel wanted and needed for your craft and music is way different than somebody setting it up for you. It was a challenge that also broke a lot of barriers for me.
Can we expect a tour soon?
We were thinking about November, but I did express that I have to get surgery on my cords. It’s why I sound so hoarse right now. I have a polyp that I have to get removed.
You have a seven-year-old daughter. Do you ever center your music around her?
Of course – like things me and her go through or something funny she said. I like to include her in videos so people can see her grow. She was in the videos for Lotto and IKYK, so she’s well-incorporated into my music.
What is your songwriting process?
It’s a mixture of a lot of things. Sometimes it’s random. My friends may say something funny and I’ll write it, then I’m finished. I might hear a beat and go through the little stuff and it’ll be perfect. Starting off a song is so hard, it’s very important. I’ll find something on my phone to start me off. I’ll use that and freestyle in a way to find the tone. I get on the mic and close my eyes.
Do the beats usually come first?
You have to find the perfect beat. I go through three or four beats before I even record. Sometimes I won’t like it anymore and might spend three hours on it. People take a long time on beats because there’s a lot of sampling. I don’t always like sampling because of the clearing process. I’m also a co-producer so if they’re making something I tell them to do something. I always pick my own beats.
Who do you usually produce with?
Everyone. I don’t have a specific person. I always co-produce. If not, it’s because somebody on Instagram sent me something and I’ll fuck with it.
TIACORINE wears HOODIE, TIE, TOP by LUAR, GLOVES are STYLIST’S OWN, BOOTS by PIFERI
In regards to your style, how does each look come to life on a daily basis?
It’s just like making a song. You just feel it. Some days it’s like I’m going to the grocery store the whole day. I think I’m just really in tune with myself and I don’t lie about how I feel. Some people say I dress like this because people are watching me; no I don’t. I do not give a fuck. Tia’s gonna be comfortable. A lot of people are like, ‘Is she gay?’ You would know if I was. I’m gonna go all the way with it.
What do you think makes you unique?
I’m like a chameleon. You’ll never know. I’m really home to myself. I really don’t feel like I sound like anything. I can do a rock song and be inspired by Doja Cat, but it still sounds like me. I feel like I just have a very unique voice.
What does being from North Carolina mean to you?
It means a lot, simply because a lot of people told me I couldn’t make it out of North Carolina, especially from Winston-Salem. Now that I have actual support, it proves that I’m actually really good. I don’t think anyone from my city has performed at Rolling Loud. People will come up to me in the mall and the way they’ll approach me is just so cool – but I can still be normal and they inspire me to go back to do what I want to do. They make me feel like I can make it from here, I can chase my dreams. I feel like I’m really making history and I’m like a hero, especially being Native. Sometimes I forget that I’m Native because they always categorize me as female and Black. As much as I am, I’m also Native too. I don’t meet a lot of Native people and I’m a Native artist…It’s such a different history, like mom was born on a reservation.
Is there anyone you want to collaborate with?
I really wanna collab with Tyler, the Creator. He’s number one on my list. I was really sad to see I wasn’t performing at Camp Flog Gnaw. I definitely want to do something with Key Glock because his fans are amazing. Also, of course, Frank, Kali Uchis, Don Toliver, and Future. I’ve got a long list.
TIACORINE wears DRESS by ACNE STUDIOS, SLEEVES, HEADPIECE, and STUFFED ANIMAL by R4BBIT TEETH, RINGS by NINNA YORK, SHOES by ACNE STUDIOS
What are some of your personal goals aside from music?
I want to start doing voice-overs. I want to make a soundtrack for a movie. I want to be an actress in a thriller. I used to want to be a bartender. When I’m back home, I always like to make drinks. One day I want to put together my own bar called Tia’s Drinks so that people can drink like Tia. I want to make toys and collectibles that are limited edition.
You’ve blown up so quickly. Is there anything you want to say to your fans?
I want to say thank you. I love that y’all love me and I truly do love y’all because where would I be? I truly thank y’all for giving me a chance and actually listening, supporting me, coming to my shows, Tweeting me, and reposting my things. I’m really grateful. I just hope that y’all stick with me.
His newest single, “Saico”, and the accompanying video — shot on his grandfather’s ranch in Peru — taps into his familial and psychedelic roots. While the lyrics unravel existential feelings, the visuals provide a rare sense of ease.
Ahead of the release we sat down with A.CHAL to talk about his grandfather’s influence, how Peru continues to ground him, and what's next for him music-wise.
So your first single comes out this Friday. Are you excited?
I'm excited and kind of nervous, but I know everything's going to be all right. Coming out of a major deal where I had so many resources to do this thing solo has been a learning experience for sure… but I think what’s cool about it is that I’m not tripping on my success like that. Leaving LA and this system I was in, I knew that I couldn’t put out music that felt commercially-aligned or based on an algorithm and I also don’t have to. This song and upcoming record is different from all the other music I put out. I made what I would want to hear. Even shooting the video in Peru on an eight millimeter instead of having a huge production team has made it feel very organic, which reminds me of my formative years.
I’m hoping this is God giving me a new run with all the wisdom I’ve gained since then. It feels like a new term and I’m happy I didn’t rush to drop music during the COVID era, which was a time of experimentation for a lot of artists. I’m more long-term, I wanted something with longevity that will age well.
I can see that with “SAICO”.
Exactly. I came in the game songwriting and producing and was lucky enough to learn from a lot of big producers about what goes into making a hit record and that’s really just about identifying what kind of music you want to make and what you’re trying to say, which gets a little harder when you’re independent and can basically do anything.
How much time did you spend in Peru over the last two years?
I was there for a while when my grandfather was getting sick. He passed away about a year ago. I was named after him although my name was supposed to be Ichal, my dad’s choice — after the mountain he was raised near. Also where I shot the “Saico” video. That’s where I take the A in my artist name, which also looks like a mountain to me, then the period signifies the circle of life and Chal so that it sounds similar to the name my father wanted for me.
What was your biggest takeaway from the time you spent with him in his later years?
There was this huge mirror in front of the bed where he was hospitalized and sitting there with him, it made me realize how young I still am. It’s easy to feel like you’re running out of time or that if you don’t do something by a certain age, it’s too late. He died at 102 and has been such a big inspiration throughout my life. Up until the end he was a true cowboy and always tried his best. He reminded me that you can’t put a number or letter on anything you do. All you can do is try to do what actually means something to you.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about society’s obsession with “more”. Very rarely is anybody ever just satisfied with what they have.
That’s what “Saico” is literally about. I say “I’m going saico in my head. There’s a cycle I can’t quit, it’s a cycle I admit. Said I wouldn’t but I did.” I’m not talking about being addicted to any specific thing, but the obsession with finding fulfillment. Then the verse says “Talking to La Luna in the sky, ate a whole eighth on the 405…” I just did a bunch of shrooms and I’m looking at the moon like “What am I doing?” Headed from one toxic destination to the next.
One day, you just wake up and realize that people get stuck in these cycles of doing the same empty things over and over again.
It’s a dangerous way to live, wanting something that you don’t have and once you get it, you’re already onto the next thing.
It’s insane because that’s how we live in every single aspect.
It’s crazy that we’ve survived this long, but I'm also a big fan of not overthinking and just being present. Sometimes I’m all there, but others I’m just in my head. Today at brunch with my friends, one of them asked how I was feeling, and I just felt so confused by my own thoughts. Sometimes I wonder if my thoughts are mine or if they're placed there through my phone.
Definitely, I’ve been there. Our brain is always processing what we consume even if it isn’t in our conscious awareness.
Exactly. It might’ve been a five second swipe but it’s there now. It’s like adding a drop of oil in water. Whether you see it or not, it’s there. With the song, it was important for me to do a visual that showed what the song was talking about, but we didn’t go to Peru with a plan. We just went and did what felt natural and to me that was going to my grandfather’s ranch where phones don’t even work.
Shooting there with Xavier Scott Marshall and only family members in the video felt intentionally in opposition to the lyrics because being there is what keeps me going and clears up this saico in my head.
I love that juxtaposition.
I think it’s therapeutic in a way. It makes you feel good. The other night, I ran into my boy at the Dion Lee party and we were outside having a deep convo and were talking about how I only pop out maybe two times a year and being out here can actually be so draining. I can’t have fake conversations all the time and that’s what it feels like here versus when I’m in Peru.
I think it’s so funny that you’re wearing timbs on this Peruvian terrain in the video, like what’s more New York than that?
In the beginning of the video, I look a bit disoriented, and that’s not me acting. The altitude there is way higher than Machu Picchu, so I was physically unwell for days. I felt like I was going to explode; I was basically tripping, seeing things, and throwing up. When I first got there, I was physically unwell for days, which is why I look a bit disoriented at the beginning of the video. That’s not me acting. The altitude there is way higher than Machu Picchu; it's intense. First night, myaunt just put me under a bunch of heavy blankets, and I went to sleep. The next day I wake up and see these timbs next to my timbs and I’m like that’s crazy. They were pretty much new, not exactly new because you could tell it was the old manufacturer’s version for sure – I went there with a brand new pair so I could immediately tell the difference.
I was raised in Queens and my dad worked in construction — a typical immigrant job — so he’d go back and sometimes leave clothes there because family members would use them and take care of them for years. He brought that pair to my grandfather’s place 15 years ago after first coming to the states.
So you were sick throughout filming the entire video?
The night before we shot the video they took me to these volcanic waters and told me to drink it so I’d feel better and it’s so rich in minerals so the day we shot the video I already felt better. Iput on the old timbs and went out with no shirt and literally felt amazing, as I say in the song. But essentially, none of that video was planned; it all just happened super naturally.
There’s this underlying message in the lyrics, in the sonics and in the visuals that speak to this liberated thinking of yours. It’s like you said earlier, a five second swipe and its in your brain forever; people who listen to this track are basically plugging into this positive wavelength.
I hope so, but also as conscious as I am, I take that and can separate it from the art. Not all the art I digest visually, sonically, or whatever, has to be aligned with my ethics, but if it feels authentic, I’m probably going to like it and that’s rare in itself. Trying to plug conscious messages in art is a fine line to walk on because it can come off really cheesy. That’s why I’m a huge Bob Marley fan because although it’s conscious, it isn’t in your face. You’re just going to feel good when you play the track.
It’s art, but it means something more when it’s intentional.
You still gotta keep it saucy, you know; base it on the vibes. That said, it’s not easy to be intentional and that’s why it can take me longer to finish projects; I can’t just put a bar in because it sounds good, I have to feel it too. Everything is there for a reason.
Now I’m in the process of putting together a show and taking my time with that — how the music translates live is super important to me. I’m finding inspiration in artists from the late 60s and 70s who would put on shows with this transitional energy that felt like very spiritual experiences. We’re just going to have to see what happens.
Watch the new video below:
