“This World Has Become My Life” Nilüfer Yanya Interviewed

I first came across Nilüfer Yanya through her 2017 track ‘Sliding Doors’ which had been featured in a romantic comedy called Irreplaceable You showing on Netflix. I was mesmerised by Yanya’s fusion of soft vocals, probing questions and delicate indie production which were married with other calming jazz and rock elements. From that point onwards, Yanya became such a standout artist and her upcoming music would compel me to engage in her blossoming career.

The West London musician known for her rhythmic guitar playing, philosophical approach and stirring tone has just dropped her tertiary studio album ‘My Method Actor’. The album is an impressive follow up of her sophomore album ‘PAINLESS’ and a more realised version of the sound Yanya wants to advance. Nilüfer Yanya’s unmistakably London sound accompanied by her thoroughly reflective lyrics are consistent features throughout ‘My Method Actor’. Nothing is beyond musing for the duration of this album – where Yanya has assumed full responsibility as a musician and performer – two roles that have always felt intrinsic and not separate to her regular life. Desire, relationships and journeys are the themes that Yanya ruminates, trying to unpack the questions that may arise in her life and what they mean. Nilüfer Yanya’s music is absorbing – it can make you feel the depth of a glittering sunset in the Mediterranean while perched on a rock, that same kind of serenity and contemplation have been congruous in this record with tracks like ‘Method Actor’, ‘Binding’ and ‘Call It Love’ highlighting the grandness of Yanya’s musical abilities.

In the lead up to the release of her brand new album ‘My Method Actor’, we caught up with Nilüfer Yanya to understand her creative process, love for literature and the emotional connection between music and lyrics.

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How would you describe your sound? 

My music is quite rock-based, I would say. A bit grungy, a bit indie. I find it hard to describe. 

You began with a more softer indie pop sound and have centred your music in rock over the past few years, how has that come to be? How would you say your sound has evolved over time?

When I first started I was always just writing songs on guitar. It was pretty indie for a while, and alternative pop as well. But I feel like my music quite easily sits in the rock pop world. I feel like it is naturally evolving a little bit at a time but there is also the core of it, which stays the same. I think what is changing the most, especially with this album, is the different kinds of worlds my music sits in.

What led you to pursue music as a career? Was there like a defining moment for you or was it something you had always done?

I had always wanted to do it since I was really young but I didn’t think of it as a career. I remember wanting to be in a band and wanting to write songs. So I think it slowly unfolded throughout my teens and then when I left school I didn’t go to university. Which was probably one of the more defining moments. I was like I am just going to work on my music.

For sure, and has your upbringing or your local area influenced your music heavily? Are those two factors that you would consider to be big influences or impactful in any way?

London overall has been impactful. I don’t know if it’s just like my voice or the music, but I do feel like I sound like I’m from London, which is what you hear in the music as well. 

What artists have shaped your sound the most?

I feel like it is probably a cumulative effect of everything that I like. I would say what first got me into guitar were indie and punk pop bands. I got more into older stuff like The Cure and PIXIES because they experimented a lot more with their song structures and guitar lines, which is what drew me in.

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In terms of non-musical influences, are there any books, films or life experiences that inspire your songwriting?

I love reading and I love seeing films. A really good book I read recently is I Who Have Never Known Men. There is this girl living in a cell with all of these other women, maybe twenty-five or thirteen of them.  And she doesn’t remember the world outside of this cell that she is in and the other woman can’t talk about it either or that there was a world before. They don’t remember how they were captured and put into the cell. So they start this journey of venturing out into the world, and everything is just flat, the weather doesn’t really change. It is a really interesting story about what it means to keep going when there doesn’t seem like there is much to live for. I feel like that is a question people ask themselves anyway, like what is the point in everything? Or why? Or where are our lives taking us?

I think it is really interesting that you have mentioned these different philosophical questions. Is philosophy a significant part of your music, or the way that you think about it, in some capacity?

For me, writing a song is like working out things. It is a process for me to understand more about myself. Some people say it is a bit like therapy, and I guess it is like that. However in a therapy session, you have someone guiding you, but in songwriting, it is like you’re the guide as well. 

Relating to that question, do you ever feel like the pressure to conform to mainstream trends, or do you enjoy staying on the rock pop and indie path?

I definitely don’t feel the pressure to conform and I think I’ve always found strength in working on my own sound. I feel like there is so much other music out there to be inspired by and I don’t think I have ever seen myself as a mainstream artist. But there is also some stuff that gets to the mainstream that is really interesting too. 

Are there any challenges you have faced as a female artist within the indie space and what have you done to overcome them? 

No challenges that are specific to this genre but generally yes. It is important to build confidence and feel good enough in this space. I think that is probably what most women and non binary people understand in music. This world is still male dominated so trying to feel like you belong there and making space for yourself can be the challenge.

What has been the most rewarding part of your musical journey so far?

Being able to release music and being able to release albums feels pretty rewarding. And also seeing the music mean something to other people is pretty cool. 

Walk me through your songwriting process. How do you translate emotions into music?

It normally starts with something on the guitar, a loop or a riff usually which I write a melody over. Once that happens, I will weave words into the melody that sounds like the words that you want to say and make sense out of that. That is the way I’ve always worked but sometimes songs start a different way. The musical part is already happening and inspiring me to understand the emotion or mood behind it. 

What was the process of recording ‘My Method Actor’?

I wrote this album with my friend and producer Will Archer. We basically said at the beginning that we really wanted to keep making music together and maybe for this record, we shouldn’t invite any other writer or producer into the making of the record. Which made the process more focused. In the past, I have always been writing a record and kind of just let it happen. But it was nice to have strong, streamlined attention from the beginning.

We started writing it last February and did a couple sessions a week until the end of the year. There were a few strong songs at the start which kicked things off and one of them was “Method Actor” and the name stuck with me. We kept going till the end of the year, really. Most of the record was done in London but we went and did two weeks in an Eastbourne studio, rerecording some strings there which a really talented cellist and violinist came down for, finalising vocal takes, rerecording the drums, but we didn’t end up using a lot of the new takes, because what we had recorded in Will’s London studio actually sounded a bit cooler in the end.

What made you want to call the album ‘My Method Actor’?

It just sounded interesting. When it came to naming the album, I kept coming back to ‘Method Actor’, naming it ‘My Method Actor’, because I started thinking about it more and reading into method acting. I really liked the theory behind it, which is that you are not really acting anymore, because you have really embodied the character, and have started using your own experiences to become that character. It is like the two things are interwoven. In other words, that is how I feel about my relationship with writing and music and performing and the fact that this world has become my life. 

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What would you say is your favourite song on the record?

A song called ‘Binding’ for sure. 

What are the recurring themes across ‘My Method Actor’?

It is a bit of a journey and very transitional. Maybe a bit heavy too, it has something weightish about it that holds you down. And not necessarily in a bad way, it is just grounding. This record feels like the next step from my last album ‘PAINLESS’ which acts like a blueprint for this album,

How do you stay authentic to your sound and yourself in this ever evolving landscape?

That is one of the things I was thinking about when I was finishing this record. Especially, what does authenticity mean and why are we so obsessed with it? Why do we want artists to be original or authentic? People crave it but I don’t know exactly what it is. 

Everyone knows that there is so much thought and premeditation that goes into anything that you make or do, because everybody always wants to make a good impression. And as a musician I always want to make good music, good songs, and I only know if I’m being authentic and maybe no one else would know that.

Do you often write for other artists as well? Or is that something you would like to explore perhaps in the future? And in terms of you and your music, what direction would you like to head in the next few years? 

No, not really but I would like to. I want to be a bit more behind the scenes and I think it would be fun to work on someone’s project, or be in their band without being a collaborator. After this album I would love to work on another album but we are probably not gonna rush into it. So outside of music, I’ve been craving to do other things and not just work on my own stuff, like I mentioned. Maybe that is the answer, exploring things outside of my own songwriting and seeing where it takes me.

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‘My Method Actor’ is out now.

Words: Naz Hamdi 
Photography: Molly Daniel

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