“This Year Is Consistency” Yung Filly Interviewed

Known as one of the biggest personalities in the UK with an incredible fan base, Yung Filly is one of the pioneers for many names in YouTube as we know it today. However, this isn’t where his talent ends. Behind his online persona and infectious laugh on screen, Andrés Felipe is a man who embraces his Colombian culture and with that his love for music. Moving to South-East London from a young age, when grime took an all-time high, Yung Filly tried his hand at several MC sets but it wasn’t until 2017 that he began releasing songs online that fully embraced his heritage. Since then, his career on YouTube has rocketed but behind the scenes he’s been working aimlessly in the studio creating music that truly reflects him. 

Having released music for several years now, Filly found that not everyone was as receptive as he may have thought. This isn’t anything new, as let’s be honest when you step from one industry to another, it’s often found that eyebrows are raised and with that comes a pool of uncertainty. However, this hasn’t stopped him, and rightfully so! His latest release ‘Grey’ has swiftly become a globally recognised track that’s drenched in his famous feel-good energy. Proving people wrong, the viral whirlwind has become a hip-moving anthem that’s got everyone’s attention. With a UK remix and forthcoming mixtape on the way, he’s showing no signs of slowing down! 

Clash got the chance to catch up with Yung Filly amidst the viral chaos of his latest single. Talking all things music from earlier influences, opinions from artists alike, and more, tap in below to see what he had to say! 

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I’d love if you could take me back to the beginning, tell me a bit more about your upbringing and how you were introduced to music. 

Great question. As you might know, I am Colombian and was born there, so music and dancing are a big part of our culture. Growing up that’s how we used to bond as a family, I would listen to a few Latino artists with my mum and my sisters. I fell in love with music from that age. Fun fact, I started off doing music before becoming Yung Filly on YouTube! Another fun fact, when I started doing music, I really wanted to put Columbia on the map so I would ask my mum to write some lyrics for me in Spanish.

Would you say that you had any earlier musical influences?

From a young age, I definitely had influences from latino music. Growing up in London it was the grime scene that I fell in love with. There are a few videos doing the rounds now when I was on a few grime sets! 

Your career aside of music is huge. Have you always wanted to pursue a career in music, or did it start out as a hobby that eventually progressed into something bigger?  

I fell in love with music and the love for performing first. The love for making people happy and the ability to make someone’s day was born from that. I then had the same mind set when I jumped onto YouTube.

You’ve always really embraced your Colombian heritage through whatever you do, more so musically. How important is it for you to stay true to your roots in a world where trends and jumping on certain sounds can be forced? 

This is extremely important to me. I feel like I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my Colombian heritage. People wouldn’t see me as different, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t feel like I was being myself and fully embracing me as Andrés Felipe. 

Let’s talks about your latest single ‘Grey’ – it’s doing incredibly at the moment! Tell me a bit more about how this single came about and the reaction it received online.  

All glory to God honestly, I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I remember listening to ‘Last Last’ and thinking I would love to do a song like that, where I can talk about heart break or something serious and still be able to vibe to it. I also wanted to play around with all the sounds that I love. So, when I heard this beat, the melodies instantly started coming. We were all excited in the studio and had that feeling that this could be the one! 

The visuals for the song are also incredible. How hands on were you regarding piecing this together? Did you always have an idea in mind? 

I knew what I didn’t want, and I was lucky to work with Craig and his team. Mo is an amazing director and they managed to pull something out that I genuinely love, and I believe is my best work to date.

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We saw you tease the ‘Grey’ UK remix on Instagram, can you give us any hints as to who it could be? 

Oooh cheeky! So here is what I can say, its someone absolutely amazing. It’s a great friend of mine and he is yet to drop a bad song in my opinion. He’s also has one of the biggest songs to come out of our country.

You’ve mentioned previously that stepping into the industry was harder than you thought, especially in terms of getting a reception from artists alike. Do you still feel the same? Or do you think that the success of the single so far speaks for itself? 

I genuinely felt that certain artist’s thoughts that affiliate themselves with me [as an artist] would make them joke man which is a shame. Some felt like I wasn’t as talented which is also okay. However, now I think the reception is definitely different – I guess everyone wants to be associated with the winning boat! That why I would always have respect and love for Chip! He was one of the first people from the jump who said come let’s do it. Even now, I send him songs that he’s not featured on, and he will give me great feedback alongside tips on how better to arrange the songs. 

I know you have a mixtape coming out in the next couple of months. Is there anything you can tell us about that? Is it similar vibes to ‘Grey’ or a mixture of genres? 

I think for this project, it’s a true mixtape. I have experimented with different sounds, and I have taken my time to give the people what they deserve. It’s a really good body of work! There’s some drill on there, there are songs to dance to sing along to as well as me rapping. I can’t wait to hear what people think when it’s out! 

When going in to create this EP, were you open to collaborating with new producers and artists or do you work better creatively with the same set of people? 

So, I have a core team that I start with, and I am very open to working with anyone that I feel like we can connect on and is talented – I always remember that I was once that guy!

What else can we expect to see from you this year musically? 

This year is consistency, a few features, we’ve obviously got the mixtape coming and then a tour! 

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Words: Elle Evans // @elleevans98

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