YASI
Meet Yasi, a self proclaimed pale Persian girl with vocals that vibrate a room. Her voice transports you to a past life when Spotify didn’t exist and vinyl was your only choice. Known for her live performances, Yasi has a way of filling the venue with her powerful message and music. Her presence is honest and powerful, she uses her platform to speak about controversial topics and encourages others to do the same. From reproductive rights, to world issues, she educates her audience and connects with them on a more emotional and vulnerable level, deeper than her music can offer. She’s making a difference for the future generations, showing Middle Eastern children that they can follow their dreams.
Q: Do you remember when you first figured out you could do music professionally
A: I always loved music and always wanted to pursue it since I was a kid, but because my parents were immigrants it wasn’t viewed as something you can do as a career, so I didn’t officially decide on it until I was 19 years old. I joined a band called “Hwood” . The lead singer was pretty much my mentor, which helped me realize I wanted to do this professionally.
Q: What made you love music in the first place?
A: Because it was the first thing I really connected to that was just me. My parents listened to music but it was Persian music always. I had to figure out American music and society by myself. Music helped me relate to others and find my own personality and identity that was away from my parents. It was a way to express myself and I was lucky I was good at singing as well.
Q: Where is your family from in Iran?
A: My family is originally from Masuleh, Iran, but a lot of them live in northern Iran now. I actually named my publishing after Masuleh.
Q: What’s it like when you visit?
A: Usually the night you get into Iran is the craziest. Everyone in your entire family will come to the airport to greet you. You’re already super jet lagged and tired from traveling because it's a whole day of travel to get there. Everyone is so excited though and it's reenergizing.
Q: What makes you proud to be Persian?
A: The culture. It’s a really old country with rich history and beauty and that makes me proud. At the same time, it's really sad to be from a place that is pretty much in ruin. Especially knowing how great the history is, it's hard to see people struggling right now. There’s a lot of things going on right now.
Q: How do you think your culture shaped you as an artist?
A: It made me resilient in the sense that I knew no one was going to believe in me until I really proved myself. I had to have an unwavering faith that it's going to work out. Growing up surrounded by doubt definitely can make it hard to keep an unwavering faith though. To this day my family will ask me “when are you going to get a real job?” That being said, my background inspired me stylistically as well. It allows me to add elements to my music such as Persian instruments and give my viewpoint from where I'm from to my music. We have more in common than we do different, but where you grow up and how you grow up, it gives you a different perspective that others might not know. In a lot of my sessions I’m one the first artist that people have worked with that is Iranian and willing to talk about it in depth. It’s important for me to educate others on the Middle East and leave a bit of a mark on the people I work with about where I’m from.
Q: Do you have any industry friends from the Middle East?
A: I do have some internet friends that are Iranian and doing music. It's really nice because you already have a level of understanding with one another. I’ve met a couple producers doing really cool stuff and it’s refreshing to see that visibility in the industry. Snoh Aalegra is an artist I really admire.
Q: What are some challenges you have faced in your career?
A: The pandemic was a huge challenge, as somebody who was predominantly a touring artist. It was definitely difficult to not only see my income but my source of expression just vanished in a year. It’s been difficult to pick up momentum since then. Another one is imposter syndrome, self doubt, ya know, constantly wondering “am I supposed to do this?” “is this going to work out for me?” - but ya know as time has gone on - I can’t control pandemics, and I can’t knock myself for losing momentum, I know so many artists that have. Also, when it comes to self doubt and imposter syndrome i think that being your worst enemy is the worst thing you can do for yourself because at the end of the day all you have is yourself. That's been something I’ve had to implement in myself, instead of going to the worst case scenario, I try to go to the best case scenario. Not always being like “shitty things are going to happen to me”
Q: What’s your end of year wrapped look like, but for your thoughts and feelings?
It hasn’t happened in a huge abundance but I want to be in sessions and I want to learn, and recently I’ve learned a lot, talking to musicians and asking if it's bad I haven't written a full song in weeks or months. And realizing that the majority of us have had a really hard time keeping momentum during this time. It's good and important to talk to your creative friends about these kinds of things, like it's okay to struggle and it's okay to not know what exactly lies ahead for you. It can be daunting, but it can also be super exciting. I want to have a better attitude going into 2020-whatever the fuck. I want to take things less seriously and have more fun. Not be so serious about not getting on a playlist or blah blah blah. Earlier this week I was like “I’m going to quit making music” and the next day something great happens and the universe is like “ why are you overreacting?!”