“At its root, the song [Hard Pill to Swallow] is about being infatuated with someone who is struggling with drug addiction and how hard that is.”

With just three songs out, singer/songwriter Yianna has amassed over 100,000 streams on Spotify, been placed on major playlists such as Spotify’s “Fresh Finds”, and solidified herself as the next big thing out of New York.

While Yianna’s tastefully powerful and utterly unique voice has always existed, being a platinum-selling pop star is a relatively new dream for the East Coast artist. Growing up in Edison New Jersey, Yianna was always an avid music fan but never sang much growing up due to her shyness. In an act of bravery, independence, and self-belief, Yianna moved herself to Brooklyn when she was 23 to dedicate herself to her craft and pursue music full time.

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On November 9th, 2018, the talented singer dropped her first single “Ordinary Love”. The song performed well and quickly began racking up streams and is currently at 63,000 plays on Spotify. Motivated by her first major taste of success, Yianna returned to the studio to continue doing what she was born to do.

While “Ordinary Love” is certainly a great song, her most recent release “Hard Pill to Swallow” is undoubtedly her most impressive offering to date. Through the verses, Yianna skillfully builds tension as she speaks on a toxic relationship that she knows must end. All tension is released in the beautiful, Billie Eilish-Esque chorus which seems to act as a metaphor for the hard moment when someone realizes they are going to need to let go of someone they love. The song is unbelievable and overly deserving of the 42,000 streams it’s racked up in just two weeks and all the major playlist placements it has already received.

If you’re anything like me, after hitting play on one Yianna song you’ll be forced to cycle through her three cuts over and over again, but don’t let this deter you from becoming a fan, new music is on the way. The Brooklyn vocalist plans on releasing a new single before the end of August and then beginning her new projects rollout four to five weeks after.

After hearing “Hard Pill to Swallow” it was obvious to me that Yianna is special and her rise to stardom is inevitable. Last week I had the pleasure of chopping it up with the soulful singer talking about everything from toxic relationships to her upcoming project. My conversation with Yianna, lightly edited for content and clarity, follows below:

Spencer Lobdell, StereoVision (SL): Last November you dropped your debut single “Ordinary Love”, how did it feel to finally have music out that you could point people towards?

Yianna (Y): It felt amazing. When I told people I was a singer they always wanted to hear something and it sucked not having anything to play them.

SL: The song is up to 61,000 plays and that’s only on Spotify. What did you do to get “Ordinary Love” exposure and what methods were the most successful?

Y: Basically, me and my management team just sent it around to a lot of different people. The song ended up getting placed on one official Spotify playlist and a bunch of smaller playlists, that defiantly helped.

SL: saw that UK-based producer Dillistone did a remix of “Ordinary Love”. How did that come about?

Y: It’s funny because I’ve actually listened to his music for years so when a member of my management team said that his friend Dillistone wanted to remix the song I was super excited. His remix defiantly changes the vibe of the song in a cool way, now I have a version of the song for two different settings.

SL: Your growth and progression over just three songs is unbelievable and your newest song “Hard Pill to Swallow” sounds radio-ready. What inspired the new track?

Y: I wrote “Hard Pill to Swallow” the first time I in LA. It was then that I realized that there was someone in my life that I couldn’t keep there and it hurt. At its root, the song is about being infatuated with someone who is struggling with drug addiction and how hard that is.

SL: You took to Twitter to talk about your upcoming project saying “it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before.” What can fans expect and what makes it so different?

Y: I really wanted to strip back the production on this next project. I used a lot more live instruments and was heavily influenced by 90s hip-hop and r&b while recording. I also think that lyrically this is probably the most honest and to-the-point I’ve ever been in my music.

SL: Majority of our readers are avid hip-hop fans. Could you ever see yourself collaborating with rap artists? If yes, who would you most want a verse from and why?

Y: Absolutely. That’s something I definitely look forward to doing in the future. I’m a huge hip-hop fan myself which makes the second part of that question nearly impossible. If I had to pick though, I’d probably say Kanye because who knows what he’d say on my track. Huge wild card. That recording process would be insane as well.

SL: Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

Y: My inspirations come from all over the place. Right now I’m all about the 90’s so I’ve been super inspired by like Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, and Alanis Morissette, but really my inspiration comes from every era of every genre. If it feels good to me, then I’m into it.

SL: Do you have any advice for young artists just starting their musical journey?

Y: Don’t be afraid to do weird things. If it makes you uneasy, then that’s probably good. Take risks. Remember that your career isn’t defined on one song, so if people don’t like one of your tracks, don’t take it to heart. Write and release a new one. But most importantly, never give up. If you want to do this for real, you have to understand that is will be extremely difficult and you gotta stick with it and try to get better every step of the way.

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