Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, originally from Morocco, and currently residing in London, England, YAZ discovered his passion for the guitar, piano, singing, and songwriting in the last 12 months.
Creating music to promote happiness and wellbeing to all who listen, YAZ sings from the heart and allows all kinds of people to relate to him and his unique vocals.
With that added touch of tender love and care, the London-based singer-songwriter shares a message of living with love as he explores his own lyrical depth through themes of mental health and welfare. Sifting through the waves of positivity that YAZ openly radiates, we become fixated with the song “How Come?.”
There’s a nostalgic essence that is present in the indie-folk spirits that are embraced by the musical groundwork explored. YAZ portrays such ease and agility in the way he conveys this story's narrative with fluent emotion. Getting witty as he stamps the track with his thoughtful lyrics, there’s a warmth that breaks through the surface of “How Come?,” as it blankets you in a wide spectrum of ingenuity. Speaking into the message of embracing who you are, no matter what, YAZ excels as he showcases the simmering connotations of a soundtrack that comes just in time for the heated summertime weather.
We love how we can pick up on the buoyancy that this record propels, even though the subject matter is laced with the reality of broken expectations. That’s the beauty of a YAZ creation. Whatever the melodically charged utopia you fall into, you always come out with a brand new perspective and the longing for freshly lived experiences.
We love the structure of the overall brilliance that you place into “How Come?.” In your own words, could you please share the meaning of this song?
“How Come?” is about a person getting stood up on a date but still finding the joy in being stood up instead of sulking and being sad. Its meaning is quite deep because in a way many people feel hurt or feel like something is wrong with them if they don’t get that person or thing they desire, but in fact, it’s the complete opposite. The other person or thing is actually missing out on you. So, this song was a way to demonstrate how I feel if I get stood up or rejected, you simply keep it moving and laugh about it because life is too short to sulk.
What makes you feel so connected to this piece from your six-track EP ‘Letter From The Stars?' How would you like your audience to connect to it?
I feel connected to this piece because growing up I always felt that I needed to be someone I wasn’t in order to have a chance at meeting someone. As I got older, I realized that wasn’t the way and that in fact being me was just enough and if that person didn’t like it then it wasn’t my problem. I also started laughing and poking fun at instances where things didn’t work out. I want my audience to be able to listen to this song and get some sort of relief that they aren’t and won’t be the only ones to have been rejected and that the world moves on so have fun and laugh about it.
Could you please share a glimpse into the creative process that you embarked on when fashioning “How Come?,” and the other songs heard on the EP? Did your vision come to life the way you expected?
I was sitting on the balcony one afternoon in early April and as the sun was shining, I had stumbled on these chords that I really enjoyed playing. From there, this sense of fun overtook me and within 20 minutes I had written this song. I didn’t even realize how quickly I wrote it but when I started singing it, I knew I loved it right away. It was catchy and made me want to smile and sing along. When I then spoke to my producer who lives in Canada, we made the vision happen and made it sound exactly the way we wanted it to. At first, we wanted to try using a ukulele, but we didn’t have access, but we still managed to make it work. As for the other songs, I think we pretty much nailed them. It was difficult to make the creative process flow as well as I wanted it to because I had to facetime my producer in a different time zone. So, therefore, the flow was a bit disrupted but the fact that this whole project was made over facetime calls still blows me away. I think it goes to show the potential of what can happen if we were in the same room. So hopefully that’ll be soon. Overall, I was really happy with the product and I am thankful to be able to share it with the world.
What has been the highlight of your artistic career this far?
My biggest highlight up to this point is releasing this project and hearing feedback from the audience. The messages I have received on how different songs impacted them are super amazing and it drives me to only want to do more. If I can make another person happy by simply singing a few words that I feel they need to hear then I am doing my job. I look forward to starting performing live as that is where I know my strongest suit is. For now, I take it a day at a time and try to get a bit better each day.
What's your favorite release of this year, from an independent artist you admire?
So far this year I would say my favorite release by an independent artist was “Holy” with Justin Bieber and Chance the Rapper (Independent artist). I have always admired Chance and the way he goes about writing his lyrics and kind of adding vocals to them. He made this song that much better and worth listening to on repeat!