Setting the vibe with luxurious vocal textures, keys, cosmic details and syncopated drums, YAEVIN open her song Yellow with the lyrics, “Yellow, they see yellow…”
“He thinks I’m the girl from his dreams…” sings the rising artist from Brooklyn on her second single which is about the rarely discussed phenomenon of Asian fetishization.
Speaking on why YAEVIN wanted to address this in sonic format, she says profoundly and with conviction, “In Asian women it causes insecurities and an even larger sense of otherness than we already have. This can even lead to feelings of being downright unsafe or uncomfortable. Even today, with such a huge conversation surrounding the objectification of women, Asian fetishes are still socially acceptable and considered at worst funny or quirky. It’s important to me that people start to realize what it feels like for us.”
The songstress continues, “I didn’t necessarily plan it, but my producer, Luke Markham, wrote this beautiful track that felt complicated; sad, hopeful, disappointing, haunting, empowering. And the words just came out that way.”
“It was around the time that we all realized Asian hate crimes were at a rise in the U.S., so the relationship between violent crimes and the over-sexualization of Asians was on my mind. I guess I just needed to some way to deal with the anger I was feeling.”
We love the fusion of art and activism and the awareness that YAEVIN is bringing to the topic in such a meaningful way, and have added Yellow to our New Music Spotlight playlist. You should also check out her debut single, All I Have!