Yung Bae is an interesting character to say the least. From his social media feeds, you can tell that he is a millennial who has three sole passions in life- music, anime, and his cats. However, when you hear the music he’s making and the marketing around it, that’s when you get confused. It’s as if a Gen Xer was trapped in a millennial’s body.
Despite his oddities, he truly is just a millennial who has found a passion to devote himself to. I was fortunate enough to witness the duality of Yung Bae’s identity as he struggled to make his morning cup of coffee while fervidly talking to me about disco and anime for the next half an hour.
Yung Bae x Respect My Region Interview
Interview edited for concision and clarity
RMR: As a millennial, it’s so crazy that you’re into all of this old school culture and future funk/disco sound. How are you so connected to not just the music, but the culture itself?
Yung Bae: I grew up around a lot of that music. I started developing an appreciation for these more dated and niche genres like Motown Disco. I was very fascinated by the musical elements and how I could elevate it and make it my own.
Now, it’s become my life. Even outside of making music, that’s all I’m listening to in the car when I’m driving to and from sessions- Motown, exotica, all this stuff. I just love it and respect the hell out of all these genres. They get me going and I love what I get to do all day.
RMR: But was it hard making this music, especially when your peers and people around you were listening to radio top 40 hits and other modern music? Was it hard to stay focused despite that?
Yung Bae: It actually was. It’s definitely like that for the longest time. To a degree, it’s still like that- I’m fairly left field compared to most of these other lineups. I was seeing my peers get booked for festivals, and I was like “Why is that not happening for me? I think it (my music) is pretty good?” Ultimately, making music makes me pretty happy so I tried to not forget that. It took a while, but it paid off.
RMR: Do you feel any pressure from your label or management when creating music? Obviously future funk/disco isn’t the mainstream genre right now, so it’ll be harder to get your music out there and accumulate fans.
Yung Bae: Honestly, my label, publishing, managers, and everyone have been outstanding. They don’t give a shit. If I told them I want Will Smith on a track right now they’ll go make that happen. The only obligation is that I have to meet certain criteria, like hit a certain amount of tracks on an album, but that’s about it. They’re like, “if you wanna go sample Michael Jackson and get sued to death, we will back you.” They really just let me do my thing. They’ve been beyond ride or die with it (music), and my manager is very creatively involved. Everyone on the team genuinely loves the project and the music. That’s the best part- they understand where my head’s at and let me guide the whole thing.
RMR: You tweeted that “Exotica” by Bae & 60’s “Spy Shit” are your favorite tracks off of your latest album, ‘Groovy Continental: Side A.’ Normally artists don’t pick their favorite tracks and say that it’s like picking a favorite child-
Yung Bae: (laughs) Oh fuck no. If you dip into my iTunes and saw some of these play counts, you’d know in a heart beat. I can’t even cap. I definitely have favorites with this one.
RMR: What makes these your favorite? Was it the creation process or the track itself overall?
Yung Bae: It’s a bit of both. “Exotica” and “Spy Shit” are very geared toward exotica and 60’s space age lounge in a sense. But it’s definitely the process too. For me, it felt like I had hit my end goal with those tracks especially. Where I got what I set out to achieve, so to me they’re perfect. I had to figure out how to create these tracks without samples and things I utilized before. It was challenging and tricky, but that’s what made it so much fun.
RMR: ‘Groovy Continental: Side A’ stands out from the rest of your previous discography, since you had a lot more creative direction and freedom. You were able to branch out beyond the use of samples as well as have more collaborations. How are you able to reach out to these artists and convince them to jump on these tracks? Was it out of their own personal nostalgia or did they view it as something fun that they don’t get to do with their own music?
Yung Bae: It’s kinda felt like that where normally they wouldn’t be tapped into a genre like this. More often than not, I would pop into a session or send them tracks and they were like, “holy shit, dude. I love this.” I think it’s one of those things where it’s not as common as you think to hear most of these sounds.
You have the Dua Lipas of the world, and all these people trying to hop on the disco train. I feel like they don’t have a real appreciation for it. They’re just trying to capitalize on this moment in time. Their music is great but ultimately I truly just live and breathe this shit 24/7.
It’s pretty cool coming in with these collaborators. Most of these people would be pretty pop-leaning and left field compared to what I was doing. Ultimately, I picked most of these people and it worked out for the track so well. It’s a weird contrast but it worked out in the grander scheme of things.
RMR: How did you get connected with Madeon?
Yung Bae: I forgot how it happened but first and foremost, I’ve always been a fan of his stuff and was listening to it in high school. So it’s coming in full circle now. I think we’ve met once or twice. When we met at the Hard Rock Hotel the last time, Hugo (Madeon) and I hung out to play mini golf. I can’t remember how Hugo found me, but I’m super glad he did.
(Madeon overhears the conversation and calls out, “Yo!”)
Hugo! How did you find my music?
(Madeon explains from a distance)
So he toured with Saint Pepsi/Skylar Spence, and that genre itself is just starting to gain traction now. Oh yeah, he said YouTube recommendations too. YouTube recommendations are the best. That’s how I found half of my samples.
RMR: Does it feel weird being on the Good Faith Forever Tour since the crowd likely expects you to be a DJ with a certain sound, and you show up playing disco? Or have they been welcoming?
Yung Bae: The crowds have been phenomenal. That’s always the first and foremost thought going into support tours- they aren’t here for me at the end of the day. How will they receive me?
(To Madeon) Would you agree? crowds have been phenomenal!
Madeon: Yea, it’s been great.
I feel like the standouts have been some of the major ones- Chicago, Toronto.
Madeon: Yeah!
Oh my god, it’s crazy. How do these kids have energy like that? I know I don’t.
RMR: You’re very active on social media, and your song “Bad Boy” with bbno$ and Billy Marchiafava went viral on TikTok. What was that like?
Yung Bae: The song just started doing its thing and it changed everything for me. TikTok treated me very well.
It’s crazy to see socials be this driving force behind artists now. If you go back to the 70s/80s, if a band dropped an album, I’d have to walk by a record store to know. Versus now I could tweet, “It’s 4AM, and I’m cracked out. Go get this album right now.”
RMR: Speaking of social media, are you the one photoshopping your own photos on Instagram?
Yung Bae: (laughs) I’ll do half of them on a whim. Then I got so lazy doing the photoshop and just got my creative guy to do it. Then he wasn’t available one day, so I was like fuck this, I’m going to get body pillows. I’m getting the real thing.
RMR: Are you nervous about your humor on social media and how that might impact how people perceive you and your music? Or do you not care at all?
Yung Bae: Oh I don’t give a shit. Shame left my life a long time ago. I’m posting my cats and my body pillows from Japan 24/7. I’m just having fun.
It doesn’t translate as much into the music per say. It almost makes sense but also doesn’t make sense with how it provides contrast. I want people to understand where my head’s at. They’ll get this pretty exotica track but also get cat jokes from me on Twitter. I want to create a carefree brand and not one where there’s a driving force behind it, pushing everything. Since at the end of the day, it’s just me.
RMR: What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any new releases on the horizon?
Yung Bae: I have a whole B-side for the album dropping later this year. It’s slightly different from the first one but still falls under this giant world. The album was supposed to be 30 tracks long and my label was like, “let’s pump the brakes on that, hold on.” It’s fun to drop the first part to see what works and what people like.
But at the end of the day, I get to do what I want and have fun with me. It’s fun to play around and experiment. With the upcoming stuff too, I want to keep pushing because I got into the 60s and I love the instruments and melody. That’s another thing, I started tapping into Motown Disco because the brand itself has been very tongue in cheek and that’s what I aim for. They’re saying shoo-bee-doo-wop but also some dirty little things on the radio. So I’ve associated with that, and want to keep with no sampling and that whole process as well. It’s been more fun for me too, rather than just chopping up some pre-existing music.
RMR: To tie this up, what are your top 3 favorite anime? Don’t feel pressured to name any of the current popular series such as Attack on Titan or Demon Slayer.
Yung Bae: I grew up on Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and I really like Perfect Blue. But one of my recent favorites is Megazone 23, that’s the blue haired girl you’ll see in my social media profile pictures. I actually don’t watch a lot of the new anime series. I usually just throw reruns on in the background. Those were my first introductions and I’m the guy who watches the same five movies in rotation constantly. I’ve let them become a part of the brand as well- you’ll see a corgi like the one from Bebop and the Sailor Scouts constantly appearing in photos with me, which are obviously not photoshopped.
Kids would come up to me all the time at shows and ask, “are you watching this anime right now?” Like the fuck is that bro? I’m pretty sure Crunchyroll gave me a lifetime subscription, and I don’t think I’ve logged in for over a year. Shit, I was just watching Bebop last night.
Yung Bae’s energy on the Good Faith Forever Tour was uplifting and got everyone dancing. It’s always inspiring to see another fellow Pacific Northwester making strides and impacting the industry. If you’re planning to go to a show on the tour, make sure to get there early to catch Yung Bae! Keep an eye out later this year for his upcoming B-side album release.
Connect With Yung Bae
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