Photo by Jon Pisani
Written by Megan Langley
Almost a year ago, Yours Truly unveiled their debut full-length album, “Self Care.” This followed up their successful EP “Afterglow,” which brought them more worldwide recognition and many incredible touring opportunities.
Several months after the release of “Self Care,” the band dropped their newest hit, “Walk Over Your Grave” - a track that marks the beginning of a brand new era for them and their sound. We got the chance to talk with the band about the creative process for “Self Care,” “Walk Over Your Grave,” and more.
Megan Langley: Can each of you introduce yourselves and say what you do in the band?
Mikaila Delgado: I’m Mikaila and I sing.
Lachlan Cronin: I’m Lachlan and I play guitar.
ML: About a year ago, you released your debut album “Self Care” - was writing this album cathartic or therapeutic for you?
MD: Very much! We had just done our first full year of touring. It was our first very busy year and i think we saw our lives take such a different shape both personally and professionally that by the time we actually sat down to write “Self Care,” we were telling stories that we hadn’t told before.
We were delving into things that we hadn’t experienced with each other before, so I think that it definitely helped all of us come to terms with a lot of things we had experienced in that year. I think that us writing the album was the first time we sat down and reflected on those changes and how it affected us mentally.
Being able to talk to each other and open up these conversations was a really big thing for us, and it just made sense to call it “Self Care,” because this album has literally been self care for us.
ML: The title foreshadows one of the main lyrical themes on this record - mental health. Which songs would you say are the best examples of the album’s overall theme or concept, and what are some of the other topics touched on throughout the record?
MD: I think for mental health, the main ones are “Undersize” and “Together.” “Together” was about experiencing a lot of anxiety around writing and recording the actual album. We put so much pressure on ourselves.
As someone who experiences anxiety and stuff like that, you kind of ffind it hard to see it as not a huge, anxious thing when you’re trying to do something so big. “Undersize” is a song I wrote about a friend that was going through their own personal struggle. I think it’s really important to tell people that you’re there for them. That was really important for us.
LC: Another big one would be relationships and stuff like that, whether it’s friends or significant others. With “Undersize,” your friend’s having a real shit time and [you’re wondering] what you can do for them.
“Siamese Souls” and “Composure” really dive into relationship stuff as well.
MD: The main part of it is trying to find the silver lining in your relationships, whether good or bad.
ML: How would you describe the sound of this record, and how would you compare it to your previous material in that regard?
LC: The fact that we had toured a full year in between releasing “Afterglow” and “Self Care”… there was a lot of learning to do. There was a lot of learning from other bands we had looked up to for years and bands that we were meeting along the way.
We were hearing their stuff and putting that all into what we wanted to do, and trying to find something that sometimes sounds nostalgic, but at the same time, is exciting and real cool for us. I think “Undersize” was a big thing. The way that song came about was very different for us. A song like “Funeral Home” as well was something different for us. [We asked] “what else can we do here?”
MD: I think it was a lot lighter than the things we had released before. Our first two EPs had an older pop-punk kind of sound, whereas in “Self Care,” we wanted to try and incorporate some other things and make it sound a little bit more current, but still have a nostalgic feel to it.
We started recording in January 2020 and started writing it in 2019, and we tried to blend 2019 pop-punk with nostalgia. We tried to grow as songwriters as well and take inspiration from other styles of music, with artists like City and Colour.
ML: More recently, you released a brand new single titled “Walk Over My Grave” - what is the song about?
MD: That song is about having someone that’s really close in your life and them not being in your life anymore. The things that they say to you are still coming back to you even if you’re not talking anymore.
“When I shiver, I hear you say someone’s walking over my grave” is about when something will always stick with you. It’s an angry song, and we didn’t intend for it to be angry, but I think when we started writing it, it kind of just got like that.
I was obviously very upset when I wrote it. Writing is a form of self-care for me, so that’s why we called the album “Self Care.”
Sometimes I find it hard to explain how I feel in a conversation, and I feel like I always say the wrong things. When I actually sit down and write it into a song, I feel like it’s a way of letting it go.
Even though I sound pretty angry, I feel like it was a way of letting it go into the universe and saying “It’s the universe’s problem now. It’s not mine anymore.”
LC: The more we sat with it and worked on it… by the time we got to the studio to record it, it just turned into this big angry mess. This is really, really different. It’s just really dark, but something about it made us think it was really cool and really exciting.
MD: It was an easy song to write. Actually, I think it’s probably one of the easiest songs we’ve ever written.
ML: This single marks the beginning of you guys starting a new era and going in a new direction with your music - what inspired you to go in a bit of a different direction musically with the track?
MD: We’ve just never liked doing the same thing twice. We’re always just thinking “what can we do different?” With the new song, we didn’t know if people were going to like it.
It’s different. It’s a different era of our band, but we want to push ourselves and see what the best version of Yours Truly. If we’ve got to try a few different things to see how we get there, then we’re going to release a really angry song with a weird last chorus. We all really like heavy music.
We play light pop-punk, but I think we all listen to heavy music more than we listen to anything else.
LC: I think I’ve listened to too much hardcore recently. Even when we tour, we get in the van and whoever DJs is just playing some heavy song, except for this one time where Teddie played “Bubbly” [by Colbie Callait].
MD: He got called out for listening to light music.
ML: Are you working on any more material? If so, what can people expect from the music that will follow up this single? Will it be in the same vein as “Walk Over My Grave” in terms of the overall sound?
MD: We have some other songs. In terms of them being in the same vein as ‘Walk Over My Grave”, yes and no. Some songs are very different from “Walk Over My Grave.”
Some songs sound like they could be on “Self Care.” Some songs sound like they could be on “Afterglow.”
Some songs sound like they could be in their own universe. I think that we’re just trying to find the best version of Yours Truly.
We tracked a whole bunch of songs that are quite different from each other, and I think that’s just what we do best.
LC: We just wanted to try and find the best version of Yours Truly that we can, whether it’s a heavy sound or something a bit lighter.
“Self Care” and “Walk Over My Grave” are both available on all streaming platforms. Be sure to keep up with Yours Truly on @YoursTruly_Band and pick something up from their merch store! If there’s someone you want to see us interview next, send us a tweet @lgndsoftmrw and let us know!