Interview: Indy Yelich Makes the Personal Less Private with ‘Fame Is a Bedroom’ EP

Indy Yelich, younger sister of global pop icon Lorde, bares her soul on ‘Fame Is a Bedroom,’ an intimate sophomore EP that turns private conversations, heartbreaks, and sibling bonds into soul-stirring, hauntingly honest indie pop songs. In conversation with Atwood Magazine, she opens up about carving her own identity, embracing vulnerability, and learning to trust her voice as both a writer and an artist.

Stream: ‘Fame Is a Bedroom’ – Indy

Fame is defined as “the state of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements.”

Although a seemingly two-dimensional concept, fame has many interpretations – it’s a 1980s film directed by Alan Parker, and most currently, it’s a gun, pointed blind (in the words of Addison Rae).

Twenty-six-year-old New Zealand native Indy Yelich is adding a new definition to the word with the release of her latest EP, Fame Is a Bedroom.

A bedroom is a multi-purposed safe space, designed to shield its inhabitants from the outside. It’s rare that an audience would be invited to interact with a personal living space so closely.

Fame Is A Bedroom - Indy — Fame Is A Bedroom – Indy

“For me, Fame is a Bedroom really means all private conversations I’ve had behind closed doors,” Yelich – who performs mononymously under her first name – tells Atwood Magazine. “[It’s] all the beds I don’t sleep in anymore that my body remembers, the intimacy of my sister and I’s relationship when it feels like the world’s watching, and really learning to trust my identity.”

On a late July morning, Indy calls in from Montauk, where she had just finished an exercise class. “They played one of my sister’s songs and it was so incredible I think I almost cried,” she gushes, still sporting an off the shoulder athletic top.

It’s clear that Indy doesn’t shy away from talking about her sister, who just so happens to be one of our current generation’s musical icons, Lorde. Indy goes far enough to open the door to the pair’s close dynamic with the third track of the EP, “Idol.”

The song starts out with a slow groove, the words, “I’m the moon to your sunlight, I only shine in the nighttime,” leading the first verse. The song’s simple bass line lays a foundation for the chorus, sung with reverence and repetition, “you’re my idol.”

The slow strut of the song creates space to take in the heartfelt lyrics Indy penned in reverence of her and her sister’s strong relationship, also heavily impacted by fame that comes at the hand of young stardom and millions of peering eyes.

Indy naturally has had to journey her way to her current outlook on life with a famous sibling.

Understanding that her own life is happening inside such an obvious situation helps anchor her, as well as the EP itself.

“I feel like alongside ‘Idol,’ there’s a lot of departure,” she reflects. “A formative breakup, the loss of a queer friendship. I think that it’s my way of putting an old version of myself to rest and I think that when I played it for [my sister], she understood.”

Importance was placed on making space for Indy to voice on her own terms on this project. While never holding back admiration for her sister, even calling “Idol” a love song. Still, Indy is clear in her intention to be herself. She points back to a lyric from “Idol” to elaborate.

“But I’ve got my own scars. In the sense of all I can ever be is my own person,” she explains. “It’s a scary thing to put that out there but I think it’s really important to acknowledge such a big part of my life with someone I’m so close with. And I think ‘Idol,’ for me at least, I wrote that for me. I didn’t write it for anybody else. I wrote it as an ode to a love story about my sister but also learning about how to have my own identity as well.”

As a New York City transplant, spending her formative years in a high-speed, high-traffic city has generated lots of inspiration, much of which fuels her sophomore EP’s topics – including the loss of a queer friendship, familial relationships, and a formative breakup.

The city, in its intentional and unique way, became a lyrical muse for Indy, who now resides in the East Village with her best friend Desirée.

“I would say New York is where I learned how to write – I wrote two poetry books. I had written 60 songs before that. New York was the first time that I felt truly myself as an adult,” Indy says. “I would say, truly, you learn who you are by bringing a book to a dive bar, having a drink, watching the Knicks and you’ll meet 10,000 people. It’s so wonderful to be out in the city where it’s not about you. It’s about everything you see.”

The songwriting process for Fame Is a Bedroom began two years ago with “Savior,” an angsty, soul-baring track about power imbalances within a romantic relationship.

“It took a really long time to finish. We had live strings come in and play. That was the start of this word. It was the hardest one to write, it was really aggravating,” Indy shares.

The subject matter made for a deep river to wade through when seeing it through to the finish line.

“I think what it really was is I think that every young woman has this formative Mr. Big relationship in their lives and I think that sometimes it’s a rite of passage,” she says. “Writing that song made me see our relationship for what it was and see a very toxic love story. But there was imbalance. So I think that delving into that emotion with someone that I’d spent so long with was very difficult and I still think it’s very difficult to hear, but you owe it to your creativity to dive into that pain.”

Diving into the pain required focus on the lyrical aspect of the EP. During the writing process, Indy called on a group of trusted collaborators to help her flesh out these very personal, touchy topics.

Lizzie Land, one of Indy’s co-writers and best friends, had a hand in writing “East Coast,” “Savior,” and “Sail Away.” Having someone present throughout the process of the music in both the song’s creation and the living of the story made for an enriching experience.

“That was really special because all of the songs besides ‘Sail Away’ are about the same situation. So, she really saw it evolve,” Indy smiles.

Other collaborators like NoiseClub, Nick Monson, and Skylar Stonestreet, helped guide the music where Indy wanted it to go.

Because the source material of the EP is so closely tied to Indy’s own personal experiences, it made sense that she found herself more involved in the production process of making the songs. She contributed work to the arrangement and vocal taping of the songs, adding piano here or bass there. Doing this work gave her a new found confidence that she can take forward.

“I now trust that I can form a song. It’s remarkable loving something so much and realizing you know what you’re doing,” she notes.

Knowledge and practice, paired with a little outside musical inspiration, pushed Indy even further into new territory as she found herself wanting to experiment more with her sound.

“I listen to a ton of Mk.gee,” Indy remarks. “He, I really feel like, helped inspire not so much this record but [he] gave me my love of music back.”

Hearing him play at the Palladium and drawing so much from the ’80s music she says also inspires her, made her want to lean into making new sounds on this EP.

“I want what I write to be what I would listen to,” she adds.

Exploring new territory and sharing your findings isn’t a stress-free process. With newness comes the need to get rid of the old – the old being Indy’s hesitancy to get into the personal.

She calls this body her “emotional history” and “emotional interior,” noting the maturing she’s gained from the release of her first EP to now.

“I think you live a lot of life and then your music gets better because it’s a craft that you practice. You know, you’re reading, you’re writing, you’re doing all these things,” she says. “And you know, who knows what the next record is going to sound like?”

The next record doesn’t sound like the main focus for Indy at the moment. Now that the musical aspect of Fame is a Bedroom has been realized, Indy is looking towards the future with the excitement of live performances on the horizon.

“I have a very specific image,” Indy explains. “I have a specific dress. All of my rings. Very soft blue, purple light. My dream would be somewhere like the Bowery Ballroom. A keyboardist, guitarist, drummer, me. Vibing out.”

When asking Indy about the song she’s most excited to play in the glow of that blue, purple light, Indy’s quick answer (“Up in Flames”) is a tell-tale sign of an artist fully backing their creation, ready to bring others into another way to experience the world they’ve created.

Or in Indy’s case, the bedroom.

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