Sydney alt-pop artist YAGKI spills her soul, guts and all, in “Something I Do” – unpacking her own survival instincts – and in turn, her raw humanity – through intimately confessional lyrics and sultry pools of intoxicating sound.
Stream: “Something I Do” – YAGKI
‘Something I Do’ is about the ‘shut off’ survival instinct, but it’s equally about where that started from and why my body/mind learnt to do that.
Sarah Yagki has never been afraid to reveal what’s inside, and on her latest single, the Australian alt-pop artist is more honest and exposed than perhaps ever before.
Bold beats, glistening guitars, and moody pianos form a sultry pool of sound out of which YAGKI spills her heavy soul, guts and all. An intimate confessional, “Something I Do” explores and unpacks her own survival instincts as she embarks on a journey to better understand herself and why she is who she is today.
It’s an achingly raw reckoning, and one that brings us up-close and personal not just with the artist, but with her own humanity.
Maybe this is all my head imagined
Would that give me some peace or some silence?
I wouldn’t ever really ever need to wake up again
And see you at the foot of my bed
Still got your clothes on my floor from two nights before
Got some scars, from someone who just left
In a trance on a loop I can’t really sustain
Every moment more with only myself to blame
Can’t love you I’m exhausted
Help the way you’re falling
Listen to my caution
Don’t change me to fix yourself
Just tryna’ manage my health
You make me hate who I am now
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Something I Do,” independently out May 17, 2024. YAGKI’s first song of the year is as much a welcome return as it is a reintroduction to the Eora/Sydney-based Lebanese/Australian artist, who recently rebranded after releasing songs as Sarah Yagki over the past four years.
In reviewing her last single, July 2023’s “Just Like Me,” Atwood praised Yagki for delivering an achingly intense, visceral, and all-consuming song of inner and outer pain: “Yagki holds nothing back in delivering a raw accounting of her experience, and in doing so, she creates a jarring, yet oddly soothing and deeply cathartic song we will surely come back to time and again in the months and years ahead,” we wrote at the time. “‘Just Like Me’ is a song of connection; of life turned sideways; of what it really means to be human, and to feel a world of feelings all at once.”
In a world full of algorithms, YAGKI stands out for her candid, cathartic, and unapologetically human artistry.
Her latest single is one of the greatest examples of this; written as a letter both to herself and some romantic situationship, “Something I Do” attempts to explain the inner workings of her brain through vulnerable lyrics and a smoldering, spellbinding alternative R&B landscape. It’s not so much an apology as it is an attempt to process how she feels in real time, culminating in an emotionally charged climax that aches from the inside out as she sings:
It’s just something I… do
It’s just something that… isn’t that new
I can’t help the way I don’t love you
It’s just something I… do
So you can too
“‘Something I Do’ is an exploration of the sensation of emptiness and the acceptance of detachment,” YAGKI tells Atwood Magazine. “Reflecting on a childhood experience where I was in a coma at the age of three, the song delves into how such trauma echoes into my later life. It delves into themes of impulsivity and identity struggles, serving as a caution to those attempting to forge close connections with me while I feel so empty.”
“I used Joji as a big inspiration for this song, but instead of taking a darker route to match the lyrical themes, I decided to aim it in more of a Clairo/BENEE direction. I wanted this song to have an eerie undertone, saturated in light production and a seemingly upbeat atmosphere.”
I’m craving some silence I’m slowly losing my mind
Crying between jobs just here wasting some time
Too afraid to move on so I let go of my thoughts
Separate by who I am and who I once was
Can’t love you I’m exhausted
Help the way you’re falling
Listen to my caution now
It’s just something I do
It’s just something that isn’t that new
I can’t help the way I don’t love you
It’s just something I do
So you can too
Catchy, soulful, and brutally honest through and through, “Something I Do” shines a light on our own inner workings.
YAGKI’s heartfelt reminds us that there is (and will always be) so much more than meets the eye – and that sometimes people can’t help feeling the way they do, even if that confounds or confuses those around them. We’re all made differently; we feel things differently; we carry different baggage, and have different sets of tools that we use to work through said baggage.
At best, this song can inspire its audience to better empathize as we attempt to understand ourselves and others on a deeper level. Beyond that, YAGKI’s “debut” is a bona fide bop, with sweaty beats and sultry sonics making for an irresistible, intoxicating listening experience.
Stream “Something I Do” exclusively on Atwood Magazine ahead of its May 17 release, and join us in falling head-over-heels for Sarah Yagki’s stunning artistry.
Sun is rising, I’m still at your house
Can’t remember, anything past sundown
Am I craving, silence or a high?
To get myself, out of my own mind
Sun is rising I’m still at your house
Can’t remember anything past sundown
Am I craving some silence or a high
To get myself out of my mind
Sun is rising I’m still at your house
Can’t remember anything past sundown
Am I craving some silence or a high
To get myself out of my mind
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Stream: “Something I Do” – YAGKI
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© Taylah Chapman
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