TEN TALKS TO YORKE
Yorke is staking her claim as Australia's next pop breakout. On her new single break up season, the Byron Bay-born artist turns heartbreak into something euphoric, delivering a sleek, irresistible pop anthem alongside hitmaker Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd). Drawing inspiration from the golden age of 2010s pop, Yorke is embracing a new era of electronic, synth-driven songwriting with a clear nod to Britney Spears' influence. As break up season begins a fresh chapter, we caught up with Yorke to talk about the song's creation and what's next.
The new single is great. Tell me about how this song came to be.
Thank you. I wrote this song after going for coffee with a friend before a session. I don't live in Sydney, so I don't get to see her that often, and she was telling me about all the Sydney couples that had just broken up. It was a bit scandalous and I was shocked. She said, "Oh, it's breakup season," and I literally got out my Notes app and wrote it down. I told her, "I'm going to write this song today." In the back of my mind, I was kind of like, "Hope I'm not next." I know people say things come in threes and all that. That's where I approached the song from. It was written as part of a songwriting week with US producer Tommy Brown, which was the most formative week. Getting to work with someone who's worked with Ariana Grande and so many incredible artists was amazing. He was so generous with his time. It all came together really quickly, and I love it.
What do you think Tommy brought to your sonic world?
I went into it with a playlist of where I thought my next era would head. We sat down on the first day and he was like, "I think you need to get out of your comfort zone. Have you heard this random Britney Spears song?" And I was like, "It's so funny you say that because it's actually in the playlist I brought into this week of sessions." [The song was Hold It Against Me]. The thing that shocked me most was how generous he was with his time. It was almost like mentoring. He gave us so many stories, like, "When I was working with Ari, this happened," and little studio moments that you've only heard about, never from the actual source. It was super inspiring. I went into it thinking, "I want to write a hit. I want to write the best song of my career." Having that confidence, and having Tommy believe in me as well, made me feel free to write whatever I wanted because I knew he had my back. That confidence really allowed the song to shine. We wrote a bunch of songs and I'm excited about some of the others as well.
Tell me about the video and the visuals. What inspired them? What was on your metaphorical mood board?
It was a lot of Disney horror, I guess. Breakups aren't sparkly and shiny, and we wanted to represent that. I knew I wanted it to be like a breakup clinic full of broken hearts coming in. I find that I'm always the therapist in my friendship groups.
I wanted to emulate that in the video. Everyone's coming to me for advice and I'm trying to fix them. Then at the end, there's the explosive broken heart, and I couldn't fix that person even though I tried. I end up wearing their breakup as blood, which was the metaphor for the video.
There were also a lot of cool Y2K references. Everything was very pink. Again, I wanted it to be something outside my comfort zone. The directors really brought something out in me that was exciting, and I was initially scared to try it. But the song needed that. I think it was the perfect symbiosis of the video and the song coming together.
I want to talk to you about fashion and your style as well. Is fashion important to you?
It is, yeah. I think this is the first time I've really loved the fashion in my music video. I worked with Greta Pitney, who is an amazing stylist, and I've loved her work for so long. She really nailed it. She has the craziest wardrobe, and I just went to her house and we played dress-ups for hours before the shoot.
That's how it should be.
I know. There was no pressure.
Which pop stars, in terms of visuals and the sonic world melding together really well, do you look up to? Who has built a really great world?
Sabrina Carpenter, obviously. I feel like in her earlier videos she was still figuring it out, but with "Manchild" and everything from there, it's been so cohesive. I love cinematic storytelling. It's always been a big part of my brand. She's really cool. I also feel like the new Olivia Rodrigo clips have been really unexpected in a beautiful way.
I totally agree. I think "The Cure" is the best song she's ever written.
I love it when an artist really takes a risk. I get drawn to that.
What's next for you?
Definitely new music. I'm sure the next single will be another one I did with Tommy, and I'm very excited for it.
