Grounds For Success
A Caffeinated Conversation On Succeeding In Music
Grounds For Success
Yasmine Yousaf: Krewella's Story, Failing Forward, and Personal Growth
Join my electrifying conversation with Yasmine Yousaf from one of the most influential electronic groups, Krewella. Be prepared to dive into the gripping world of music, success, and personal growth as we chart the course of Krewella's start, and evolution, from their beginnings to their meteoric rise in the EDM world. We will talk about their early failures and successes, and how they have adeptly navigated the challenging terrain of the music industry. We'll explore the importance of self-care amidst hard work, and Yasmine's crazy story about how Krewella's relationship began with Jake Udell from Third Brain, a force that helped shape Krewella's future with a story involving Skrillex.
Yasmine reveals the realities of being an artist in an industry known for its relentless pace, and how a forced break, courtesy of the global pandemic, resulted in a mix of fulfillment and disillusionment. We also dive into Yazzie's personal relationships, the pivotal role her upbringing played in shaping her values, and how her bond with her fanbase has driven Krewella's success.
In the final leg of our journey, Yasmine opens up about her passion for poetry, her struggles early in life with an autoimmune disease, and her search for meaning in life. This episode promises to be a treasure trove of insights for anyone who's passionate about music, personal growth, and succeeding against all odds.
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GROUNDS FOR SUCCESS LINKS
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AUSTIN SELTZER LINKS
All Links Here: https://linktr.ee/Austinseltzer
YASMINE YOUSAF/KREWELLA LINKS
All Links Here: https://linktr.ee/krewella
Welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast. I'm your host, austin Siltzer. Together we'll unveil the keys to success in the music industry. Join me as I explore my guest's life stories and experiences to uncover practical insights to help you align with your goals more effectively. Hey coffee drinkers, welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast. Please like, follow and subscribe so we can update you with what's going on in our world. Today.
Austin Seltzer:On the podcast I have Yazzie from the amazing electronic group Cruella. If you guys have been in the electronic world for a while, cruella was one of the first groups to really really pop off in the electronic space that also branched into the pop world. I mean they had a song on the radio so they really really touched a lot of lives And they have been intertwined in my life for quite a while and we talk about it on this podcast. So I'm excited for you to listen to that. On this episode we're obviously going to talk about Cruella. We're going to talk about Cruella from the very inception till now, where they're on a hiatus, but we'll discuss kind of all the intricacies of their story and how they got to where they are. We will also talk about how, all along the way, they failed forward. What I mean by that is if they had an idea, they didn't just overanalyze and think you know, how can we continuously one up ourself before putting out an idea? they just did it, and I think that's so important. We will also talk about how, whenever the pandemic happened, yazzy was finally able to slow down. She had been going, going, going going her entire you know adult life with Cruella. She finally had a moment to take a second and chill and really work on her mental health, her health overall, and I think that that was a really beautiful topic that we talked about. We will also talk about this.
Austin Seltzer:This idea that I feel like most creatives talk about is should I continue to keep my head down and work or, every now and then, should I lift my head up and smell the roses? It's a really interesting topic because we really dive in on why it's tough to look up and smell the roses. I had a revelation while talking to Yazzy that maybe this podcast is just me talking to others, so I can learn about myself through the lens of, you know, their feedback. In our talk There's a pretty meta moment there.
Austin Seltzer:We talk about this really interesting story that brings Jake Udell from third brain, into co-managing Cruella and how that happened, and it involves none other than Skrillex, and so I, if you're watching this, i'm wearing my little Skrillex shirt And also it landed in a record deal Pretty, pretty interesting. And finally, i finally get to talk some not all, but a lot of my story as a, as someone starting out as a producer that wanted to be an artist, but you know, mostly into production, moving into mixing and some of the real, real struggles that I faced And I'm sure I'm going to face more, but some real big struggles that I faced and how I overcame them and how I'm sitting in this chair today talking to these really cool guests. So let's get caffeinated.
Yasmine Yousaf:Cheers, cheers. I haven't had a sip yet. I was waiting for you. What camera am I looking at?
Austin Seltzer:All of them.
Yasmine Yousaf:This is an ad placement.
Austin Seltzer:All of the guests in the studio.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh, that's good.
Austin Seltzer:Is it?
Yasmine Yousaf:That's really good. That's amazing.
Austin Seltzer:Is it actually?
Yasmine Yousaf:It is. It's really good. See, this is the kind of coffee that I probably wouldn't put cream in. This is like I need it in its pure state. It's really good.
Austin Seltzer:I'm glad It's going to have a lot of caffeine.
Yasmine Yousaf:So the problem with this is then I'll just start shaking and chatting like crazy person.
Austin Seltzer:Let's go.
Yasmine Yousaf:So if I look insane, it's the coffee, it's not me I love that.
Austin Seltzer:So Yazzie told me that she wanted to drink tea because I think that we thought it was going to be after two, but I didn't realize that she can have caffeine before two.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm so specific.
Austin Seltzer:But then I thought it was going to be tea. but you're like, if you're having coffee, i'm going to have coffee. I was like hell yeah.
Yasmine Yousaf:And then Grounds for success. I can't not have coffee with you.
Austin Seltzer:True. I agree. You also?
Yasmine Yousaf:told me you would funnel it down my throat if I didn't know That sounds so violent. You guys That did happen.
Austin Seltzer:So she was like I take a splash of cream, but then I said I'd take mine black, and then you're like I'll go black. And so here we are, just black coffee pour over.
Yasmine Yousaf:But It's good though. Yeah, if you don't finish it, we'll bust out a funnel and I already feel like going straight to my heart, straight to my heart.
Austin Seltzer:I'm doing it out of love, i promise.
Yasmine Yousaf:I know you are. I know you are. You just want me to get chatty because we're on a podcast. Here we go.
Austin Seltzer:So I'm curious what does a normal day in Yazzie's world look like?
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh well, it kind of has been different this year because Johan and I are taking a bit of a sabbatical not year, but chunk of time And so I haven't been in the studio. I've been doing something else that I'm not going to talk about on this podcast, because I haven't talked about it at all. You probably know what it is, but I just don't want to talk about it in a public way yet because it feels very. It's incubating still. I'm creating it still.
Austin Seltzer:I feel like we talked about it, but I'm just going to play dumb.
Yasmine Yousaf:We'll just mention it later, when we're not on the record. I love that, but I've been doing something else every day and it only involves me. It doesn't involve another person, it doesn't involve Johan, it doesn't involve a team. It is very insular And I feel like in that process, my life looks completely different right now because I'm revolving completely around myself.
Yasmine Yousaf:So I love that I do have somewhat of a routine in the morning and night, but it's very loose. I think I'm all about just waking up when my body wants to wake up. Moving my body first thing, like sweating, moving, walking, eating a really, really slow breakfast. I love slow meals where I'm not rushing. I hate that. I hate rushing while eating. It's probably like top five worst things for me for my mental health. Don't want to rush while I eat And then just spending the rest of the day creating And then I hope to spend time with loved ones sprinkled in there. So it's very loose. It's very loose right now. Nothing too specific.
Austin Seltzer:I love that I'm the first person to come on here and talk about moving slow, and I actually really, really appreciate that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh, i spent my whole ass adult life moving so quick that I remember 5% of it. It's really kind of sad for me at this point where I've spent so much of my life truly rushing like rushing from one thing to the next And I think it did. Johanna and I were both in the same boat. I know I can speak for her when I say this, but we spent so much time moving quickly and rushing that it was such a detriment on every facet of our lives physical health, mental health, the relationships that we love. So moving slow has been so healing for both of us. It's been healing for our relationship with each other, with our relationship with ourselves, our relationship to creativity. It's just. I recommend moving slow, even just a sprinkle of it in your day. Just try it out.
Austin Seltzer:I will.
Yasmine Yousaf:I will, i know you're doing the most, you're juggling a lot, so it's hard, it's hard.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, I'm like you in the mid, you know, like 15, 16, 17, or somewhere around there, probably a little bit earlier. I'm just not at that scale by any means, but I am just putting a little more on my plate than I should. But what I want to make a point is to move slow in the morning.
Yasmine Yousaf:Big time.
Austin Seltzer:I wake up early, i always do.
Yasmine Yousaf:Beautiful.
Austin Seltzer:I'll go through times where I'll do a meditation in the morning and then I'll journal and I'll read a book and then I'll go about the day. But whenever my life gets stressful or I have a lot on my plate, boom 7.30,. I'm like let's run down to the studio, Let's do some notes. Come on, man, There's a whole day to do that.
Yasmine Yousaf:I know And it's a big issue for me, because we have the best excuse in the world Our work is creative. So you always have this thing in the back of your head where you're like well, i'm my own boss, well, i have the dream job. You come up with all these different ways to make yourself think, like I should be getting straight to work, like I love my job, i love my life. Why wouldn't I spend all my time doing those things? But at the end of the day, it's still work. You know, it's still become something that we're trying to be compensated for. We're not just doing this as a hobby, like we have to put food on the table, we have to pay bills, like this is not just I mean, that's the dream, though is like to create as a hobby, but we're not there right now. But putting time aside to just be a human being for like even just 30 minutes before you jump into the work, even if it's something you love to me, i think, is one of the greatest things I've changed about my life.
Austin Seltzer:I love that. I recommend it. How did you figure out that you needed to slow down?
Yasmine Yousaf:Um, it had been happening slowly already when Johanna and I were working on our last, last record zero that came out in 2020. Right before the pandemic, um, we had already taken 2019,. well, 2015, wrong year 2019 to spend most of our time creating that album and slow down on touring, which was the first time in our entire career we had done that. We had usually juggled Like. I'll go back I. my calendar app on my computer has everything from the last decade. No way.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'll sometimes go back and look at what my life looked like And it would be like I kid you, not play shows like Thursday, friday, saturday, sometimes Sunday, fly home on the first slide out Monday morning and go straight to the studio and spend Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday Sometimes, if we didn't have a show in the studio every single day, but then, after the studio, find time to see my dad find time to spend time with, like if I was dating someone spend time with them. No time to my, literally not no time to myself. Johan was the same exact way and then just on repeat for years, to the point that in 2019, when we did slow down touring just to focus on creating the best album we could make, because we just wanted to try something different, it was one of those moments where we realized like, oh wait, something wasn't working and we were bypassing that and we were just on autopilot for so much of our life, including like moments that really mattered, like my dad marrying my stepmom, or like us getting like a big chart placement, like through all these, like big, monumental moments. I barely remember them and it's really sad for me and I just don't want to live life like that anymore. Johan and I had a lot of hard conversations where we would have moments where one of us was resisting and the other one was trying to just show the way, or vice versa, because we would both go through kind of different phases and eventually we kind of locked into the same place where we were just like we just want to be healthier, we just want to be happier.
Yasmine Yousaf:Something is wrong, something is affecting our relationship. Mine and her relationship Got to the point where we were fighting a lot, we were disagreeing a lot, we weren't enjoying our time in the studio together a lot, which is a huge indicator that something is wrong, because making music with Johan is magic. It's like one of my favorite things to do in the universe, and when there's something wrong with that, there's something wrong. And so when we slowed down in 2019, we were really excited to pick back up in 2020. We were like, okay, we're going to release the album in January, then we have this really big tour in the spring, and then festival season all summer and we're going to go hard, and then in the fall and winter, we're going to take off again.
Yasmine Yousaf:And then the pandemic hit and it forced us to fully back off the road. But Johan was going through a lot of health issues around that time and she needed to pull back. When the pandemic hit, she was like you know what The universe is telling me? that I need to pull back completely and figure out what's going on in my body. And so she tapped out entirely and I was like I love that for you. Please go take care of yourself.
Yasmine Yousaf:And in that time my partner Devin and I we built a home studio and we started working heavily on our next projects. I started doing some production and songwriting stuff for the next Cruella album. I started doing some side stuff for myself and I went hard. During the pandemic I was streaming a lot. I was just going in because I was like, okay, i have all this time Like, just let me feel it, everyone's doing stuff, like I see everybody streaming and everybody's creating music in this time. So I felt this pressure to just keep the foot on the gas. And so, johan, eventually she did so much healing in that time. I'm really proud of her.
Yasmine Yousaf:We eventually got back in the studio together. We made our last album, the Body Never Lies, and during that process I was simultaneously the most fulfilled and the most unhappy I'd ever been in my entire life. It was really confusing. It was a lot of dissonance for me. I felt like I was so proud of myself and so excited about what we were making, but at the same time, i was overworking myself and I was honestly. There was a big chunk of my life that I was like what is anxiety when you talk about it? I have no idea what that is. And then all of a sudden, in like 2021, towards the end, i started having like these debilitating symptoms. I had to go to the ER because I thought I was having a fucking heart attack.
Austin Seltzer:By the way, can I swear? Of course you can.
Yasmine Yousaf:Amazing, i'm gonna have to go to the ER to center myself.
Austin Seltzer:Fuck, yeah, let's go.
Yasmine Yousaf:And I was having all these irregularities on my ECGs and EKGs and the doctor did every test under the sun and couldn't tell me what was wrong And I'm like, oh, it's my mental health Got it, because usually when there's nothing wrong with our bodies, it is in our head and we have to figure out how to calm Which is part of our body Exactly?
Austin Seltzer:It's all connected. It's all connected.
Yasmine Yousaf:They're not separate So right. So when we went on the tour for The Body Never Lies in wow, time is crazy And we were on tour in 2022. It was kind of weird. It was like we did Ultra and then we did this two month tour And during that tour I felt like I was degrading so quickly And Johanna and I had been amazing. But we started fighting a lot again And again. Like I said, that was such an indicator for me When I can't control my nervous system around the person that I should feel the safest around. There's something wrong there And I called my manager. I talked to Fiona and Johanna towards the end of that tour And I'm like guys, i need space. Like I know we have a lot of stuff coming up. We had some shows to finish out the year. We were playing New Year's in Indonesia And then we were playing our first shows ever in Pakistan, which was like such a huge deal for us in.
Yasmine Yousaf:January. But then I was like, okay, so once 2023 hits, like once we come home from Pakistan, i just need space. I need time. I don't need to see any show offers, i don't need to hear anything about what's coming up music-wise, i don't need any pressure put on me, i will let you know when I can tap back in. And it's been so good for me. I feel like I'm like I feel good in my body again for the first time in years.
Austin Seltzer:I love that so much. I think I've said that a couple of times now, that I love that so much, but damn. Thank you That that takes so much bravery, i feel like because you have fans that I know want to see you guys and you have these creative urges that you feel like you have to get out of you and you have family that's probably maybe not.
Yasmine Yousaf:Well, my parents are super fucking confused, for sure. Yeah, they're both like but how are you going to make money? And I'm like well, we'll figure it out, we're going to let it happen, we're going to let the university charge here.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, that takes a lot of bravery and just knowing that everything will happen when it's supposed to happen And I know that I'm sure that's going to be a theme throughout our our podcast, because I'm I just get the sense that you are very spiritual and you just let things come when they're supposed to, And I haven't always, but now I feel like I am like anything you're sensing is newer, like it might have always existed in me, but anything that feels at peace with me right now is something that I'm very recently grasping.
Austin Seltzer:Amazing. Then we're going to work from start to there.
Yasmine Yousaf:Amazing.
Austin Seltzer:And see the progression, because, yeah, i actually always have got that sense from you.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm so glad. I mean, i think it exists in all of us. We just have to be able to tap into it. But I do like the feeling of being able to bring peace. So like, even if I am in like panic mode, i love appearing as though everything is all right, not because, like, of course, like there's a people pleaser tendency happening there, but also because I like people to feel safe and comfortable around me. It's like one of my goals in life is to have people feel good around me, because I like offering a safe space for people, but I want to be authentic in that I don't want it to be a mask. So I'm trying to figure out how to like bridge the gap between those two.
Austin Seltzer:That is really difficult It is.
Yasmine Yousaf:It is It's hard work.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, have you heard of Psy, our mutual friend, one of my best friends and actually will be part of the story?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes.
Austin Seltzer:He told me about this book called Not Nice.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh, I've never heard of it.
Austin Seltzer:It's great, i'm reading it and kind of the whole point of it is that we all, as people, should just stop being nice. And what nice is is this facade that we just say or do things to make somebody feel a certain way, but not like actually mean it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes.
Austin Seltzer:Being kind is what we should all strive for.
Yasmine Yousaf:Like the difference between those two. Nice is a facade So heavy.
Austin Seltzer:Kind is like genuine. Yes, it's really tough, especially here, like where there are people you like for me at least, people I want to work with people, i want to impress people. You know that. Well, that's really it. I mean, those are kind of the things like you just want people to feel a certain way about you. Sure, and when you say that you're kind, that resonates way more deeply than whatever BS you say to make a certain situation feel a certain way. Yeah, and I think that I'm genuinely a kind person.
Yasmine Yousaf:You are. I can contest to that.
Austin Seltzer:Thank you, but I think every now and then you feel like you have to say certain things to make somebody feel great about something 100%. And just being genuine and real is also appreciated and it doesn't make you feel stressed or like I think that stress comes out of.
Yasmine Yousaf:that is like trying to be a certain way Because it's inauthentic, yes, and when we realize that our actions aren't meeting up with like our soul, like what we would actually want for ourselves, like that's where so much cognitive dissonance happens and that's where so much anxiety is bred. In my opinion, like, for me, a lot of where my panic comes from in life is when I have two pieces of myself pulling away from each other. And I think when you can marry like your I hate talking in these terms because I know we all think differently about what they mean but our real self and our ideal self, and we can kind of bridge the gap and marry where they are in the middle, i think that's where we find the most peace, because our ideal self is a fantasy Like I'm never going to be. I will spend the rest of my life trying out, till the day I die. I will try to become that person, but I'm never going to have 100% of that. There's always going to be the real me that's just struggling against my own stories, my own traumas, my own baggage. But like bridging the gap and creating more authenticity, there is, i think, where I'm going to find the most peace. Maybe that's not for everybody, but like that's how I see it And I also think I mean we're talking about success here is like back to the nice kind thing.
Yasmine Yousaf:I think one of the things that's always sat with me is that there's plenty of people that don't like the music that my sister and I make. There's probably more people who don't like it than do like it. But the thing that bothers me more than anything is not that. If it's if someone walks away from me with a bad experience, my biggest thing that I want for myself is I want everybody who comes into contact with me to feel like I didn't judge them, that I was kind to them and that I treated them with respect. That's truly like I'm like. If someone walks away being like, yeah, they're good people, i don't care if you like my music, i don't care. Like that's lower to me. If you think that, like that I treated with your, with respect and you had a good experience with me, that's way more important to me. That's beautiful. No thank you for saying that.
Austin Seltzer:Wow, you just summarized who I think you are, and I think that that is why I felt like you are the spiritual person who let things flow into their life. It's just the way that you carry yourself, the way that you make somebody feel.
Yasmine Yousaf:Thank you, it's the goal. That's the goal.
Austin Seltzer:Has that always been the goal?
Yasmine Yousaf:I think it's how we were raised, 100%. I remember one of the very first things that my dad said, because he was he's my number one in my life. He's like the most important person in my life, definitely a daddy's girl And he always made me feel growing up that, I mean really, gender had nothing to do with anything. He would, he would push me to do everything and anything that he thought I was good at. If it was art, it was art. If it was math, it was math. It was building stuff, engineering something. It was that. He was truly such a big cheerleader for me, And so what he thinks about me is like number one on the totem pole in life.
Yasmine Yousaf:I wish, like I wish, what I thought about myself was a little higher. But to be honest, it's not. It's my dad and he knows it too. But I remember back in 2012, we were playing one of our first festivals. It was spring awakening in Chicago. That's where I'm from And it was the first show my dad ever came to And in the beginning of Cruella he was very concerned. I mean, i was going to go to college and get a great, I was going to be a fucking engineer and I was going to go do something else in my life.
Yasmine Yousaf:I wanted to be an electrical or mechanical engineer And I wanted to major in engineering and minor in some sort of fine arts, to marry both sides of my brain Cause I feel like I'm very split And he had these big dreams for me because I fed that, you know I told him that's what I wanted to, and so when I told him that I was going to be taking a gap year to do Cruella with Johan and Chris the gap year that turned into like gap life He was so deeply concerned. He was not happy about it, but out of like, not because he didn't believe in me and believe in Johan and I, but it was just such a hard thing for he's an immigrant, he's from Pakistan, he can't imagine school not leading to a successful life And like that's the American dream, right? Like that's what we're sold. And so when he finally started to see that we could support ourselves in what we were doing which is also a pipe dream, and we got really lucky Luck is a part of it, for sure, and I remember him being at spring awakening and people in the front, like he was in the front and he was like jumping up and down, having the best time And I remember him after that show coming backstage and being like you want all these people in the crowd ask me who I was, and I'm like I'm their dad.
Yasmine Yousaf:And people telling me like we love your daughters, like we love their music. And he was like I've never been so proud, like they all love, like they think you're great. And it wasn't about the music, it was more about the fact that we had been doing meet and greets like crazy. We answered every Facebook message, every single one. I was back when Facebook was a thing I was even using, my God. We were so in tune with the people that were listening to our music. They felt like they knew us and we felt like we knew them And like that's why they had that interaction with our dad. And our dad was like people really like you and love you. Like I'm so proud. That really solidified something in me where I'm like I want to be that person because like that's who my dad raised me to be, that's who my parents raised me to be.
Austin Seltzer:There is no doubt that that's why you guys had so much early success.
Yasmine Yousaf:Like you huge part of it.
Austin Seltzer:I do remember just fans like loving Cruella. It wasn't like a, it wasn't just I love this music, but like I love them, it's really emotional.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's like really, it's really sweet to think about all of that It is.
Austin Seltzer:I'd like to go back to childhood, which you've already been touching on, but I want to figure out you know who your parents are and how you guys were brought up. I want to know the fabric of Yassi, like how is she you?
Yasmine Yousaf:Well, anything I talk about, I hope that any everyone listening or watching knows that when I speak about these things, i'm speaking about my experience. But my experience is so intertwined with Jahan. It's like we've been attached at the hip, not even in like great ways, but in just like factual It is what it is kinds of ways since I was born, and when I speak about these things I know she had a different experience in our household because, siblings, you can live under the same roof and have a completely different reality. But our parents, like the way they were, affected us, i think, somewhat similarly. Our father is an immigrant from Pakistan. Our mom is a first generation American woman, but her parents fled World War II and came here from Lithuania, in Germany, and so we definitely grew up in a very specific way.
Yasmine Yousaf:We grew up pretty frugal, we grew up with this like no crumbs left on the plate mentality, but like I mean that as an analogy for everything like there was no waste, there was no complaining, like if something was wrong, you figure it out, you don't complain, you don't cry, you figure it out. Like I love my parents. I really like when I say this, i really, truly think that they were doing their best, but it led to a household where we didn't really express our feelings or emotions at all. There was really no space for it. But when there was emotion, it usually centered around music. My parents were not musicians but they were music lovers. They met in LA in the 80s before they moved to Houston where they had Johanna and I, and then Chicago where we grew up Like a lot of their first dates were concerts and like they had some of their best times going to shows and it really you really felt that in our household. My dad didn't spend money on anything but he sprung for an incredible sound system and we had CDs up the ass, like we had so many CDs.
Yasmine Yousaf:So until I was a certain age, i wasn't allowed to touch it, but I had to like ask. I was like, okay, so I want to listen to this today. So I would have to listen to CDs in their entirety. I wasn't allowed to touch like the fast forward or next button, so I would just be listening. I would sit in our living room, just sit and listen to albums and their entire, and they would repeat over and I would just sit and listen.
Yasmine Yousaf:I remember watching Talking Head. Stop Making Sense. I don't even remember where they filmed that concert, but that video, that in the VCR if y'all remember what that is we would watch that all the time And it was just like magic to me And it created some of the more joyful moments in a household that I do think was kind of devoid of emotion And in turn, it made me feel like how I could express myself was through music. So when I was 10, our parents bought me an acoustic guitar for my 10th birthday because I'd been asking for it and I really never asked for things. So when they got me this guitar I was like holy shit, they got me a guitar, they got it for me, and so it was all I did. Jahan and I, even at that age, started writing songs together And it was so much fun for me because she was definitely the older sister that I thought was so cool.
Yasmine Yousaf:And I wanted to be her, but she didn't really give me the time of the day because I was the annoying younger sister. But in the moments where we were writing songs together and playing music together it's just stupid little songs, you know I was like oh, this is togetherness, This is our way, And so I think even back then it planted that seed for me of like this is something we do together.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, I wanted to tell you that, growing up in my household, same thing with emotion. Last year, kind of in like February or March, I did a lot of deep diving into this where, yeah, I didn't have a lot of love and emotion given to me you know, in an affectionate way, as my parents love the hell out of us. They were also not in a great relationship Like same with my parents. Yeah, loving wise. Yes, they loved each other, but there was no romance. No, they didn't talk anything out.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes, things faster. They streamed things out. Yeah, yeah, in a bedroom?
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, not in front of the kids.
Yasmine Yousaf:But it was like same same, like you still hear it. You're a kid, you have ears, you know what's happening.
Austin Seltzer:Totally. It would be festering problems that they wouldn't talk out. No communication.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, like aggressiveness, yes, yes, jealousy, like the examples that we had in front of us, damn.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, yeah. And it's so tough because they are human and they're living their best life and trying. I'm sure, yes, but you never know what is being passed. I'm sure you don't even think about those things being passed.
Yasmine Yousaf:You probably think They're functioning in survival mode. Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, How could you think about how little bitty minute things in your relationship will affect your kids? Yeah. But so like it's hard for me. I'm not a super romantic person, although inside I feel that I am. It just doesn't come out naturally at all.
Yasmine Yousaf:This is the real self, ideal self thing. Right Like your ideal self is so romantic and you have all these fantasies of like what you think you are, what you're capable of, but then your real self acts like this. That's about bridging the gap.
Austin Seltzer:I have so many things that I think are a part of me and are deep within me and that I want to be a reality. Yes, that just aren't, and it's.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, big same.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, i have journaled so much about this. I've listed out the things that I believe that I am, but that I think others don't, specifically a partner don't think that I am And it's so difficult because I want to be that person. But it's not. It looks easy And I'm sure for some people it is easy.
Yasmine Yousaf:But other things aren't easy for them.
Austin Seltzer:I mean like Right, it's a trade off.
Yasmine Yousaf:Everyone's got their shit. Yes.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, it's very tough thing, so I completely resonate with how your family life was, while my parents aren't immigrants and or immigrant.
Yasmine Yousaf:And sometimes it's also the generation, like the generation number of parents had a big like this is it's not only an immigrant thing. I do think it was like a baby boomers thing. They were raised by a generation. that was just like coming out of such tragedy and coming out of such like lack. You know there's so much scarcity there and it creates like a lack of love, a lack of essential needs, Not even like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but are just like just normal needs, like basic needs for like our bodily survival.
Austin Seltzer:For sure.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, it creates a different breed of humans. I feel like our generation. our job has been well, not our job that we chose, but the job that we have unfortunately just been laid with is that we either break those patterns or we continue them, and we're more conscious than our parents, because we have the internet, we have all this new language to describe what's happening, we have therapy. It's accepted to talk about our mental health in a way that no other generation has accepted. So, yeah, it's a big part of, i feel, like my Dharma. my purpose is to help break these patterns. for me and my sisters and my parents and my family. It's like it's all woven in, like I have a lot of purposes, but that's woven in for sure.
Austin Seltzer:That sounds like you're really doing it.
Yasmine Yousaf:I mean, your relationship with your dad is great and you're working with your mom, my dad has always been good, though That's something that I think is the reason why I have like the crumb of sanity I have left is that my relationship with my dad was always a safe place for me, even if I didn't really like realize it as I was younger. Even looking back now I'm like, oh, i could have been anything I wanted to be and my dad would have loved me. Just like that full acceptance. And it is God I'm not trying to cry on the podcast, my guy, but I will. If I talk about my dad, i will Like he's really the thing that held me down, like this quote I don't know we're not going to talk about that yet, or?
Austin Seltzer:are we? I mean, we can totally talk about it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Please tell me about this place where you are, god circled on a map for you It's Hafiz, which is. He is a 14th century Persian poet and writer, so that's an old asco.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's almost like a thousand years old. My father was raised with a lot like in Pakistan There's so much Persian and Middle Eastern, afghani and Pakistani poets that have like embedded themselves in the very culture, and so these things are normal. It's normal to just say beautiful proverbs, you know. It's just normal to speak those things aloud, which I think is a lost thing in this part of the world. I would love to bring that back, just discussing poetry like that.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, that would be so cheesy and weird People would be like wait what the?
Yasmine Yousaf:Right, i don't live for that shit. It's like the softy part of me where I'm like, oh, just give me all the soft stuff, give me all the inspirational stuff. I don't care if I'm cringe, but I was going through. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease when I was 15. And like from 15 to 19, my health was really all over the place. Like I almost didn't graduate high school because my attendance was so low. My grades were like amazing, but my attendance was so low that they almost didn't let me graduate. Damn.
Yasmine Yousaf:I was like in and out of the doctor and in the hospital I had to skip a lot of school And I was kind of going through this period where I had doctors telling me really honestly, fucked up things they shouldn't have said. They were just saying like, oh, be prepared for this to happen, even though I'm like, but it might like cancer and shit You know.
Yasmine Yousaf:Just think that you shouldn't say to like a 17 year old kid who's like got the whole rest of their life in front of them. But I think, with how poor I felt, my mental health started to spiral and then, in turn, my physical health never got better And I was in a really low moment and my dad can sit like I'll pick up the phone and just say hi, and the way I say hi, he will know if I'm not okay, he'll just know. He'll be like what's wrong, tell me. I'm like. I just said hi, how do you know? So I was going through a lot around my 19th birthday and he wrote that on the card And it kind of was this moment for me that like lifted me out of a lot of doom and gloom, like a lot of self pity, a lot of self isolation, and every time I'm kind of struggling I go back to that quote because it really brings me a lot of peace.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's like I don't care what you believe in. I'm not like a God fearing person. I grew up Muslim but I'm not practicing. I really don't know what I believe God is, but I believe in something. I believe in something, because that's just who I am And I really do.
Yasmine Yousaf:When I really think about this Huff is quote I'm just like, okay, everything I've ever done, everything I've ever believed, everyone I've ever loved, every word I've ever said, every piece of art I've ever created every night I've spent crying myself to sleep. Every day I've spent laughing and enjoy has brought me right here Like how could it not matter? How could it be all for nothing? How could it not have weight to it? And I'm pretty nihilistic in my worst moments.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm definitely one of those people who struggles to figure out, like the meaning behind things. I'll have to like like purposely place meaning on something when I'm really struggling because I'm like I need to find anything. I needed like dig magic out of this moment, to like know that I can wake up tomorrow. But when I read that quote, i'm just like, oh, okay, i have spent 31 years on this earth 31 years and counting on this earth and I've done so much with my life, even if I didn't have the career I had. I've done so much with my life. I've loved so many people. I have so much love in my life. I've experienced so many different places on this earth. I've met so many people. I've had like the lowest lows and the highest highs I can imagine and they will get lower and they will get higher as.
Yasmine Yousaf:I get older, i'm like how could it all not matter? How could it all be insignificant? So, trust me, if you're out there and you're like, well, everything's insignificant and nothing matters, i'm like I feel you. It's one of my biggest existential crises every single day. But like that quote brings me back down to earth, especially because it's my dad who put it in my head also, but like it really grounds me. Well, if I'm going, the caffeine is making me go on tangents, my guy. They're just going off into the wilderness.
Austin Seltzer:That's beautiful. I think that somehow we'll come back to that, because if we get into like universal and soul talk and this and that then you need something to ground you, because the thoughts are too large.
Yasmine Yousaf:So we'll get there, because oh, you don't want to get there with me. I mean, maybe we do, but let's go.
Austin Seltzer:Maybe we'll edit some out of the podcast. The way that I think about this podcast is really just a talk. It's not an interview because, i'll be honest, i don't want to do any research.
Yasmine Yousaf:You have like questions.
Austin Seltzer:You're like hmm, i do actually have some questions, but they are organic.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, free flowing.
Austin Seltzer:They're like thought provoking and not. I did research to figure this out And I think if I'm having a great time having this conversation, then other people will have a great time listening to it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Big time.
Austin Seltzer:And if they don't, we got closer.
Yasmine Yousaf:Amazing Win-win. Yeah, love it.
Austin Seltzer:That's really the goal here. So, okay, let's move a little bit forward.
Yasmine Yousaf:So Johan and Chris our ex-member started Cruella when I was 15. I wasn't in it. It was like Chris was making beats and he and Johan were. I think everyone knows they dated at this point. It's not a secret. They were dating Like she would just be, like hanging out with him and he realized she could sing and she wanted to write. She was writing songs already and kind of just happened organically. I feel like a lot of people know this story already, but they were looking for a third member like another singer, and Johan was just like my sister sings. We've been writing songs together since. We were like little, little ships.
Austin Seltzer:Had you guys been singing?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, oh, absolutely We were. I mean, we grew up not classically trained in anything, but just exploring and enjoying and knowing that it felt good and it felt like we were in a place of pure joy when we were singing and writing and playing instruments Like it was. It just felt right for us.
Austin Seltzer:It's so much more important than being classically trained, in my opinion. I'm not talking down about people who are? classically trained, but something that's actually just like deeply from the soul that you figured out.
Yasmine Yousaf:Chris and Johan were over one day at our house that we grew up in in Chicago and they were upstairs just like working on some music and recording stuff. And Johan just knocks on my door And, by the way, at this point I'm already so excited. I'm I'm a little sister, i'm just so excited about everything my big sister is doing. She knocks on my door, my bedroom, down the hall, and she's like can you come in here and just like try singing something? And I was like me, you choose me. And they had only been doing this for a few months but I was already just like no, this is the coolest thing ever. It's like you guys are going to be huge.
Yasmine Yousaf:And when they asked me to sing, it felt like I was stepping over this invisible boundary of like Johan's cool life and like my life over here. I felt like I was stepping over this boundary and it felt so exciting for me because it's not like we had a bad relationship growing up, but we were definitely just like big sister, little sister, polarity Definitely had that vibe. And when I sang that day it just kind of fell into a pattern Chris would come over after school and we were just right stuff, and I just fell into being a part of what they were doing. Johan had already come up with the name Cruella. Just, i think it was just like a random thing She thought sounded cool And it became my whole life. I had school and then I would come home. I had a band I was into in high school like an indie rock band, kind of like a dash cab wannabe band.
Austin Seltzer:I love that. I could kind of see that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Thank you. Cool, i like that because I loved it. I was such an indie kid. I was an Indian email kid. I had like both parts of me, but then this other part of me doing the stuff with Johan and Chris for Cruella felt like we were striking gold. It really felt like that. I had an iPod, shout out iPods And I would just like load up all the demos we made and I would just listen to them on repeat, imagining performing them, and I would just take walks around my neighborhood with my iPod and just like lip syncing to the songs we had written. Yesterday probably looked like a crazy little kid, just like walking around talking to themself. But yeah, it just became something. I had never been so excited about something. And in my senior year of high school we had already had a manager you know Nathan right, he's my ex manager now, but he's still like family for me And we had a manager and we felt good, wait, we're skipping ahead.
Austin Seltzer:How did you?
Yasmine Yousaf:My space.
Austin Seltzer:I mean so much great music came from my space, though that era I just fuck with. So good.
Yasmine Yousaf:We definitely felt like we were part of the MySpace scene.
Austin Seltzer:It's okay if nobody remembers You totally are.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's fine if nobody remembers, but we felt like we were like embedded in that And like anytime people had our song as their MySpace profile song, i was like, fuck yeah, my space profile song. And we were doing this like we were so inspired by like the faint and cut, copy and mastercraft, but then we were also so inspired by like the nineties pop that we all were like obsessed with growing up So we had this thing going that was like electronica pop with like Chris was in metal band So he was bringing in all of this other like other flavor, truly in all of like the drum programming he was doing. To me At that point nobody was doing what he was doing in electronica pop music. He was like doing such next level shit And he was incredible He's still an incredible guitarist Like he was doing stuff that I'm still proud to this day. I'm like that dude was on a wave that nobody else was on.
Austin Seltzer:Absolutely. You guys were in your own light.
Yasmine Yousaf:I feel you, i appreciate that And I just felt like when we first I would have to say it was I graduated high school in 2010. Like a couple months before I graduated, we had this talk with Nathan, johan, chris and I and we were like, okay, so you're graduating high school, johan's in community college right now, and she could take that all the way, or we could stop everything else we're doing And, once you graduate high school, spend the next year fully developing this project, not as like a side thing we do after school, but like a full time gig. And I was young and impressionable, but I was also obsessed with what we were doing And I was just like, yeah, yeah, let's do it. I'm not going to college next year. Let's fucking go. It was not even. I didn't even have to think about it. I was like, absolutely for sure I was dating this guy and I was not supposed to be dating anyone but I was dating this guy in high school.
Yasmine Yousaf:And I remember like his parents were both professors at this like really good college in Chicago, And I remember him being like you do realize this is dumb, right This? is like the worst idea. You have to go to school. This is not actually going to happen And I remember being like I love you less now.
Austin Seltzer:We all need one of those in our life.
Yasmine Yousaf:He was a great guy, but he just like didn't comprehend, following a pipe dream which, by the way, at that time I don't think it felt as possible. It was like pre-internet, famous. It really felt like a pipe dream, but for us we were like no, but I'm with my best friends and we can make it happen. It was silly, but it felt so real to us.
Austin Seltzer:Well, i talk about it all the time, especially on this podcast. We, as people in the music world have to be slightly delusional.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes, big time.
Austin Seltzer:I mean yes. Yeah, still today, even with the internet. People you see with millions of followers on Instagram but drop a track and it gets like 10,000 plays. You have to be delusional to keep on going forward after that 100%, and we were.
Yasmine Yousaf:We were collectively delusional And I think that's what made it feel safe. To be delusional is because we were all in it together. By the way, i wouldn't have done anything I've ever done alone. I wouldn't have. It's probably, if we're talking about anything, about something you can take away from. What I can tell you, it's that If you're a solo act, great.
Yasmine Yousaf:But then get yourself a manager who believes in you. Surround yourself with people who obsess as much as you obsess and care about you. See you as a human, not as a commodity. See you as a fully functioning human with all these like incredible artistic endeavors to give the world as a gift. But if you're not a solo act, surround yourself with people you are making music with, that really, really are on the same page as you and can go all the way with you. Don't make music with people who don't make you feel good. Don't make music with people who aren't as invested as you are. If they're giving 5% and you're giving 95, you will burn out.
Yasmine Yousaf:Work with people who have the same obsession and love and drive as you, because that's what we had and I don't think I would have been able to do any of it alone, i truly like, i know it in my heart And we were unstoppable because of every piece of that puzzle. And even to this day, me and Jahan, the way that we function together to me is magic. We know how to tap into each other. We know how to be like okay, that thing you do like do that, they go in the booth and do that thing. Or if I'm like working on something, she's just like okay, i know that, like we love this song, let's like listen, blast this song and get super inspired. And we are so driven with each other And I really think that it is the reason why we're still doing what we're doing. I don't know. Yeah, sorry, i just wanted a tangent but I was very beautiful.
Austin Seltzer:It should not be this, this, this or this Like people need to hear that. It's so true, it's that. Yeah, you laid it out, like you laid out the things that you should not do, which leave the good things.
Yasmine Yousaf:I actually think this might be an overarching umbrella statement for any type of relationship in your life. But you have to be with someone who's willing to grow with you, like willing to understand if they bring criticism to the table, that if you want to be able to grow with this person, you have to be able to make space for that, and you have to do it with compassion. Both sides Like and that's something Johanna and I have done so much work on there Used to be times where we had no compassion and we were devoid of that and we were just like no, it's my perspective, me, me, me, me, me And they were some of the lowest points in our relationship. But now I'm like all I want is for her to step into the studio and feel like she's free, even if we didn't make a song, even if it goes in the trash like we've won. So wow, that was another fucking caffeine man.
Austin Seltzer:Caffeine's a hell of a thing. He really really did did something for me today. I love that.
Yasmine Yousaf:How did we get here, Austin? How did we get to him?
Austin Seltzer:Wait, are we asking like an existential question here?
Yasmine Yousaf:No, i mean conversationally but we can go existential. I would love that too, but conversationally, how did I get us here?
Austin Seltzer:I don't know. I was just in it and listening.
Yasmine Yousaf:Same. I was in it and talking.
Austin Seltzer:I knew, I know how to get us back on track though, amazing. One thing that we skipped over. What were the songs that you guys were putting out that Nathan heard and brought him towards you? Or how did Nathan get into the picture.
Yasmine Yousaf:Nobody knows those songs. They're deleted, they're gone, they're never going to be released.
Austin Seltzer:They were early MySpace songs. People who are listening, though they need to hear, just like how this came about, because this is, i think, part of the story that really matters for people 100%. Because they're trying to go from. Some people are trying to go from making songs to making something a reality, which grabbing a manager who believes in you is. So what was that?
Yasmine Yousaf:I mean, by the way, nathan was just another kid and he was managing this local rapper who used to go by Esprim, but now he goes by Primm. He's one of. He's like family for me too, because we were all kind of in the same scene coming up and Nathan, he was just a kid, but because he was managing this rapper he seemed so legit but he was figuring shit out on the go to. He was our. I mean, he's God. I think he's like four years old. He might have been like Chris's or John's age, so he was just another kid trying to do the thing. But he found our music on Myspace, did the proverbial, slid into our DMs. But back in 2007, 2007, i want to say maybe, maybe a different year, but I can't. My timeline is a little mucky But when we had someone telling us like I love what you do, i believe in you, like let's have a meeting, i want to manage you, that in itself was like wait, someone wants to manage us What?
Yasmine Yousaf:And so it was easy. Like he loved what we were doing, he believed in what we were doing. He came to every single studio session, he pulled up every single day, no matter what he was doing and sat with us and gave us amazing feedback and became someone that we really trusted and relied on. He had his ear to the ground, he was paying attention and he, till this day this man is so his taste is, like chef's kiss impeccable. I love his taste. He still has his ear to the ground. He's now directing and writing and creating movies. Like the dude is this fucking genius, psychotic genius person that I respect more than I respect most people. But he definitely gave us a feeling that we could do something with what, like we already kind of felt delusional, but he drove the delusion deeper for sure, and he really started to reach out to people. He was starting to make connections in Chicago with promoters and just like other people we could work with. Yeah, he really, he really went hard for us.
Austin Seltzer:That's awesome. Yeah, did okay. So you mentioned Jake Udall. Yes, what was there anything substantial that happened like in between Nathan hopping on board and you meeting Jake or Jake coming on board?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes, we released our first two tracks, three tracks, sorry, before Jake came on board and those three tracks all hit the blogs. Remember the blogs, guys?
Austin Seltzer:Remember the blogs? Yeah, which tracks were these? Oh man, do you remember?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes, but okay, life of the Party, which was actually featuring that rapper, the Chicago rapper SPrem Strobelites, and One Minute, and those three songs kind of brought us to this place where people were looking at us for the first time, and it was after those three songs got released where we deleted our MySpace and deleted all the other songs. so nobody could ever find them again.
Austin Seltzer:Yes, the rebrand.
Yasmine Yousaf:No, exactly, We're like no, we can't be these people anymore. People are actually paying attention. We're starting fresh. We opened for Porter Robinson in 2011,. it was the first big gig and I remember he had a no playlist no dubstep, no electro house, no, so many things, including all the genres of the music we made and we're like fuck the no playlist and we did whatever.
Yasmine Yousaf:If you're no playlist is like, please don't play any Cruella songs. That's usually what our no playlists are. Just don't play any of our music and go play whatever else you want Totally. But when they're so specific it is a little shitty. But I still feel really bad because that was such a big moment for Porter. It was his first big Chicago show and I feel kind of like we were just like we're just going to rebel and do what we want and I feel super shitty about it. Don't be that person. We were those people, but it was one of those.
Yasmine Yousaf:I mean, you guys were making your own music also, so it's like We had a dubstep song, we had an electro house song, we had all these songs we're like, until we just not play our own music. I think Porter did okay, he did just fine.
Austin Seltzer:He's a legend. We love Porter. He's doing great.
Yasmine Yousaf:But I think, as these things were happening, these promoters in Chicago were seeing what we could do and the energy we brought and how we brought something a little bit different. And then we went to Australia in 2012 and we did live singing for the first time, which was a shit show because nobody was doing it yet.
Yasmine Yousaf:Nobody was mixing live in DJ yet, and it was being the first ones to do anything. You know shit's going to go wrong. You know it's going to sound bad. You know you have nobody to lean on to tell you what the right and wrong way to do anything is, and so it was really bad. It was truly just bad, but it was a learning process.
Austin Seltzer:Why was it bad?
Yasmine Yousaf:We had no friend of house person, so we had nobody mixing the show. We had like a little mixer on stage with us So he would run back and forth telling us like you need to turn the vocals up, okay, now they need to come down, there's too much high end, like, oh my.
Austin Seltzer:God, it was, oh my God, during the set. Oh man, that's a lot to think about.
Yasmine Yousaf:And so we were self mixing the show based on what Nathan was telling us. It sounded like. So then we went to Ultra and we did that at Ultra live. Like I think that sets on fucking YouTube. Don't watch it, it might not be, i don't actually know. But then, like, we bombed a little less that time. You know, every time we were bombing a little less every time. And eventually we got it figured out and we like created a team around it. We started making enough money to actually bring someone on the road to work our in-ears, because we were using fills.
Yasmine Yousaf:In the beginning We didn't have in-ears. We finally figured out, oh, we should have in-ears, we should have an in-ear person and a friend of house person. We started to build it out and it became so clear to us how to build the team out. But we fucked up a lot, we bombed a lot before we got to that point, like, whether it's releasing a bunch of demos that are sitting on your hard drive for a year or just doing the thing you know you're supposed to try to do and failing like you just have to start. That's one of my things. I've said it a lot in interviews, but I like really feel the need to reiterate it. You have to start, because if you don't, you will get stuck in this place of just trying to one up yourself And just trying to like oh, i could just do better, i could do better, i could make it more perfect, i could make it sound better, my songwriting could be better, my mix could sound better. You can do that forever and then you're just nowhere.
Austin Seltzer:What's the worst that can happen?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, and play the shows with a new setup. That might not sound great, but you're practicing and you're trying, like do it.
Austin Seltzer:I'm so glad that you said this, because this is one of the main points that I had talked about as well is like fail forward, Just just. if you have an idea, just do the damn thing Yeah. Cause, if it sits in your head, you never move forward, you never get feedback on it.
Yasmine Yousaf:You never move forward.
Austin Seltzer:You didn't try to learn to DJ on a CDJ, you just got out there and did the damn thing And you said you failed, and then a lot, and then you went on to the CDJs and I'm sure that you failed with that for sure.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh my gosh.
Austin Seltzer:And then you threw in. I still do. sometimes I'm just like I'm just playing my own song all the time It's fun. Yeah, it's human.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'll be like enjoying myself so much that my elbow hits the play button and just stop the music at a huge show and I'll just get on the mic and be like that was my bad And just press play. Again It happens.
Austin Seltzer:It would be hilarious, if you like, sort of jump in and you smack it again and you're just like It's all happened.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's all happened.
Austin Seltzer:Damn. I need a video of that one, please. Somebody find that, oh God. But then you throw in the live vocals, right? Yeah. And you fail And you just keep on going. But you figure it out as you're going, but you don't just sit there and analysis, paralysis and not move forward.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, That's such a key. But that's another thing about being in a group with people, even if I was analysis, paralysis, analysis, paralysis thing. I like that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Not a term, someone else wouldn't be and it would pull me out Like Johan wouldn't be, or Chris wouldn't be, or Nathan, you know, someone wouldn't be. In those early days we would all just keep each other on this like autopilot, but just like straight shot path of like sorry, we're still, we're still moving, so, so get out of whatever you're thinking and we're going. There were some moments in those early days that felt so unhealthy, like looking back and like, wow, super unhealthy, super toxic, not a good way to work or create relationships with the people that you're making music with. It was a lot of like pressure and a lot of like well, if you don't do this, you're out. You know a lot of a lot of like ultimatum talk and a lot of like no space for breakdowns. You know a lot of that got us to where we are today, but it's something that I had to work to unlearn, because I thought that hard work equaled ignore your mental health and just keep going like up until like 2020.
Austin Seltzer:This is such a interesting conversation for me because I I know many people like you at this point where you can look back and say that It's incredibly hard to ignore how again delusional or obsessed or just like you, have horse blinders on to anything going on that allow people like you to make it to that level. There are so many people that I've I've heard in interviews that just say I never looked up and I wish I would have.
Yasmine Yousaf:That's really sad.
Austin Seltzer:It is, but like what if? what if?
Yasmine Yousaf:I did look, or what if we did look up and where we were?
Austin Seltzer:What, if you take the time, is that all of the people who didn't make it to where you are Like? I really like having this conversation because it's so difficult If you ask almost anybody who has made it to a level that you're like, oh shit, they did not look up, like 99% of them. How do we deal with this going forward?
Yasmine Yousaf:Awesome. This is a real conundrum for me because I, at this point in my life, will not trade my peace for anything, but it took me sacrificing my peace for like more than a decade to get to this place, and I'm also in a privileged position where I'm financially comfortable and we have an incredibly solid career where I can go fuck off and like help myself. So I can't speak from a place of preaching anything, because I'm in a position of privilege And so anything I say is tainted by that not tainted in a bad way, but it is tainted. And so, like I would never tell someone who's on the come up like take care of yourself first, man. Like don't forget that, because that's going to go in one ear out the other. Like it has to come from an internal place. No one can force you to take time off or like have slow mornings or put yourself first. Like no one can force the person who is in that position. Like it truly has to come from within. It had to come from within for me.
Yasmine Yousaf:Like I saw Jahan doing that during the like a little bit 2019, 2020. I saw her doing it firsthand and I resented her for it. For some of it Like damn, like she's fucking taking this time off to like get healthy, like why can't I? I didn't resent her. You know, i hate to say I resented her because I resented myself, because I couldn't.
Yasmine Yousaf:Resentment isn't towards the other person. It's like seeing what someone else does, being affected by it and then not taking action. To me, that's what resentment is and It truly like I had to get to the like rock bottom-y, bottom-ist place to see why she was doing what she was doing for herself and to really have it click. And now we both get it. And if we both don't want to do, if one person doesn't want to do something even if I really wanted to do something but Jahan didn't I'm just like okay, we won't do. It Rolls off my back. I'm not like but the opportunity and the money and the this and no, i'm like cool, you don't feel like it's right Done, cool, it's so much more simple now that we both get it.
Austin Seltzer:Damn.
Yasmine Yousaf:Another tangent. I'm so sorry, No.
Austin Seltzer:I get it. You just you have to. you have to be on the same page. Yeah, i've had this conversation as well with friends before. that It's the you can lead a horse to water thing. You can say it all day long, but if it doesn't come from within, how you can't penetrate somebody's mind with your feeling, it has to come from within.
Yasmine Yousaf:And Austin. I like hate to take us out of music world, but this goes for everything A romantic relationship, relationships with your parents, relationships with even not in music workplace, but any workplace. You cannot control what someone else does. You can't force them to see something, and like things truly need to come authentically for people to create real change. Like I really like out.
Yasmine Yousaf:If you're struggling out there because you're trying to get someone to see something whether it's work, whether it's romance, whether it's familial relationships, whatever it is just stop, just take a step back and just like have a moment for yourself and realize that like really like we hear it all the damn time that we can only control ourselves. But this is something I'm still learning. Like I still, when I feel so strongly about something, i'm like I just want to be there, i want this person to see it, i just want this person to get it. And I am trying my absolute best in the last couple of years of my life to just take a step back and be like there's no forcing anything. Forcing someone to see something would hurt me. Like I don't want to force anyone to do anything.
Austin Seltzer:Actually, I find a lot of these conversations just like even off the podcast, like whenever it's one on one and it's deep. We're always talking to ourselves actually Yes, big time. Yes, and like this I stop and I'm like fuck, i'm just talking to myself, aren't?
Yasmine Yousaf:I, that's for me, that's for me Yeah it's for me.
Austin Seltzer:You're a mirror and but we need mirrors? Oh God, big time. Because if it's up in my head and it's not verbalized, I guess I'm. Somebody has to talk through things. I am incredibly good at figuring out things in my head, but the key to all of the things always is verbal. Yeah, Like I get 95% of the way there, but then as soon as I verbalize something like a couple words into a sentence, I'm like, oh fuck.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yep, that's it. That's the answer. Yes, yes.
Austin Seltzer:And then I just have to say thank you to somebody because they were my mirror. Maybe that's what this podcast is is just me.
Yasmine Yousaf:Holding up a mirror.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, maybe all of these conversations are just for me to learn about myself through the lens of someone else.
Yasmine Yousaf:The best relationships in life And like don't take my word for it because I know nothing. I'm learning every single day, but I feel like the best relationships are the ones that put a mirror up to you and you're like oh shit, I don't like what I see. And they're the ones where you feel safe enough not to run away. Oh yeah, God, the caffeine man. What'd you? put in this shit. What'd you just Those frinkled?
Austin Seltzer:potions Pure, unadulterated coffee. Yeah.
Yasmine Yousaf:Magic potions.
Austin Seltzer:Wait, i asked a question and somehow we went there, which was beautiful, but when did Jake come into the picture and what was Jake doing? Okay, awesome.
Yasmine Yousaf:So I've never talked about this like on the record, and I feel like this like surmountable guilt about it, so I'm just going to talk about it here, right here and right now. And it's kind of funny now because this was so long ago and I was like 19 when this happened and I'm 31. So this was like 12 years ago. But I was at movement Detroit last weekend with Devin Devin's from Detroit, Devin's my partner Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:Devin. Oliver Shout out Devin.
Yasmine Yousaf:Shout out Devin. And on the last day of movement, skrillex played and I haven't seen Skrillex in so long. I was so fucking excited. I literally had butterflies. I was so excited because I love him. Like, if you don't love him, you don't make sense to me.
Austin Seltzer:I really think he's the best to ever do it, and I don't mean as a DJ. I literally mean as a producer, as possibly an artist.
Yasmine Yousaf:So to one of his sets. Now you might add DJ to that list, because his set was so genius.
Austin Seltzer:Me and Cass actually saw him recently, insane. I felt. Actually I just got chills Same same.
Yasmine Yousaf:Thinking about it, i love that I am not jaded because I can get so fucking childlike, obsessed and excited to go see a Skrillex set as if I'm fucking 17. Because I think I was 17 when I first heard about Skrillex, but he was sunny more back then.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, But I remember it was. it was the in between project between Skrillex and.
Yasmine Yousaf:It was so good and I was obsessed. So I like having the ability to still be that to me. I'm like, thank God, i don't ever want to be jaded, especially about music, fuck, music and love. Please never, god, if you're up there, don't let me be jaded ever. But when he played well, i think it's called what is it actually called? Summit. But when he first leaked the song it was called Breathe. Do you remember that? I do Yeah.
Yasmine Yousaf:This is where Jake came in the picture. I promise this is all going to make sense. Skrillex releases this like demo version of a song. You know, like it's. It's the first song he's ever released. It doesn't have a that doesn't have a drop, it's just like a very like low key emotional vibe. And Jake's in the picture for the funniest reason Johan and Chris. He went to high school with Johan.
Yasmine Yousaf:The same grade. Jake's younger sister was in my grade in high school. It's such a small world And she now owns this like incredible catering chef company. She's a fucking boss. I love that for her, that family's on some other shit in a good way, like they're just all incredible geniuses. But Jake was trying to have a music career. He was trying to be a pop star and Johan and Chris would produce beats for him and Johan would write songs for him and he would sing them and rap them.
Austin Seltzer:I had no idea.
Yasmine Yousaf:And so as he was kind of phasing out of the I'm going to be a pop star rapper career, he was like I still want to do something with music. And he was the CFO for a huge candy company. Like he was doing, he went to school for business, like his mind is on some other shit, for marketing and business, and he was like really excited about Cruella and everything we were doing and kind of getting like tapping into the electronic scene and made no sense to him, like DJing made no sense to him. He was like what are they doing up there? And like he's like why is this music the way it is? But I think through us he started to understand it a little bit. And when we were all freaking out about Skrillex dropping this song Breathe, he was just like you guys have to like write over it. We're going to produce Drop, we're going to put it out and we're going to leak it as if it's a collab with Skrillex. Oh shit.
Yasmine Yousaf:So from the moment we heard God, this is where the surmountable guilt comes in. From the moment we heard the song to the moment we released it was three days we went turbo mode and we were just like, cool, john and I are going to write some shit, we're going to record it, we're going to produce this out with Chris, we're going to create a Drop, we're going to make it like a song, like a full fledged song with a Drop and everything. And we released it. But the way it was released this was like Drake's trial management period, because he was like I'm going to go hard for you guys And like I kind of want to manage you guys And like let me show you what I can do. He took the song we made and like leaked it to a bunch of people and was like, oh shit, i got the leak of the new Skrillex song, but the MP3 said Skrillex featuring Cruella, and so all the blogs picked it up. And this is why I feel so guilty is because I feel like we took something away from Skrillex's release. To this day, i'm just like I feel kind of bad because that song ended up coming out, with Ellie Golding on it, like very shortly after we released this leaked version.
Yasmine Yousaf:I feel like his team was just like who the fuck are these people Like? who is Cruella? Who are these people? So this is not our song, and I feel like he was. Him and his team were probably just like we have a real song, let's just like release the real version on my socials and just like to shut these fucking people up. So I feel really bad about it. I feel like we stole a shine that we shouldn't have stolen. But Jake really did some shit. He really like made that song pop off in the blog days and people were so amazed They were like who is this Cruella person, even though we're three people? and how did they get a song with Skrillex, even though we didn't have a song with Skrillex? So, sonny, i'm really sorry. Like I still feel kind of bad about that And have you talked with him about it?
Austin Seltzer:You deserved better?
Yasmine Yousaf:No, because I'm scared of confrontation. and Sonny's probably the nicest guy. I've met him a few times. He actually is the nicest guy in the world But I just feel like it's 12 years ago.
Austin Seltzer:It's 12 years in the past and you know it's fine, Everything's fine, it doesn't matter at all, but it would also be incredibly cathartic.
Yasmine Yousaf:I bet It'd probably be really funny. He'd probably be like why do you feel bad about this? And I'd be like, i don't know, i have a lot of shame in my soul and I need to get rid of it. But yeah, jake really proved himself with that because, dude, when that happened, then we got Monster Cat's attention and we released Killing It with Monster Cat And that's where I.
Yasmine Yousaf:That's where you heard of us, that's where most people heard of us, and it's so funny because our A&R at Columbia Records we're not with Columbia anymore, but our A&R, andrew Keller, shout out. Andrew Keller, he discovered us on. Oh my God, what was that website where you could like heart something and it would go?
Austin Seltzer:up, Oh Hype'em.
Yasmine Yousaf:Hype'em. Thank you.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, he discovered Killing. It on Hype'em Killing It.
Yasmine Yousaf:And because it was like getting all these upvotes every single day. and he heard that and he flew out to Chicago to meet with us and he was just like I want to sign you to Columbia Records. like, show me the other shit you have. And we were like I just got chills because I'm like, excuse me, major label, we're just these little shits from Chicago making me like faking our way through this shit. We just faked a Skrillex collab. You want to sign us to Columbia Records? And we had almost a full EP done and it was the Play Heart EP and Alive was on that. And when he heard that he immediately knew He was just like cool, i'll see you next week. I'll bring the president of Columbia here.
Austin Seltzer:Oh my gosh, i know.
Yasmine Yousaf:Columbia flies out to meet us. I'm a child, austin. I'm like a faking kid. Still, i was 19, just turning 20 as this was happening. And, by the way, if you're 19 and you don't feel like a kid, turn 31 and look back on yourself as a 19 year old and you'll be like, no, i was a faking kid, for sure. I probably was cosplaying as an adult, but I wasn't an adult at all. I'm still not really an adult, but whatever. And yeah, that really faking changed the trajectory of so much.
Yasmine Yousaf:Because we white-labelled that first EP, because we were so afraid of the EDM community knowing that we had released something on a major label and thinking we had sold out, because it was all about the underground back then. It was all about, like, staying true to your roots And we needed to hang on to that, even if by a thread, because that was our core, that's how we got to where we were, by our fan base that we were in touch with every single day, these songs that really tapped in to what people wanted to feel in here And that was so deeply important to our brand I hate the word brand, but I don't know what other word to use And we white-labelled, released the first EP and that was June 2012. I still have it faking tattooed on my faking fingers. That's so funny. Anyways, i asked 6, 18, 12, june 18th Wow, what day is it? June 6th?
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, diablo came out today. That's why I knew that Diablo 4.
Yasmine Yousaf:I've been waiting for this for a long time Does it always come out on 6, 6 for a reason.
Austin Seltzer:I actually don't know. We'll figure that out later. Let's just go with that.
Yasmine Yousaf:And then, a year later, our first album came out, get Wet. But man, between putting Playhard out and putting Get Wet out, that was probably the most life-changing year of my life. We went from making music I remember everybody knows this story but we made a live, or we first started writing live on New Year's of 2011, going into 2012. We had no show. We were like, if you're poppin', you're playing a show on New Year's, but we were just sitting at our loft drinking Bud Light, limes or whatever the fuck, and writing this song that would end up changing our lives. And it's just so funny to think about it. We had no idea It was so pure. For us, it was just so pure And if I had known everything that was going to happen, i wouldn't even fucking believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Actually, maybe I would've, because I was fucking delusional.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, i do know. I'm sure, whenever you were writing, that the goal was we want to be massive. We want to be playing a show tonight next year Exactly.
Yasmine Yousaf:And we were, we were.
Austin Seltzer:Hell yeah, do you know what you played that?
Yasmine Yousaf:next year. Pretty sure Lights All Night was one of them, that's what I meant Because it was. We had two shows on New Year's. We had Lights All Night and something else, and I can't remember what it was. That's so awful Fuck.
Austin Seltzer:Oh yeah, i met you that next year at Lights All Night, which I have a picture of 2012, going into 2013. Yeah, That sounds right. I don't know. I can actually look at my picture, the one I showed you. Do you remember the picture I showed you?
Yasmine Yousaf:Of course, Of course It's fucking hilarious. It's the night I met Psy also.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, is that?
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, i think so. He interviewed us Right.
Austin Seltzer:I think he met you while you were in town. Maybe, But I think he had you guys stuff Oreos in your mouth or something like that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Some shit like that sounds very.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, so my buddy Psy was hosting it, or he was the host of a radio show, technologic Radio, and it was at a UTA in Arlington, texas So wild Yeah. And he would talk to various electronic artists who were popping in. Yeah, i think he had you guys on to stuff Oreos in your mouth and you had to answer questions while you Such a good premise. Such a good premise I love it, taste good, it's hilarious, it's comedy.
Yasmine Yousaf:Absolutely Amazing.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, wow, yeah. It's crazy that it happened off of one track on Hypom that caught the attention of a major, but I mean, hypom was what I guess labels are using tech talk for right now.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes, it was the benchmark, but also back to the like, got back to the quote behind me and back to the everything you do matters, Like it's not insignificant. We had to release all the MySpace music and then delete it. We had to release the first three songs, which are like they're low key, like please don't even go listen. I mean, if you want to, fine, but like they're not. Things that I'm like, yes, but like they were a part, they're building blocks. We had to. We had to steal Skrillex's shot and release that song. I didn't say it like that, honestly, i'm fucking. I stan Skrillex. Like this is like I feel so bad, like even saying it like that. But yeah, yeah, i just feel like all of those things had to happen for killing it to have to happen, for alive and the whole play hard EP to have to happen, like all that had to happen that way. So just release the music.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, just release it Just let it go. I want to get to some other stuff as well. Like I think that people are understated or they can understand from the conversation. We've had some key takeaways for success. For sure.
Austin Seltzer:Like it just takes a lot of hard work. You have to give up literally everything in life, i think for a long period of time where you are just grinding, because there are millions of people who do what we do or want to do, who are putting in that work And it it. These things take time. You're not just born with the ability to do everything that you need to to be an artist Like, yes, you can, you can be. You can just be born with talent, like more just innate talent, but talent doesn't get you that far without the work, and so those have to live in the same world. But one other thing that I think people can take away from you guys is you've had a very long career And I want to understand, i think, from, i'll just say, a fan perspective, you guys have built a true fan base that, like diehard people that whenever you announce a tour, they heard you back in. You know 2012 and they still are coming out. What do you think has allowed you guys to have such a long career?
Yasmine Yousaf:Longevity is a funny thing, right? Because people are very fickle. Listeners are very fickle, even me, as, like a diehard music listener, i like I'm the album listener My favorite artist comes out with an album. It's all I'll listen to for the next six months, on repeat, top to bottom, and I'll go to the show and I'll buy them. That's me. I'm a fan, but I do know from personal experience as an artist and as a fan, people are very fickle, so it's a hard thing to truly lock down that.
Yasmine Yousaf:I think that the way you make people feel in your music is very important, and also with, like who you outwardly claim to be, and I think people connecting with something is the reason why Jahan and I are still where we are. And I mean to be honest, like I'm not going to go too deep into it, but, like when we got sued in 2014, and then, like my whole life was put on blast for like a long time, jahan and I did have to further put on those like horse blinders and just be like we could either quit because everybody fucking hates us, or we could just keep going and see what happens. And we kept going. And it was a true testament to the fact that because we were creating from authentic places, always like even when the awesome. When I tell you like bless our A&R and bless Columbia Records for everything they did for us. But when we were angry and we were making angry music, they were like, no, sorry, this does. We were like, no, but we're angry, but we're sad, but we're in pain And this is all we can do right now. This is all we can do. Like we'll go in the studio with your like top 40 writer and write a pop hit, but it's not coming out. Like it's not something we feel like we can back. Like we'll do what you want us to do, but when it comes time to release, like we have things we need to say and we definitely like compromise with them a lot Like that's what the ammunition EP was like, there's a whole nother body of work. That's so much anger that never came out, so much more like I don't know stuff y'all will never hear. But it's just this shit that we had to compromise on and never got to release. But I think because people knew we were always creating from an authentic place and wanted to connect with people over it, i think that's what's worked for us.
Yasmine Yousaf:I don't think the same formula works for everybody, though. I know plenty of people who don't make their own music and are just DJs, and they have great careers. So, like, truly not the same thing does not work for everybody, but for Johanna and I it's the only way we know and it's the only way that I feel good about working through and creating from. So, yeah, i'm not a business woman first, i'm a musician first, through and through.
Yasmine Yousaf:I don't know how to think about like how can I capitalize off the market today? I don't know how to think about like, okay, this song is really good, but if I just brought in this person to make it shinier, we could, like, hit the charts again. I don't know how to think like that. All I know how to do to this day, from day one till now, and I've learned a lot. but it's like the one thing that hasn't changed for both Johanna and I is like, if we like what we're doing and it feels authentic to us, like that's good enough, i don't care if the A&R doesn't like it, i don't care if it doesn't hit the charts. Like, that's how we feel. Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:I think that that really is the longevity there. I do think that the audience that found you guys understands that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, i hope so.
Austin Seltzer:Well, i mean, i think that it shows, whenever you guys go back on a tour, that people are there.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, that's very true, and it's crazy to know that people connect with stuff that we made 12, 13 years ago and the stuff that we made yesterday You know it's like not yesterday, but you know what I'm saying Like it's really a testament to people growing with you, like the new fans too, that like have just learned about us from the last record. That's amazing as well. But the people who have been there since day one, who have grown with us, i'm like that's so fucking cool to be on a journey with people like that, because when my favorite bands I'm like I know what that feels like My favorite artists, i know what that feels like Yeah, and I loving a little deliver that to people. It's so cool, it's fucking crazy.
Austin Seltzer:I want to tell everybody now and we I don't think that we've actually like talked through this, but I want to I want to bring up all the crazy intertwining of my world and the Cruella world and how it's brought so many of my friends together. Yes.
Austin Seltzer:It's actually. It is the one like connection that I always bring up. I don't understand how this happened, what you know. The universe just made these things kind of happen. But yeah, to go all the way back. I mean, of course, i heard killing it. And yeah, i mean, and I love Jaws music like everything that you guys would drop. I would play all the time with my friends and he will come later in the story. But of course our friend James remix that song New Tricks.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh my God, best, best remix Well, one of the best, because I love all of them, but like, oh, so inventive.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, yeah, i actually listened to it this morning just to refresh my mind. Just like, what did this sound like back in the day? And there was totally nothing like that.
Yasmine Yousaf:Nothing it was. Inventive is the only word I can think of, because when we first heard it I remember being like who the fuck is New Tricks Like this shit is crazy.
Austin Seltzer:Wait, how did that remix come about? I don't think James has ever told me that. I think.
Yasmine Yousaf:Jake and Nathan were just reaching out to certain people. We already knew some of them, like the dirty phonics I loved it. I still love them Dirty phonics great God, there's still homies of mine to this day And those some of them were like Instagram DMs, but some of them were people that we didn't actually know or have a relationship with, and then we would go through management. We had a long list of people that we were like dream remixes. We would just go down the list and reach out to people.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, maybe we should talk about some of those. I'll know all of them, but so he'll come on later in the story. But so of course I'm listening to the to y'all's music. I believe I can't remember if I'd met Si. See, that's the funny thing. I don't know if I I. I'm just going to go ahead and say that I don't think I knew Si, but he had you guys on his radio show.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes.
Austin Seltzer:And then I met you, which there's no way you remember this because it was it was lights all night. It was just wild, too many people. But I met you purely as a fan. I think that somebody invited me to lights all night And so I had a VIP wristband Amazing And I was doing a lot of a lot of networking at Lizard Lounge in Dallas.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh yeah, of course I mean that was the spot.
Austin Seltzer:It was, It was, I don't know if it's still. No, it's not.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh no, is it close? Yeah, the pandemic? Oh no, that hurts my soul.
Austin Seltzer:Not only that, they tore it down.
Yasmine Yousaf:Bro why? Condominiums or some shit.
Austin Seltzer:I think that they're like gentrifying the entire area.
Yasmine Yousaf:It sounds like the mid in Chicago. They tore it down for apartments.
Austin Seltzer:I'm in deep LM where Lizard Lounge was is completely getting like renovated in various ways. No, the chandelier in there lives on. It moved on and I forgot. my friends in Dallas who are listening to this are going to kill me. It did move on to another place.
Yasmine Yousaf:I think Makes me happy A little piece somewhere else.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, yeah, really sad, but I would go there at least twice to three times a week And I mean, but my whole thing was I was, i was pretty sad. The thing was I was, i was producing and I wanted to meet other people that I could ask these nitty gritty questions with And, funny enough, like almost all artists who did produce their music, like I, could have these like dumb, stupid down the rabbit hole questions like compressor settings and the two things And because they were like oh shit, somebody else who can talk about this, Because YouTube wasn't.
Yasmine Yousaf:What it was today. No, it wasn't.
Austin Seltzer:Exactly It wasn't what it is today. Like you couldn't just go and get information, so I needed to get it from somewhere.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes.
Austin Seltzer:So I don't, I don't know who invited me, but I went there and I had this VIP wristband, So I was in this VIP area and I saw you and I went up to you as and I don't, I have no idea what I said, but This was at Lizard or at Lights All Night.
Yasmine Yousaf:Lights All Night, okay.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, and it must have just been like a fun little conversation And I just remember like we took that picture. We took, we took a picture and you know it's stupid and goofy, but we just took a picture together And but I I remember having a feeling of you were just like a genuinely kind person And that was that snapshot in time. And then later on I get introduced to one of my best friends, cy And I. He said that he had you guys on. I was like, oh my gosh, i met her just like a day later or something like that. Yes.
Austin Seltzer:And we had this, this connection with you. And then fast forward in time, i moved from Nashville to LA and I'm working for somebody as an assistant and ammunition. The album comes through and I just get a little giddy because I'm like I. I have loved Cruella for so long, i, and now I'm getting to somehow work on.
Yasmine Yousaf:This is like three and a half years later. I want to say Yeah, it was 2016.
Austin Seltzer:I'm not sure it was the beginning of March or something. Yes, 2016. Yeah, whenever it was, and it was you two, and then, i'm sure, nathan came through.
Yasmine Yousaf:Nathan was there, cody was there.
Austin Seltzer:No, Cody came later.
Yasmine Yousaf:Did he come later?
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, So no, you're right, Cody you guys did a Christmas tracker or you did something after my time.
Yasmine Yousaf:Not a Christmas track, but around Christmas.
Austin Seltzer:Okay, around Christmas.
Yasmine Yousaf:All I know is there was like, not a Christmas song. It was actually team.
Austin Seltzer:Oh, okay, yeah, Okay. I don't know if you know that song.
Yasmine Yousaf:We mixed that studio, but yeah. You weren't there anymore.
Austin Seltzer:No, I had quit.
Yasmine Yousaf:You were there for all of ammunition, though.
Austin Seltzer:I was.
Yasmine Yousaf:So if you know that EP Austin worked on, it, i did.
Austin Seltzer:I did And yeah. So you guys came through and I just like I. It was such an awesome circular movement that I've loved you guys for a while, and then I got to play a very, very small role, but a role.
Yasmine Yousaf:No, mixing is a huge role Do you never downplay I?
Austin Seltzer:wasn't the mix engineer, though I feel you, but you were a part.
Yasmine Yousaf:You were a part of the team.
Austin Seltzer:I was a part of the team And, yeah, i remember you guys coming in and Stephen was there, though Stephen was a producer on some of the tracks, right Are you talking about Stephen Swartz?
Yasmine Yousaf:He was. He worked on one track.
Austin Seltzer:Okay, he did come in the studio, though, one day.
Yasmine Yousaf:He worked on Can't Forget You, which is one of the songs on ammunition. Yeah, we worked on that one. We wrote that with him.
Austin Seltzer:Marching on.
Yasmine Yousaf:Marching on was with.
Austin Seltzer:Andrew Goldstein Yes, Andrew, I love you.
Yasmine Yousaf:Andrew, You had him on right.
Austin Seltzer:Not yet. Actually, we had to reschedule, but I think I'll have Andrew on. I love Andrew.
Yasmine Yousaf:I love him. I love that dude. I haven't seen him in years, but such a good dude, okay, anyways.
Austin Seltzer:So we had that relationship like I got to work on this album And then I left LA because of I was just so dead and jaded with music.
Yasmine Yousaf:I actually did not know that, yeah.
Austin Seltzer:We'll talk about that off camera.
Yasmine Yousaf:For another time. Yeah, I don't?
Austin Seltzer:it's just like it's so deep and hurtful time for me. Yes, Just like you're 2014, and I just don't like talking or giving light to the person who made me feel that way, i fully get it, yeah, so then I did. I went back to Dallas.
Yasmine Yousaf:Okay, how long were you in Dallas before you came back?
Austin Seltzer:Well, i was in Dallas for nine months Okay, i actually haven't said this on this podcast and I mean I feel like let me straighten up here for you guys watching. I'm not slouching during my come up story or my comeback story.
Yasmine Yousaf:Come back, come back, baby, you were already there. You just needed to find it again.
Austin Seltzer:I did. Yes, i went back to Dallas and I just needed to feel solid ground. I, yeah, i was like the most happy go lucky human and everything seemed to just be going my way, like in the best way, not not in any other way Just like I was putting in the hard work and cool things were coming back. And then I really got socked in the face and you know just like I had to lay down for a bit and nurse the wounds.
Austin Seltzer:And so I went back to Dallas and I got my insurance sales license.
Yasmine Yousaf:Oh shit, I sold insurance Bro side quest.
Austin Seltzer:Full side quest.
Yasmine Yousaf:Absolutely. I would have never guessed. By the way. There's nothing wrong with selling insurance. It's just not what I would.
Austin Seltzer:No, it's a 180 from you're just like music is your calling, it is your purpose And I just wouldn't see it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, but it's part of the, it's part of licking the wounds, it's part of the healing, so you got to just go on a side quest sometimes. Yeah, there was no way that I would be standing here or sitting here doing what I do if I hadn't gotten socked in the face in the job?
Austin Seltzer:Yes, And if? if I hadn't gone back and sold insurance and felt solid ground. I was selling home auto and some life insurance.
Yasmine Yousaf:Umbrella policy baby, let's go. Yeah, you make a little bit extra commission. Yeah, why not Yeah? And so I did that for nine months.
Austin Seltzer:I think it was nine months. That's just the number that came in head and into my head. I'm trying to think It had to have been because I started somewhere around January and I, i was like I started somewhere around January and I went on a four month trip in November.
Yasmine Yousaf:So less than a year.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, less than a year, but long enough that I felt solid ground And I guess I could talk about this on this podcast, cause I don't know if I'll get in trouble with any algorithm type things or whatever. But yeah, then I had my first psychedelic trip with mushrooms.
Yasmine Yousaf:Amazing, i love mushrooms. Yeah, i don't think we'll get in trouble, okay, i don't know if I'll ever know about this part.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, i don't want anybody to hear, but I do, i do. You should do mushrooms, yeah. I didn't tell you that You're from me. It gosh it. it changed your life. Yeah, it took somebody who was just.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm not going to keep whispering.
Austin Seltzer:I liked it for a second It it took somebody who's incredibly jaded with music. I actually did not really listen to music, I absolutely. I uninstalled Ableton Pro Tools, the whole nine yards.
Yasmine Yousaf:You sound like me right now. This is me right now.
Austin Seltzer:So now it's a mirror.
Yasmine Yousaf:Now it's a mirror. Sorry to go on, go on.
Austin Seltzer:I. I deleted every music software, every plugin, every sample, everything I didn't turn on my radio on my car. I was, i was that hurt with, with I don't know where. I thought that I had like reached up here.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:I think I touched the sun too quickly and I fell back down and Well, icarus story, exactly, i got you.
Austin Seltzer:But this Icarus did not drown. That's, that's the thing. I, yeah, i, i had a trip and the generally three days later because it it took me. It took a moment for the medicine to to affect me. But I was taking a shower one morning and I was getting ready to go in to sell insurance and I just started bawling. Well, you couldn't tell what was shower water, what was my tears. It was just coming down but I had, for the first time, i was humming and singing random melodies and like, playing, like, just like drums on the, the tile in the shower. All of my passion for music and everything came back in like Tush 10.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:And it hit me so hard and I had a goofy little Amazon drop shipping business that I started while I was at this insurance company and kind of overnight it didn't become so goofy anymore. I started selling these hilariously ball canning jars. I had listed thousands of products but for some reason I didn't know what canning season was. I didn't even know that was a thing. But these ball jars started flying off the shelf But like to the tune of $30,000 in a month. Where I didn't like I wasn't, i had 17, sorry, seven VA, so virtual assistants like people in the Philippines who this is what they do.
Austin Seltzer:They get to provide for their family getting paid US dollars, which is very strong over there.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes.
Austin Seltzer:And I was. I was just going to town with them like we were trying to figure out how we can manage this many orders, and so I quit insurance and I just did this for a minute and I saved up money. And then Cy and another roommate and another guy were ready to go on a four month trip overseas. They were already doing it and they asked me and I was like I have the money now.
Yasmine Yousaf:It just came out of nowhere, thank you, And you're not locked to a job like that.
Austin Seltzer:I wasn't locked to a job. I had all the passion for music back, and so I went overseas and created music for four months. Where'd you go? I went to various places, so I went from. It started in Hawaii for four days, we just four days, and then from there we went to Taipei for just one day because it was a layover. All of this was to get to the Philippines, so we went from Hawaii to Taipei. Might have been in there just on a layover, but really we went to Manila for one day. That was where we had to land And we explored just that night. But then we went to, like All over Palawan.
Yasmine Yousaf:I don't know what area of the Philippines that is.
Austin Seltzer:It's like this beautiful island that's just right off the Philippines, but it's part of the Philippines. So all over there and I'm forgetting the Boracay, el Nido, there are a few other places. So we were there for a while and then we were in Cebu City and then me and Sai got our diving license Oh cool. So we were diving, we dove like over 20 times in the Philippines Damn, it cost nothing, damn. And then we just got to be in nature and create, yeah. So then we went from there. Sai went to Japan and I went with the other guys to Australia, and so we were there for about a month and just exploring Australia. And then I went to Japan for two solid months and just explored their culture, that's awesome.
Austin Seltzer:Thank God, and all that time I was making music. I'm going on here about a story. That's okay. I've never really shared this.
Yasmine Yousaf:Good, you feel like a safe space to talk, to Share. It's your podcast, the people should know.
Austin Seltzer:But it's about you. but you kind of unlocked this and me And I think that's kind of beautiful.
Yasmine Yousaf:Good, i'm glad.
Austin Seltzer:So, yeah, i created all this music over there. And then there was just a moment, i went alone to Japan And there was this moment where pretty much everyone in Japan only speaks Japanese. Yes, there were various people who do speak some English, but I really couldn't connect with anybody language wise just like through music or through gestures or you know some Japanese words that I could look up or knew. But there was this moment where, one on one hand, i just felt incredibly lonely, you know, because it's hard to connect with anybody, right? So you're just learning so much about yourself. And then this one moment where I knew, right, then it was so weird.
Austin Seltzer:It was this very, very deep feeling of, if I go back to LA right now, right, this second, i am going to succeed. You have everything you need. You got the passion and drive back. You've got like six plus years of actual, like professional work under your belt. Yeah, yeah, it may have been in the past and shit, i have no credits from that time. I was not credited for anything And it was like, but that's okay, the rage I feel, yeah, you know, that's what it is.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's more like I'm a big credit where credit is due person, which is why anyone who's ever said that Johanna and I have used ghost producers I'm like no, i will credit everybody for always. End of time. And I hate when people don't. I hate when people don't. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in the music industry, sorry It takes it.
Austin Seltzer:It takes a team. Music is a team sport.
Yasmine Yousaf:It is Oh I like that. I like that Team.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, team, but I just keep on coming back to that. I wasn't a part of that record, but I like it. Yeah. And then I just went back out to LA and then there's so much more there, but that's that. Wow, this all got a detour.
Yasmine Yousaf:The hero's journey, though, like I hate to. You know it's so funny when I hear phrases come out of people's mouths Sometimes I'm like, oh, fucking saying these words. But that it's true. Like I feel like when you know you're on your hero's journey and you can tap in and really pay attention to your intuition and your gut, because I feel like we spend so much time ignoring our gut, ignoring our feelings, bypassing ourselves because I should do what I'm supposed to, or this person expects something of me, or I'm a people pleaser And if I do that, like these people won't be pleased, like whatever it is. But when you're truly on your hero's journey, you are listening to your gut instincts and you are following them wherever they take you, and it sounds like you really fucking followed it.
Austin Seltzer:I did. That was the one time, i think, in my life that I was an autopilot for some hire, whatever. It was just like.
Yasmine Yousaf:The muse was controlling you. Yeah, yes.
Austin Seltzer:Here is the road, just take it. Say yes. There were so many reasons why I should have said no.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, i think I should find a reason to say no. You know that I'm going to bring up a fucking Lady Gaga song, but whenever I heard that song she has that lyric about like there's a million reasons to leave, but I just need one good one to stay.
Yasmine Yousaf:Like I have applied that to some. Like that lyric in itself has been like okay, even if I have one good reason to do something fucking crazy, i think I might do that crazy thing, even if there's a million reasons that are telling me I got to just like no, i should stay put, or I should save the money, or I got to do this for work. Like no, like I'm trying to listen to that instinctual thing. It's so important, it's so important.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah Well, after that long trip, now I'll come back to more things that are in line with Cruella, and I find I had to say all of that to say, like the first week I'm back in LA Legit.
Yasmine Yousaf:I don't know about this yet. We haven't gone into this yet. Tell me the first?
Austin Seltzer:No, i don't think we have. The first week that I was back in LA, i was crashing on size floor on an air mattress. He was staying in Hawthorne. You guys had a show. I think it was an OC, but I can't remember.
Yasmine Yousaf:Okay.
Austin Seltzer:I don't even know what the club is called.
Yasmine Yousaf:Do you know what year it was?
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, 2018. It was something down the coast.
Yasmine Yousaf:We had a drive. Was it San Diego or was it the OC?
Austin Seltzer:No, it wasn't San Diego, it was like an hour drive. I saw, i guess on social media or something, that you guys were playing Time nightclub. I don't know what it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Maybe I'm trying to like dig back into the room.
Austin Seltzer:I can give you Mike Lassanti was tourmanging that It was time. It was one show that he did, I think.
Yasmine Yousaf:Time nightclub, I think.
Austin Seltzer:Okay.
Yasmine Yousaf:I could be wrong, but anyways you came, you pulled up.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, So funny enough. I saw that you guys were playing this and I still had your manager's email or something from my time at that other place. I was like hey, i would really love to come out and see the girls I worked on ammunition. I was just making out play.
Yasmine Yousaf:Dude. Absolutely, though, but.
Austin Seltzer:I really love these people. They felt good, like good people, and I want to be around them. So I was like, oh my God, i'd love to see them. So we drive down there, we go to the show, we are Like you guys are playing and we are like behind you guys.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, the VIP booth is right behind, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:So we're standing there but we like totally feel out of place because we didn't We haven't said hey to you guys. And there are some people that are like they own some mega fucking weed company. They bought out two of the areas behind you guys Just have bottles everywhere. I'm like, okay, so we are so out of place, this is whatever, but we have these one ties to these girls. So we're here, yeah, okay, so the show is done and we want to say hey to you guys, but you guys run off stage and Where did we run to?
Austin Seltzer:No, I'll tell you. But we go over to this elevator and we're riding down to the parking garage because you guys are like leaving.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We happen to be in the elevator with Mr Muturx.
Austin Seltzer:Amazing And this is where we meet James. I'd never met James, but this is why Was.
Yasmine Yousaf:Devin with me at that show, because then that would explain why James was there, because I love James. We're tight, we're like best friends.
Austin Seltzer:There was somebody else in there, but I don't think it was Devin.
Yasmine Yousaf:Devin and I were dating then, so he was definitely there if he was in town. This is so crazy, so I'm just trying to connect the dots. Yeah, i don't know. Okay.
Austin Seltzer:But I didn't meet Devin then Okay, But James goes. Hey, you look familiar to me And we'd never met.
Yasmine Yousaf:It just like probably Did you know who he was. Nope, i think it was just You just knew him by name.
Austin Seltzer:No, He goes hey, you look familiar, my name is James. I was like dude, i'm Austin. And so I was like I'm Cy. We gave him a hug on the elevator And then he was like how do you guys know the girls? And I was like, oh, i worked for this guy and we worked on some of their songs. He's like, oh, i go by Mewtricks. Back in the day I did a remix. I was like dude, of course I know that remix. That's awesome, yes.
Austin Seltzer:And so then me and James become really tight. He comes over like several times that same week to our house in Encino. But we said, by the way, you guys in the parking lot just like this briefly, because you guys had to hop on a plane to play a show like That makes sense in Vegas. Like right then Yes.
Yasmine Yousaf:It was a Vegas show. I feel like there's no other thing it could be. Maybe there is something else it could be, but it seems like it would be Vegas. We did a lot of those like two for ones with Vegas sets, yeah.
Austin Seltzer:So I mean there was that And then I would randomly see you. There was one day that you were going to meet Devin, me and Cy were eating at some pizza place and you were like Oh, we walked by in Silver Lake.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, so yeah, somewhere Was it in Silver Lake, wasn't it that Thai restaurant on Silver Lake Boulevard?
Austin Seltzer:I don't know. You walked literally right by. I was like Yassie, i remember, and you came back and was like oh my God, guys, it's so great to see you. I'm meeting Devin right now at So-and-so Place. I still hadn't met Devin, but so you just kept on coming up in our life And it was like. I mean, LA is a pretty big place.
Yasmine Yousaf:And I don't leave the house that often And I'm not just that you know this Like I don't leave the house that often.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, I mean you're a homebody, but I love that. It's probably because you're on the road so much.
Yasmine Yousaf:True, true, true.
Austin Seltzer:But this just keeps on going. I hadn't met Cody yet, and me and Cody grew up in Dallas together. We had the same friend groups, literally We went to the same shows. Everything We never met.
Yasmine Yousaf:We are so deeply connected and don't even realize it.
Austin Seltzer:all of us I know It's crazy, but Cody reaches out. No, sorry, this is how this even gets deeper. James invites me to a dodgeball event And that Cody is throwing. I was like I've always wanted to meet Cody. We, literally we know of each other, but we'd never met. So I go there and I meet Devin.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yep, i wasn't there though.
Austin Seltzer:No.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, i remember I skipped out because I'm really bad at dodgeball. I'm not joking, that's literally why I skipped out, like I will be out the whole game, so I'm not gonna come.
Austin Seltzer:I love that. I mean, I get it. You know, it was hot. It was hot as hell too.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm like the pick glass bitch in school Like nobody wanted me on their team for anything, especially dodgeball. But go on.
Austin Seltzer:Whatever, i mean, it would have been fun. It was a Halloween thing, but I met Devin, But James invited me. Then I meet Cody, and then the pandemic basically strikes. Oh, i met Maggie that day as well, and then I ended up mixing.
Yasmine Yousaf:I remember this. Yes, well, i wasn't there, but I remember all of this happening.
Austin Seltzer:Yes, yeah, yeah. So I mean more weird things, like I met Maggie and then I ended up mixing your record. I didn't know who Maggie was, but you know now me and Cody know each other And, yeah, then the pandemic happens and things just shut down. I didn't talk to Cody or anybody, but whenever that started tailing out, then me and Cody started hanging out And then, you know, finally I hung out with Devin at do you know, the petite hermitage. Yeah, so I'm with Justin, cry Wolf and Ronit. Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, James shows up with Devin and then me and Devin hit it off and we just like talk. And then you know you happen to be at something that we're at And then, yeah, I mean it's a lot of just things that, captain Kenyatta.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, it's kind of insane. even when you mentioned, like, justin Cry Wolf, i met him in like 2012 at a show in like North Carolina.
Austin Seltzer:No way, yeah, i mean where he's from.
Yasmine Yousaf:Exactly. But it's just stuff like that that I'm like certain people have just kept showing They just like repeat as a pattern, And eventually I'm just like, no, it's not a pattern, It's like meant to just be there. All these people are just meant to know each other.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah.
Yasmine Yousaf:It's wild.
Austin Seltzer:I love it. I love it so much? Yes, because I feel like I have, at this point, so many good memories with you, while one of them I was totally going through the shit.
Yasmine Yousaf:For sure. But besides that, Yeah. Yeah, we got some good stuff to discuss apparently.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, well, this one is really great. I actually had my buddy Mitty on. He's an amazing producer. I had him on Saturday and I asked him, but I think that you're going to have a different perspective on this, which I want.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yes please Tell me.
Austin Seltzer:How do you go about picking a manager? And the reason I'm asking this is because I know that you've had various managers, but then after Jake and I want to hear about that as well But I think that, from what I heard, you like not interviewed, but interviewed a ton of different managers.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah.
Austin Seltzer:Because I think you figured out what you were really looking for. But how? why did you guys leave third brain? And what was it like in between that and finding a manager? and how did you land on a manager?
Yasmine Yousaf:So it was really interesting because Nathan wasn't part of third brain but he partnered with Jake, whose company was third brain is for Cruella. So we had, like Nathan Lemon Co and third brain partnering as our managers. Nathan was our original manager for three years, then Jake came on in the end of 2011 and then up until wow, was it 2018? I think, yeah, 2018. We, over time, started maybe having a little bit of a different vision for Cruella. Like Johan and I saw something else and Nathan and Jake or rather, jake started to see something else And then, bless his soul, probably was managing music for longer than he ever wanted to. He had been wanting to get out and do something else with his life for a long time, but I think he stayed because we loved each other so much, like genuinely.
Yasmine Yousaf:Like there are very few people outside of my family that I feel unconditional love for And Nathan is one of those people that I will just, I just have so much love for him And I think we held on because we had that And I couldn't imagine not doing Cruella or doing Cruella without him. It just didn't make any sense And it was a really emotional. It felt like a breakup but a mutual like with so much love kind of breakup, i think for Jake he had just he had so many other projects And I think he was trying to juggle a lot of things And I think with Nathan he was trying to get out And we were like you know what, guys, why beat this relationship into the ground? I feel like we are mutually pulling away from each other and like let's leave. With love. I'm still in touch with Jake. Jake's one of my fucking homies to this day. Nathan's my fucking family for life.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, he was at your birthday, or a little surprise party.
Yasmine Yousaf:I'm having dinner with him tomorrow Like he's. He'll always be in my life. So will Jake. I don't like burning bridges or ending relationships poorly. To me is such a cardinal sin, like I don't ever want to do something that fucks someone over. I don't want to ever harm someone so much that they can't speak to me Like it's just not how I do things. And so John's very similar. We just had this really amicable conversation. We were like I think it's time to let go of each other. It was really sad. It was so emotional, truly like I couldn't imagine a career without Jake and Nathan.
Yasmine Yousaf:And when we met with we went to red light to meet with Steve and Fiona, who's our manager right now And they just seemed to really want to let us be who we are. They had no grand ideas to make us something else. They were like we love what you are, let's take what you are and just elevate it. And I felt so, seen we had never worked with a woman in that capacity. I was so like I had so much desire to work with more women And just seeing so Steve was like the main manager of he was the president I don't even know what to call him of the electronic department at red light. He was the head and Fiona was his point person And so they were our team, the two of them together.
Yasmine Yousaf:And over time, like I love Steve, i still love the dude. He's amazing Like one of the most kind, gentle, menly people in this business. But over time we were just working with Fiona so much more than Steve that eventually she wanted to break away from red light and start her own company And we left with her. Like back to your question like how do you choose a manager? You have to know what you want for yourself first. If you want to be like Taylor Swift, big and play fucking stadiums and have songs on the radio and like all that kind of stuff, you need someone who's going to be the help, be the vessel to take you there. But you have to know what you want. You have to know yourself, you have to know the kind of career you want.
Austin Seltzer:Yeah, I think so. The the one of the points here goes back to what we were saying earlier, that I think people have to fail forward. Yeah, there's no way that you know what you want in a manager unless you've had a manager. Yes, there's no way you can know what you want in a relationship if you haven't had a relationship. Yes, you're just looking at like a fantasy.
Yasmine Yousaf:Big time.
Austin Seltzer:I want to ask kind of the the main question of the podcast.
Yasmine Yousaf:So it's changed a lot in my life. I don't think that it's a constant variable and I think it changes as you change, but in the past few years, as I've really healed my relationship with Jahan and gone back to being sisters first, it's one of the like. It definitely makes me super emotional because I think we spent so much time in the dark with each other, spent so much time like, so much friction between us, still creating and living authentically in our career, but with a lot of tension and friction. I think healing our relationship has changed the definition of success for me and it's something that I, like always thought, i thought, but now I feel it, i embody it. You know it's not just like this concept anymore. I feel like I'm embodying it is if my relationships with my closest loved ones are constantly and consistently growing closer and closer and closer, even centimeter by centimeter, i feel like I am successful.
Yasmine Yousaf:But I had to do so much other shit in my career to get to a point to realize that that's the most important thing to me. There was a point in my life where I wasn't I mean like back to the like. You have to put everything else on hold and work super hard, like I was not the best girlfriend, sister, daughter, friend. I wasn't focusing on those things, i wasn't pouring my energy into those things and looking back I'm like, okay, i had to learn that I know who I am today and what I think I will hold on to for the rest of my life. Because it is so clear, it's so crystal clear. Most things in life are so confusing. Most things in life are full muck. To me, the thing that is my North Star it's so crystal clear is that my loved ones, the people who make this life is so temporary, right, like everything is temporary, even things that take you to the end of your life. Death will take everything away from you. The people who make you feel like there's some morsel of permanence is like. That's my definition, is like I want to pour my energy there And obviously I'm a creative.
Yasmine Yousaf:I love waking up every day, being like I'm a fucking musician. I'm a creative. I want to make art for a living. That is so that drives me as well. But if I don't have the people I love in my life, knowing that they can lean on me, rely on me, come to me, love me as I love them, i'm nothing. I'm nothing without that. So that's where I'm at right now, and I do think as I grow older I will gather more gems of wisdom and knowledge and I'll add to that, and right now I'm like that's my number one. That's my number one.
Austin Seltzer:That's beautiful. I think about this podcast often as a time capsule where I really, really want to come back in like a year or two or something and talk and say like I'll be here. This is what we talked about last time, and you're like. You could be like oh God, this is where I'm at now. We're grinding again, we're on tour, we're or.
Yasmine Yousaf:I will, i can, i can't believe I'm going to say this because I'm not going to say this, because it's something that Johanna and I talk about but I don't really like putting out there because I don't want to. I don't want fans to hear this and think that something bad is happening. Nothing bad has happened to make me feel this way. But we will never tour the way we used to tour. We will never create the way we used to create. We will always factor in our mental health and our physical health above anything on our career, and that means that there's going to be a lot more time in space. It's not going to be grinding. I won't do the grinding hustle anymore. I've tapped out of that life.
Yasmine Yousaf:I don't want, like I hate to be so dark, like maybe I should say trigger warning for this, but like I don't want to be doing something I should love and want to kill myself. Like there are so many people, so many creatives, who get to that point and actually do the worst. Like they come to that worst moment because they are under a mountain of pressure and a mountain of feeling alone in a room full of people. Like all of that has like overtaken their human experience And I won't. I'm not going to sacrifice anything for that. Like I'm not going to get there And I'm not. I'm never going to let Jahan like my number one person. I'm never going to let her get there. I'm going to protect myself and I'm going to protect her before I do anything. Sorry.
Austin Seltzer:Thanks for sharing that, did that feel good.
Yasmine Yousaf:Yeah, cause my relationship with Jahan like is the thing I've learned the most from in my entire life.
Austin Seltzer:Well, i think on that note you want to end it.
Yasmine Yousaf:Sounds great. I really want to know how long we've been talking. Oh, we'll find out in a second here.
Austin Seltzer:Amazing. Okay, thank you so much for coming on here. Thank you, that means a lot, thanks for letting me ramble.
Yasmine Yousaf:If it weren't for the potion, I wouldn't know, but I did. So here we are.
Austin Seltzer:The potion. I love that It's never been called that and I love it.
Yasmine Yousaf:It felt like a potion. I'm on another level right now. Let's go Hell yeah. Thank you, thank you Okay.
Austin Seltzer:So, now that you've listened to this episode with Yazzy, i'm going to go through a couple of the really cool key points that I wrote down. This was an incredibly long podcast. It was actually somewhere around four hours. We chopped it down to two. Thanks for sticking around. Some of that information was just way way too good to chop, so I'm going to go through some of that.
Austin Seltzer:One of the first things that I noticed about Cruella this is whenever I went, i was listening to them and I love Cruella, but I remember how intertwined in their fan base they were. You may love their music, but I think really what made them huge is the connection that they had with their fans, and so I mean Yazzy talked about how, in the early days, they answered every single message that they got on social media. Every single person felt touched by Cruella, and I think that for artists today I know a lot of you are doing that same thing You are making sure to comment and what not to people who message you, but cultivating that very deep fan base of people that really feel invested in you is what made Cruella be able to stand this very long test of time. If they were to announce a show right now. I guarantee you would sell out. They have really dedicated fans, so great point there. I really loved this section where Yazzy talked about early on in Cruella. She would walk around the block with her little her. She had an iPod, that's what it was And she would listen to their demos and her headphones just walking around the street and she would sing them and she would see herself on stage performing at massive, massive shows And I really think that the manifestation there of just continually feeling like they were already larger than life, they were already doing what they wanted, already singing the songs that they're going to perform Or Yazzy is going to perform I can't help but think that that really, really helped push her to become that great. That great artist Manifestation is just so important.
Austin Seltzer:One really awesome point that Yazzy brought up that I have talked about on other podcasts before is that she said that she could not be where she is without a team. She could not be where she is without Chris and Jahan and Jake and Nathan and her other teammates. We are, if we're trying to play at the top level, you need people around you that push you to be better, that push you to go beyond your limits, that believe in you, who don't just see you as a monetary resource, but as something special that they want to be a part of. Ultimately, you can't do these things alone, finding people to surround yourself who are going to be core members of your team because they're great at what they do And they also love you. For you, that's so important. If there are people surrounding you who are leeches, who are just trying to take money, who are not trying to push you to be the best version of yourself, who are not there for you, you have to get rid of them to move forward in the right direction. Surround yourself with great people.
Austin Seltzer:And, last and not least for sure, is something I touched on at the very beginning of this podcast is to fail forward. I talked about this on another podcast as well, the crystal method, one for sure where, if you just have analysis, paralysis, which means you think that you want to do X and you continuously think about it, but you never do it, you never move forward. If you want to become an artist, you have to put out music. If you want to go on tour, you have to play shows. If you want to literally anything, just fill in the blank. Whenever you want to do something, just do it. You're going to fail. You're going to continuously fail, but each failure you're going to learn something that you can implement into the next failure. And I feel like there was nothing that she said more resonant with me than my podcast.
Austin Seltzer:Right now, i have no idea what I'm doing. I love talking to people, i always talk to people, but I've never worked with a camera, really I've never done it in a setting where there's lighting and whatnot. But I'm here having great conversations and I'm putting it out and I'm putting as much love into it as I can. So I'm certain that eventually this will catch on and each season we're going to make the lighting better, we're going to make the audio better, we're going to make things better. But for now, i'm just putting as much love into this as I can and I'm getting it out there so that I can see what I could do better. I hope that that really helps you maybe get out of a little rut that you're in of not releasing or not doing something because it's so important. The world wants to see your craft and your love, so give it to him. All right, catch you on the next episode.
Austin Seltzer:Thanks for listening to the Grounds for Success podcast. I want to thank all of the people who work on this podcast and help me out. My team is everything to me, and without them I couldn't bring these to you every single week. I couldn't post on social media with all the clips that we have, and so I thank you guys so much. I want to also thank all of my clients on the Mixing and Mastering side, because without you, i could not have Grounds for Success. So thank you so much.
Austin Seltzer:If you love this content and you want to keep on receiving it, please follow, subscribe, like on all of the platforms or whichever platform you use. I should probably say that again. Let me try that again. That was just like totally free-balled. Let's go with the second one. Maybe Or actually maybe you can just like, edit it together. But I want to say that last part again If you're enjoying the Grounds for Success podcast, please follow, like and subscribe on whichever platform you are watching or listening on. It really helps us out and I want to keep on giving this content to you and whichever way possible. Let me shorten that If you're enjoying the Grounds for Success podcast, if you're enjoying the Grounds for Success podcast. Please follow, like and subscribe on whichever platform you're listening or watching on. It helps us out a ton and I want to keep getting this content to you in whichever way you listen or watch.