Image by Brandon Lung //
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our favourite pop-punk release this year.
Having teased us over the past ten months with a string of singles exploding with melodies backed by an energetic engine room of thumping drums and riffy guitars, Sydney-based outfit Yours Truly have dropped their much-hyped Self Care LP. Having pumped it at max volume over the weekend, we can confirm the hype is real.
Exploring heartbreak, the collective highs and lows of the music industry, star signs and pretty much everything in between, vocalist Mikaila Delgado reaches inside our chests and grabs our hearts, refusing to let go until the final feedback of album closer ‘Heartsleeve’ rings out. The band walk the line between anthemic and authentic perfectly with the record providing plenty of heavy moments both musically and lyrically that linger long after the first listen.
We caught up with Mikaila to get the inside word on what each track means to her and the band. Check it out below and be sure to make sure you’ve cranked the speakers as you do so:
‘Siamese Souls’ is about sugarcoating the fate of a relationship by looking towards astrology. It can be so easy to become ignorant of the reality of the situation going on because you convince yourself the universe is bigger than you.
‘Composure’ is about trying to keep your cool at the end of a relationship and how difficult it can be. It’s natural to be upset, angry and a million different other emotions at once. I wrote it at a time when I really needed to reclaim my self-worth after losing so much of it. I was over being miserable and waiting for acceptance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB_8YdRC-ZQ
‘Together’ is about feeling the stress and uneasiness of imposter syndrome. I had a lot of fear and anxiety coming into this album, having this expectation to exceed what we did with Afterglow. I remember telling myself “you need to write the best songs of your life” and getting upset about the possibility of not being able to prove ourselves. One night I turned to Lachlan (Cronin, guitar) and said “I just feel all the colour has been drained from my brain” and we both looked at each other with wide eyes, and that’s how the lyrical ideas of ‘Together’ came about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKKcfS8Rreo
‘Vivid Dream’ was inspired by the insane year of touring and travelling together that we lived throughout 2019. I realised how surreal life can be when you’re living in the moment.
‘Undersize’ is really a letter to a close friend of mine. While watching them navigating through all the ups, downs and obstacles life throws at them, I wrote this just to let them know that I’m here for them through all of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS4lqAjdg7k
‘Ghost’ was written about a tough time I was having mentally and where I physically felt invisible. It was the first time I didn’t relate to the idea I had of myself and I no longer recognised myself. It was strange to realise how much I had changed from the idea of myself that I had, and the effect that had on my mental health.
I wrote ‘Funeral Home’ after going to a funeral and realising how odd it is to be in a room of people you’re related to because someone has died. I was thinking about how sad it is that you miss the life of someone you have the same blood as and all of a sudden in tragedy everyone suddenly comes together as family yet then won’t talk until the next one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zXFwrk1irw
‘Glass Houses’ is about an on and off relationship I had and how much it felt like a reoccurring storm that I had to go through alone.
‘Half of Me’ was written about the long distance element of the relationship I was in and how challenging it was to keep going. I constantly felt it slipping away no matter how much I put in.
‘Heartsleeve’ is the ‘goodbye phone call’. You know it’s time to say goodbye eventually and you hope that neither of you take negative energy into future relationships. It’s so easy to become closed off due to heartbreak.
