10 Things We Love About: LYAM

LYAM may still be finding is feet when it comes to exploration within music, but he is sure enough going in a great direction by working with some of the hottest alternative UK artists right now like Mura Masa, John Glacier and Jianbo to name a few and growing a cult following at the same time.

Coming back strong after a few years off, LYAM emerged quietly with the album release N_O CALLER ID in 2020, an amalgamation of experimentative hip-hop, R&B and electronic sonics that were met openly amongst listeners. Although still quite enigmatic with his approach to music as well as trying to seek new methods of creation, LYAM wants us to understand that he is no ‘one size fits all’ kind of artist and rather, one of the most fluid musicians one could listen to.

With the release of his second album THE ART OF LETTING GO! based off of the movie Split since being a film buff, LYAM follows a journey through this album and showcases his transformation into a new being, releasing the old him and presenting his demons for all of us to watch in awe. With some returning features such as John Glacier as well as some newer ones like New York rapper Wiki and NEY LIQA, THE ART OF LETTING GO! is a never-ending abyss of hip-hop, grime, R&B and electronic just waiting for you to fall into.     

We love the features you’ve included on THE ART OF LETTING GO!

What was your thought process when it came to choosing features/collaborators for the new album?

Everyone that’s features, I feel like are very nonconformist. They’re also very versatile in their approaches, so I’ve challenges them all in terms of what they’re used to. So, for example John Glacier, who’ve I’ve known for years, she’s very in her rap bag and is one of the best verse writers I know. And I wanted to bring her more into a punkier, aggressive vibe and she just smacked it on the head. Same with Wiki, same with NEY LIQA. All these acts, I just see them as people who don’t conform, like me. I’m not trying to conform into a typical label, industry standard. I want to shake the room a bit. All my artists that I picked specifically all have this edge and this grit that says ‘I’m going to do what I want and no-one can tell me what to do’ basically.

 

We love that you’ve curated an aesthetic to fit your new release.

Was there any significance through your imagery and how you wanted to present yourself in this new era?

In terms of the cover art and my socials, it’s all still very enigmatic, still mysterious, but it's kind of bringing, silhouettes into perspective now and showing something not human, basically. That’s what I'm trying to portray. Because the video that have, the final video that came out, ‘METROPOLIS’, kind of see this darkness that has been brought out of me in terms of the art of letting go. You could say a demon or some sort of beast, but it's this beast that's been brought out of me is what I'm kind of portraying very slowly in in my visuals. So, in most of my artwork, you don't see my face very well, it's more about the silhouettes and my position of my body. So, you focus on that more than my face because I'm trying to obviously illustrate a new form of LYAM, which is a more in your face, more beastly type of form that I've uncovered with this this record.

We love your unusual name.

Tell us about how you decided on a stage name. Is there a deeper meaning behind Love You In The Morning?

It was funny because I had a session with good friend and collaborator Jeshi, and at the time I was like ‘I need a name for myself’. I really wanted to keep it as Liam or Liam Harris Williams but we have Pharrell Willams, Liam Gallagher and I can’t put myself amongst the greats. So, I thought ‘how do I find something that keeps my name and still encapsulates my name?’ Jeshi gave me my name. He said ‘what about L Y A M?’ and I was like, ‘what does that mean?’ and we sat there for a minute and he said ‘Love You In The Morning’. I’m a big morning person, he knows that about me as I work extremely well in the mornings for some reason. I write better and my head’s so much clearer do it just derived from me being extremely productive first thing when I wake up. The first thing I do when I wake up is either write a verse or listen to a beat or make something because I just feel super clear and there’s nothing in my brain yet.

We love how you experiment with different genres, which has been present from your previous project N_O CALLER ID and now with THE ART OF LETTING GO!.

What do you think makes up your ever-evolving musical style?

I’m also a DJ as well so I’m always searching for new music and new sounds. I always find myself in the most random parties, pubs and events and I think those things have captivated and cultivated a genre that I can’t put into a box, and I think I’ve been able to do that consistently. I don’t know how to just make straight rap music or straight pop music. It’s all down to a feeling or an emotion. If I’m angry then I’m going to make something a bit punkier. If I feel a bit more slick, I’ll want to make something feel more dance-y. It’s all just off of emotion and the clubs and spaces that I have been in that has grown that for me a lot more.

We love the production on the album.

Did you already have a direction in mind when it came to beat selection or was it more spontaneous?

One thing with me is that I’ll always start my record with a duo called I Need Sound who I’ve worked with since the days I put out my first album. We don’t really think about what we do, we just make a beat or a beat that’s good enough to really get my idea across. I’ll hop on it, leave it for a bit and come back. I’m always changing, twisting and turning things. I think that is my start; just working with sounds. And they know me really well, so they know what I’m looking for.

 

We love that you’re in touch with your fashion side.

Is there any significance to wearing Eastwood Danso when it comes to how you present yourself?

With Eastwood Danso, he’s been around me since ‘Origami’ days. The fashion is a big part of me like the silhouettes and how the clothes drop on me. It’s really important that it glorifies me even more than just wearing a simple T shirt and jeans or something. And I think Eastwood specifically, he’s obviously got black heritage and understands black culture. So, a lot of the time I’m very specific in what I want to wear and Eastwood’s genuinely the only person I would reach out for because he’s a fellow black brother and it’s important to where I come from. It’s important to lift your people up in ways. He just gets me and stands for black culture as much as I do.

We love that you’re humble.

We can see on social media that you’re constantly giving thanks to your fans and supporters for making things happen. How do you stay grounded in this industry?

I think with me, I come from a working-class family, and it’s never been easy. I come from a single parent household. So, with all these things, it kind of allows me to realise that no matter where I go with music, if I become a superstar millionaire, I will always look back to where I came from and I came from a working-class family. As much as I can feel great about my music and all the accomplishments I’ve made, I’ll always look back to how my mother raised me herself and how my aunties taught me all these lessons. My uncles, my cousins have shown support within the music and everything I do outside of music, and I think that’s allowed me to stay grounded as well. It’s just really important to not lose yourself in music and the fame of it because when I go home, my mum doesn’t look at me as a musician, she looks at me as Liam. And that allows me to really feel human.

We love your visuals for the tracks you’ve released like ‘MERRY GO ROUND’, ‘2 HOT 4 THIS’ and ‘METROPOLIS’.

How did you approach storytelling in the music videos to compliment the songs?

I’m a big film head and I used to study film, but I dropped out because I didn’t enjoy it. But for the first year, I studied film in Middlesex and every week we were made to watch a least 3 to 4 films and really analyse scenes, shots and the stylisation of these films. And I think these videos I’ve put out are based on a really good film I enjoyed watching called ‘Split’ by M Night Shyamalan and more specifically James McAvoy plays a character called The Beast. It was what I wanted to encapsulate in the music because I feel like this represents something more sinister within me that needs to come out musically. Claryn Chong done the visuals and she kind of got it right away. The final visual that came ties in all the storytelling that happened in the first two videos.

We love your playlist ‘Songs To Let Go To’ on Spotify.

What does community mean to you and what other ways would you want to connect with your community other than live shows?

Community is one of my biggest factors when I’m creating, and I always believe that two heads are better than one. It’s funny because I generally don’t like the sound of my voice a lot, so I enjoy having other people take my words and ideas and bring them into their own world and amplify them even more. To connect with the community a bit more, I’ll probably run a radio show with a good friend and call it We Love You Too. We look to bring in not just musicians but DJs and creatives and show our love back to them and give them a platform to talk about their work. If I’m in a position to give back, I’m going to give back. I think a big part of community is everyone helping each other out to make it to wherever they want to be. I also look to, like what we’re doing with We Love You Too, is getting into more community-led spaces. Like teaching you to DJ through COVID. I learnt to DJ through COVID and that was a heaven-sent thing because it allowed me to focus on a craft that I’ve never done before. And I think I want to now bring that out into a wider world and help kids that are into music, whether it’s DJing, performance spaces, recording music or writing music. We Love You Too is going in that space, and I just want to do more charitable work to uncover the next best thing. I come from Walthamstow, and it’s changed a lot now, but it was a very rough area and there wasn’t much to do so kids were getting into foolishness. I think that’s been the muse for me to do something for the community, especially within Walthamstow. I want to show that there’s people out here that actually care and want to see kids shine, find their muse and run with it.

 

We love that you’re breaking the mould by merging styles such as Grime, Electronic and Alternative sonics in your music.

What do you think will be next for LYAM in terms of evolution?

I’m in a space where I’ve been really into dance music, and I don’t know what that’s going to encapsulate but I really want to make more dance music. Maybe for the next record or another two records down… I feel like dance music is an interesting way of bringing people together and it’s very easily digestible. I’m going to do a lot more shows and slowly implement dance elements and see how that sits with people. When I was younger, I wasn’t the biggest dance person. I want into my grime and rap, and I feel like I’ve broken the mould and tried to take in something new and that’s what I’ve found a love for. There are no rules in dance. In terms of people to work with I think Mura Masa for sure and he’s just put out an amazing dance record on his independent label. Charli xcx and her producer MK.gee as well. I would love to sit down with them and learn what is dance music to them and use that, bend it a bit and make it my own. I’m currently working on songs already after this album with some producers from Berlin and vocalists from Chicago. I’m in a whole other headspace for music right now and I’m already on the next project. I want to be really consistent because I did take a long time out from the first album to this album, and I felt like the buzz died down a bit. I’m shooting a video in Berlin for a new song and doing a show there and not too long after this album is out, I’ll be releasing a new single and starting a campaign for the next project.

Listen to THE ART OF LETTING GO! here!