Artist of the Day | YNG TRAVS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
12.09.2021
YNG TRAVS
LOCATION
Montreal, QC, Canada
GENRE
Hip Hop and R&B
CURRENT MEMBERS
Solo Artist
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
Well, when the pandemic first started I was still in school, which is kind of crazy for me to think about now because everything in my life changed since then. A lot of people I know hated when corona hit, but I kind of saw it as a blessing in disguise. I used the time to step back and really plan out what I was going to do, not only with my music, but with my life in general. It definitely took some time to get used to the change and figure out the direction I was gonna take, but I'm happy to say we got out of the pandemic with a stronger team, better music, more accomplishments and even bigger goals.
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
Although corona did have its perks, it also had some negatives that went with it. The traveling situation was something that definitely postponed a few of our plans. It made it really hard for us to expand the brand outside of the city with no way out of Montreal at the time. We couldn't really network in person anymore either, but that really forced us to start adapting to social media and online interaction more which is a big tool in todays industry. We didn't let the "halt" really stop of us from releasing music though. We were pretty consistent with releases and content and our work ethic actually shot up way more than before, which is wild to imagine because our work ethic was always one of our best qualities. Our general plans for the coming year definitely changed along the way, but we expected that after getting hit with a world wide pandemic... but things are finally coming together and I cannot wait until you guys see what we've been up to.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home? How are you supporting your mental health through all of this?
Honestly, I was never really a believer in "free time". I personally think free time is a choice everyone makes everyday. If you really think about it, you're the only person who decides if you have free time. No ones stopping you from spending your time working towards your goals. That being said, We've spent most of our time in studios and recording videos as well as growing and expanding the brand. Theres a whole business side of music not many artists are aware of and I can't stress how important building a brand around the artist is and that's what's really been taking up all our "free time" during this pandemic.
Overall, I'd say everything that happened put a lot of balance in to my life that I never thought I needed and only resulted in blessings for me and everyone around me. My mental health has truly never been better, as long as the people around me are winning, I'm the happiest guy in the world and the fact that wer'e all winning together makes it that much better.
As things are reopening & restrictions are lifting have you booked any new gigs? Tours? Etc? If your region is still under restriction, how are dealing with the Covid third wave?
With things opening up, we have quite a few things lined up for the coming year. We have Mondo NYC we're very excited for, as well as MIDEM 2022 that's coming up next summer. With everyone at Dance Plant and Eric Alper on the team, we've been really taking our time to perfect everything until then and each day working along side them only makes me more confident about what's to come. We recently got back from a Toronto trip for something involving my upcoming album... but I can't get too into that just yet! As for other trips, we plan on returning to Toronto a few more times as well as a special European trip for a video we've planned. I can't give too much information on that either, but all you need to know is we're taking this song and video straight to my culture and background. Here. in Montreal, the restrictions are getting a little better, I wouldn't say we're back to normal just yet, but going to the studio and meetings have been much easier than they were during the heavy restriction phase. Even though there's talks about new waves, I'm confident things will dial down eventually and finally begin to start bringing regular life back to normal, but for now, we're just going to keep our foot on the gas and keep moving forward.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
I know this might sound cliche, but the one message I really want to staple out there is that you can be anything you want in life. Most of the time everyone is so brainwashed or scared to do what they really want to do because of fear of failure and judgment, The crazy thing about all of that is no matter how many things people might say, it causes no effect on you chasing that goal. You need to wake up every morning because you want to wake up, not because you have too. When you're chasing something you want, you're willing to do whatever it takes to reach it, so why spend your time chasing a path other people want you to take when you can spend it doing what you love. I know this sounds like the type of quote you see while scrolling on Instagram, but once you really commit to it and embrace it, you'll start to notice how enjoyable life is and how much power over it you really have. Opinions become motivation and failure becomes something you better yourself from, but at the end of the day, you can wake up everyday knowing you are who you chose to become. Wether it's an artist, a doctor, a truck driver, a dancer.... just make sure you're doing what you love.
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