YTMYDLMS, is an acronym you’re somewhat unlikely to be able to parse without hitting play on this one, but its meaning (“You Told Me You Don’t Like My Songs”) gives you a sense of the feeling encapsulated by the song.
The newest collaboration between Berlin-based musicians LO and YOSIE, YTMYDLMS is a song that describes the sense of alienation that can stem from carrying other people’s expectations with you. With previous album Lights picking up 7 million streams on Spotify, the duo came back together in the studio to make music, and this laid back sounding but impassioned record is the result.
Describing the thinking behind the song’s lyrics, YOSIE says:
“YTMYDLMS is about freeing yourself from what other people want and expect from you. When making music and being an artist but in general in lots of areas in life, a lot of people try to tell you what they think is best for you. Often these free advices are advices that these people actually want to give to themselves. When working in the music industry the most important thing for me to realize was that judgment doesn’t work - not judging others nor yourself. When I write I don’t want to judge the song, I want to feel it, deeply, intensely and freely. So whoever is trying to turn you into someone that you are not or make you do something that you don’t feel, say thank you but no thank you and keep doing your thing. And if you want to, also send them YTMYDLMS.”
LO was inspired to create a song with a distinct nostalgic sound based on a specific picture and moment he was envisaging:
“With YTMYDLMS I wanted to create a nostalgic sounding production. I had a clear vision in mind: It should be a song you would enjoy listening to on a calm late summer evening or in the car, while driving to the nearest lake, The sound of it should be more dynamic than most other current productions, so I chose some pretty filigree drum samples and tried to keep the instrumentation and arrangement quite simple.”
The resulting track is one of gentle self-assurance and determination. The gentle production creates an easy-going sense of building calm - it’s the realisation that you don’t need to feel to feel someone else’s negativity, because it’s not yours, it’s theirs.