YOURS TRULY // Genuine Gems

Sydney’s pop-punk up-and-comers Yours Truly are finally getting the attention they deserve.

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At Unify Gathering back in January they absolutely slayed their set, and announced their signing to UNFD. No rest for the wicked, though, as Yours Truly prepare to drop their first EP with the label, Afterglow. Since the release of their widely acclaimed single High Hopes has Yours Truly blown off their feet, they’re now enjoying a recognition that vocalist Mikaila Delgado says they never expected.

“It’s been a real crazy couple of months,” she says. “When we were starting out, going into the studio, we were just out of school with no money, doing it bit by bit to put together a whole body of work.” Two members have left while Yours Truly have been trying to get their head in the game, but the success of High Hopes drew not only the attention of UNFD but that of millions upon millions of people, if the view count on the YouTube video is anything to go by, as well. “It got added to some playlist [on Spotify] the other day, like ‘Pop-Punk Anthems’ or something–I was like, ‘How does this song belong with Misery Business and Sugar, We’re Going Down?!’ It’s crazy!”

The much loved banger features on Afterglow, along with four other tracks that see Yours Truly stepping out as a comfortable yet eye-turning outfit. “I like to think it’s really cohesive as we wrote the songs in a close amount of time,” says Delgado.

Growing up, listening to the bands that are honest and the bands whose music I feel are the bands I love.
[ Mikaila Delgado ]

“The two songs you haven’t heard yet–you’ve heard Circles and I Can’t Feel–those two songs are probably the poppiset songs. The other songs are all in the same world as High Hopes.

“The title track is a ballad, the only ballad, whereas Delusional Paradise, another unheard track which features Jake [Wilson] from Between You And Me–we wanted to put out singles then leave these two songs that are really cool to be heard on the EP.”

Delgado’s head is very much still in the EP game, because without it having been released, she cares for it and talks about it like a child not yet ready to meet the world. It’s sweet and incredibly mature for the early 20-something and much like a life, Afterglow is a snapshot of different periods, all coming together in this one sensational soundtrack. “[This is] kind of like what we’ve learnt growing up together,” says Delgado.

“I guess we started on Afterglow before we knew what it would become. We didn’t know this EP would come out on a label, we didn’t know any of that before we started it.

“I think in terms of what it’s about, it’s definitely about things I’ve learnt, through everything–what it’s like to be a woman in the industry, what it’s like to be who I am, to go through the things I go through.”

Perhaps the poignant aspect of Afterglow is the topics of loss and struggle. Yours Truly have all lost people in their lives, all experienced relationship breakdowns, and all struggled in their own ways. Indeed, I Can’t Feel is an autobiographical track all about Delgado’s struggle with a rare connective tissue disorder. “It’s not just me, it’s things we’ve all gone through,” says Delgado. “We just wanted to get them out and write about them.”

The EP is profoundly heartfelt across the board, a sentiment Delgado always intended. “I put a lot of, like, effort into lyrics, I’ve tried to be as honest as possible,” she says. “I don’t like not being honest in our songs. Even though I don’t think I’ve gone through everything yet, I definitely have gone through a lot.

“Me writing these songs was very rewarding, to be able to say ‘this is how I feel.’ Everyone who had something to do with the songs knew what was going on. This whole body of work is really important to me, especially lyrically.”

That unabashed honesty is likely the strong magnet that draws people to Yours Truly and their music, because people can relate so heavily to their songwriting and their performances. That, Delgado says, is the ultimately goal. “Growing up, listening to the bands that are honest and the bands whose music I feel are the bands I love.”

“I don’t feel genuine singing about things that don’t make sense to me.”

Order/Stream Afterglow here.