Steppin' Presents: YOUANDI
- Kay Tee Vlk
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
The Amsterdam-born singer and songwriter YOUANDI moves through the world with a deep sense of duality, weaving higher self and ego, soul and sound, presence and poetry into her music. With roots stretching from South America to Europe, she crafts sonic landscapes that feel both mystical and grounded, inviting listeners into an introspective journey of connection and self-discovery. In this conversation, she opens up about the relational nature of her creative process, the layered depth of her debut album isaidtome, and the quiet power of tuning into our essence - beyond the noise.
Youandi is my name and... YOUANDI shines a light on duality. It's you and I, which creates unity, and I must say, I see this as a theme in my life. It's also expressed in my music, because there's a lot of conversational energy going on in my tracks. And it's mostly the higher parts of myself, talking to the ego and the ego also expresses itself into the world. So that dynamic just keeps on going and I learn a great deal from those conversations as well. Sometimes I don't even understand what certain lyrics are about until some time later. That puts me in the relational context of human existence. So the duality is constantly sort of activating me from within, and that is, I think, what YOUANDI is all about.
Tijmen de Nooy Photography
If you were to describe the sound of YOUANDI, how would you describe it?
I would call it... I think it's sonic poetry that I'm trying to make. Well, I'm not really trying, to be honest. It just happens. I just feel very connected to giving everything meaning. Every sound, every ooh, every ah, should have significance. I think it would be maybe some type of sonic poetry. For a lack of a better word though, because I think that if I would activate my mind on it and really sit on it, maybe I would come with something better, but for now I think, yeah, it's really... I try to puzzle pieces of sound together, every layer should also activate us to tap into another layer within ourselves. So we can go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. If you pay attention. It's really for the people that are willing to be present and follow the journey while doing the music.
I try to puzzle pieces of sound together, every layer should also activate us to tap into another layer within ourselves.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
We all have an essence. I think we all would be greatly rewarding ourselves if we tapped more into that essence in relationship to. Sometimes we get distracted, or the outside world asks for our focus and attention, but then in those moments we can also still be connected with ourselves instead of immediately jumping into whatever is happening. We can also first just take a step back, go in and feel what we are and what our inner navigation is telling us before just jumping in. And I think that there is a great deal to be found when we do this in silence. Without the mental chatter, just finding a way to stop the clutter from cluttering and be okay with what we feel, with what we are, and just let it be. That is, I think, a very important thing, and it is also something that I feel most ambition for to bring out as a message in my music.
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