Roman Yasin talks 'Adolescence' and finding his calling
The budding star speaks on his new tunes and the journey that led to it.
As his name continues to ring bells, Roman Yasin is steadily building his craft. Born in Sheffield, England by way of Cardiff, Wales, the young singer-songwriter dropped his project _Adolescence_ earlier this year. Speaking on the release, as well as his budding career, Yasin sat with REVOLT for a Q&A.
How did music become your calling?
Well, I’ve always been a musical child since as far back as I can remember and my mum always tells me that I used to make rhythm and melodies off walls or anything I could. And growing up, music was a massive factor in my life, because that’s what 90 percent of my day consisted of. In year eight (the 9th grade), I used to love the poetry sections we’d do in my English class, and my teacher used to always love what I’d have to share because it had more meaning and depth than what the other students were writing in class. I remember from there onwards, at 12 years old, that’s when I started taking music seriously and knew that it’s what I wanted to do. Of course, there were many other factors, but that’s the main thing that pops into my mind when I think about what made me want to get into the music properly.
How has your story defined you
Declaring yourself as an artist in Cardiff, and trying to get your music out there and heard where I’m from, is genuinely the hardest thing. No one stands up and applauds you around here unless people from other cities do first. I mean that’s not the case all the time but in my case, that’s what it was like. Even the people closest to me back in high school didn’t support me just because others didn’t. There were a lot of fake personas around me in high school and I used to have a lot of friends, but when I started taking Music properly. That’s when I knew who my real friends were, and that’s when the number of people who cared for me started dropping. My music would be the centre of jokes when it came to banter and stuff, and I know that the people who would tell the jokes were disguising it as ‘banter’, but really meant what they were saying lowkey. High school made me realize that I needed to grow up and take charge of what I want and don’t want in my life, and I think from year 11 (11th grade) onwards, that’s when I fully felt real to myself and knew who I was because I started expressing my real feelings and was straight up with people and said it how it was. A lot of people don’t like that where I’m from, but it’s honestly always been the best solution in the end for me. Whether it’s a bit risky or rude in the moment, it’s very beneficial in the end. My experiences in my adolescence stage defined me into being different from the rest of the people you see that used to hang around with me. I matured real quick and started doing things that no one else was doing with confidence, even if it was a risk. And yeah I made mistakes and took losses but I wouldn’t have anything any other way.
What was your thought process behind your new record?
When my music started to become a little better and popular, and my name was flowing about. That’s when girls started becoming easier to talk too unfortunately. It should never be that way but it just was and they always played it off like it was because of me, but they were just interested in my potential. But I did fall deep for one of the girls I knew from way back in high school, and things ended rough because we were both on two different pages when it came to what we wanted while hanging out. She always thought that I was playing but I was serious and there was always a misunderstanding in someway. I always like to write about exactly how I’m feeling without any limitations, because I love saying how it is, and when I heard the beat from “Mantra,” I straight away felt the vibe and got the melody down for it. I wrote the song in no more than 10 minutes and I called my boy Uyi up because he was on his way to mine and when he answered the phone I just said: “WE HAVE A HIT.” I hopped on a plane to Toronto to see my engineer Dot (Dot Da Engineer) and he loved the track too and went super hard on the mix to make it sound so alive and real. But yeah, I’d say there were many factors and situations in my life that were mixed into the song but that’s the main story I guess.
What impact do you hope to make in music?
I know that one day, I’m going to be the greatest in the world and I’m going to have a real effect on people. I mean I only just turned 18 and I’m the youngest from my country to be doing this well. Yeah you got your big artists in England making sound, but it’s easier there than it is here. I’m not taking away their grind or work levels at all, because their situations may have even been worse. But out here it’s so much more difficult to be heard out. I hope to enlarge mindsets and dreams when it comes to my fans and my audience. I wanna be the biggest and the best and do what I’m doing to let the next generation down know that they can be whatever they want no matter where they’re from or what their circumstances are. At the end of the day I was just a local young Iraqi teenager from the area that no one really knew. The plans that I have for my career are gonna be different. We’re in a time and age where things are developing and evolving rapidly and we’re getting new stuff everyday. I’m gonna make the most of what I have in front of me to make the best career possible for myself and my people.