Yeek’s beautiful, forward-thinking pop opus Future Reference has its eyes on an alternate timeframe in which past and future coalesce into an exciting, previously untapped realm. Alongside a small collection of close collaborators including Raveena, Bakar, Jordan Waré, and Erik Bodin of Little Dragon, Yeek’s new album was created as a form of praxis, a record in conversation with his previous releases—an album he can save for, well, future reference.
The album was animated by a fairly straightforward philosophy, which was to make a record that made people feel good. Throughout the project, like on “$$$$” and the Paris Texas–assisted “ETA2,” he succeeds with ease. It’s heady in concept but remarkably joyful and breezy on record. It’s an album animated by bold ideas, visions of previously unimagined worlds, but in headphones, it sounds like the peak of a great Friday night or the leisurely chill of a perfect Sunday morning.
To celebrate the release, we asked Yeek to share the backstory for each track on the album, which you can check out below.
1. “Play”
I wanted the idea of leaving myself notes through a tape player living throughout the album. The term “future reference” means “for use at a later time.”
2. “Before I Go”
There was a point in my life where I felt like I was able to linearly clock every event that happened in my life. In this song I was pretty much writing about the idea of not having a sense of that anymore. I think a lot of this came from how much was going on and the amount of experiences I was allowing myself to have. I was living life as much as I could, crossing out things on the bucket list.
3. “ETA2” (feat. Paris Texas)
Louie came over one day and recorded his verse in like an hour. He produces and plays instruments like me, so it was an easy process for us to work together. Felix has a verse written I think, but I never got to hear it. Maybe one day.
4. “$$$$”
This one is straightforward. What you hear in the lyrics is exactly what it is.
5. “Mood Swings”
I wanted “Mood Swings” to make the listener feel like I was talking about a romantic situation, but it can easily be about friendships, too. I was feeling weird about my relationships at the time and questioning the intentions of people I knew.
6. “Up at 3”
“Up at 3” is sonically inspired by a lot of the R&B I grew up listening to. Cecil Bernardy brought a loop to me by a producer friend of his and we just built around that.
7. “At Least You Tried”
Another note to myself.
8. “Daylight Savings”
I wrote this song right on daylight savings. I get so bummed when the sunset is earlier. This song is also dedicated to people who wear their shades at night—just being out rocking shades as a ploy to stay lowkey. Big shoutout to Jordan Waré for providing the strings.
9. “Leave with Me”
I was in a situation where this person I was talking to was trying to run me for all my money. This song is about how I deal with situations like that. It’s also meant to just be an overall good track to move to. This track was inspired by UK garage and house music.
10. “Global Warming”
“After summer LA is on fire / Florida rains and high tide / New Jersey is still a pigsty.” While shouting out all the places I’ve grown up, I was also talking about each of their environmental issues. I wanted this song to feel kind of free in its writing, bouncing back and forth from being about love and climate change.
11. “Care” (feat. Bakar)
Bakar is a long-time collaborator and friend. We made some of our earliest music together, so I was super happy to reunite with him on this one.
12. “Stress Reducer”
Another note to myself along with an instrumental I made a few years ago. This was meant to calm my nerves—and maybe the listeners’ too.
13. “Waiting Room”
“Waiting Room” is about the process of coming up in the music game.
14. “Searching for Yourself” (feat. Raveena)
Both Erik Bodin of Little Dragon and Raveena are big musical heroes of mine, so it was a dream to make this track come to life. This was the first track that wasn't produced by me at all.
15. “Last Night in Town”
“Last Night in Town” is inspired by that feeling of not being able to say goodbye to someone. It’s also about loving someone no matter what happens after everything is said and done. It felt like the perfect way to end the album. Big shoutout to George Moore and Zach Ezzy for providing the trumpet and piano arrangements. I personally wanted this to be the most cinematic part of the album.
