Willow Shields
Willow Shields

London’s least professional music photographer and journalist, can be found most evenings in your local small venue drinking vodka lemonades and being told secrets.

I find it hard to put into words how YNESโ€™ โ€˜Used to Beโ€™ makes me feel, but I will attempt to. You know that feeling you get when you think about how much youโ€™ve grown up, about how you were when you were 16, and then you start to think of all the moments youโ€™ll never have again. Thatโ€™s how โ€˜Used to Beโ€™ feels. Itโ€™s an emotional rollercoaster and the perfect soundtrack for delving into a reminiscent downward spiral. Itโ€™s YNES showing she can do simply everything, itโ€™s definitely a change from her usual vibrant tunes, but it comes as a welcomed surprise. Itโ€™s a masterful, tear-jerking display of emotional vulnerability, and it gives me goosebumps on every listen. 

The song itself delves into YNESโ€™ specific past experiences, but that, I think makes it all that much more relatable. Weโ€™ve all stayed out too late and missed the last train, got too drunk, and then still made it home last night without a single idea how we got there. At a time where everyoneโ€™s reminiscing on their childhoods and growing up, โ€˜Used to Beโ€™ comes at the absolute perfect time. Itโ€™s a slow, solemn song with the perfect amount of YNES kick at the end. It is truly a show of how much range YNES has as an artist, to be able to do mostly everything and do it with such integrity and individualism is something we donโ€™t see a lot, but when we doโ€ฆ itโ€™s amazing and itโ€™s YNES.


Listen to ‘Used to Be‘:



Discover more from Clunk Magazine

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Let us know what you think!