About the Artist

LuLuYam

Also known as Yam, or “Phan”, is an independent music artist, digital artist, visual artist and writer currently residing in
St. Louis, Missouri. Their first viral song “ROACHES” (2023) (heavily influenced by Kesha’s “Take it Off”) tends to be labeled as their first true “breakout” song. However, other songs like “Sympathy” (2023) and “EVERYTHING” (2023), have also claimed them a cult like
following in many internet spaces.

As LuLuYam picked up momentum, the song that truly helped amass them a larger audience in said spaces,
was their summer single “DIVINE CEO” (2024).

However, fans tend to be drawn in by not only Yams music, but their self produced artwork, world building behind some of the music, and
work in comics, as well. Yam is known to blend elements of psychological horror, and surrealism into their work, as well as
some of their own real life experiences, giving audience members something they can sometimes relate to. Especially
in regards to topics such as struggles with mental health, trauma, sexuality, gender, identity, addiction, and the like.

Musical and artistic influences:

Yam has gone on to confirm the following music artists as influences on their work:

Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Lady Gaga, Kesha, System of a Down, Kikuo, Ashnikko, Psy, Rico Nasty, Cascada, t.A.T.U. Maretu, FEMM,
La Bouche, Haddaway, Ace of Base, Gillette, Toy-Box, and Aqua.

The following medias have influenced Yams digital art style, aesthetic, and story telling:

Silent hill (games 1-4), Yume Nikki, LSD: Dream Emulator, Gregory Horror Show, Soul Eater, Popee the Performer,
Mob Psycho 100, Majoras Mask, Shaman King, Paradise Kiss, the paintings of Francis Bacon, and Jamie Hewlett’s art style as a whole.

LuLuYam has also claimed that many alternative/jfashion subcultures have had a huge impact on their life and style as
a whole since their early teenage years.

Early Life:

Yam was born in Florida, in the 90’s, and was exposed to music at a very early age.
Their absent father was known to be a talented guitarist, as was their late grandfather (who was said to have ghost written
a few songs for other country musicians when he was much younger. However, Yam has gone on to say that they’re not
entirely sure how true this is).
Their mother discovered Yam had a knack for singing and music when they were quite young, and made sure to keep them in
choir classes quite regularly to help them develop their voice as they grew older.
This lead them into a deep interest in both music and theater as they continued their education.
When Yam was reaching their preteen years, they took a deeper interest in music outside of mainstream pop of the time.
Their first musical fixation was on the group “Gorillaz” which Yam sites as their first major inspiration since the age of 10.
Following that was Daft Punk, after they discovered their music via an airing of their music video for “One More Time”
late at night on Toonami in the early 2000’s.

These two groups were their gateway into discovering even more bands and artists from outside of the United States as they
delved themselves into early 2000’s internet culture as a teenager.
This lead them into their love of Jpop, Europop, Techno, Visual Kei, Alternative, and more.
As the 2010’s rolled around, Vocaloid had been introduced to internet audiences, creating a new wave of independent music producers.
Yam has also gone on to state many early vocaloid producers influenced them to want to create their own music, as well.

Struggles with music, art, mental health, and more:

After graduating high school, the young artist began trying to teach themselves how to produce music on a pirated copy of FL Studio.
They produced a handful of independent songs, which were uploaded to the internet under a different alias.
However, these songs went no where, and eventually, Yam began to produce less music. They only ever continued producing music
on the side as a hobby, while also producing video game music for fun.

Yam tried a few small attempts to get their foot into the music industry door, but they were not seen as marketable
enough to grab attention of labels. By this point, the artist had given up and started working through other creative avenues instead, such
as their love of story writing, comics, and digital art. At one point, Yam had even created a drag alias and began performing other peoples
music at a few STL venues for a short period of time. While they claim this was done
because they had a love of singing, performing, and the artistry of drag, Yam also did so due to heavily questioning their sexuality and
gender: something they’d kept a secret from their family and friends for quite some time. At the time, they labeled themselves
as pansexual and cis. But deep down, Yam knew that they were in fact a closeted lesbian, and on the fence about their gender as a whole.
They had used drag as a way to find themselves, and try to find a home in a more queer centric community that wasn’t just
on the internet.

During their drag era, Yam had picked up an addiction to alcohol
to cope with unresolved mental health issues and trauma they weren’t aware they were struggling with, for years.
As time passed, these issues began to worsen, which was what eventually lead Yam to stop drag, and take a break from art entirely.
It was then that they left any and all creative spaces they were a part of to work on their mental health and start their journey into sobriety.

As Yam worked at sobriety and getting help for their prior unknown disorders, they took an interest in music again, shortly after
the “end” of the COVID lockdowns. They began reteaching themselves how to produce music in 2022.
They had also picked up a hobby in cosplay, while also showing off some of their j-fashion and alternative looks that they
wore daily, on the app “tiktok”. However, as they became more ingrained in music production, they began focusing less on
cosplay, showing off their fashion looks, and began getting back into both music production and digital art at full swing.

This was what eventually lead them to create their first demo, “Rest of My Life” in 2023.
LuLuYam has stated that this song was meant to represent the more toxic side of themselves that they wanted to
grow and change from, and leave behind so that they could move on to bigger and better things.
This was the start to their journey, which has lead them to where they are now.

Their main focus in art and music now seem to heavily center on themes of self exploration, trauma, addiction, mental health,
sexuality, and more. And in doing so, Yam has cultivated a community of others who struggle with the same issues, giving them
a space to feel seen, understood, and more confident.