Yungen on ‘Passionate & Paranoid’: “I just wanted to rap – I can’t put it any other way”
nme.comYungen has shared ‘Popstar’ – the lead single on his newly-announced project, ‘Passionate & Paranoid’. Check it out below along with NME’s interview with the south London rapper.‘Popstar’, an explosive and high-energy reiteration of the rapper’s identity, looks to highlight the multi-million streaming Yungen’s dedication to sticking to his roots rather than getting swept up by success.“The reason I wanted that to be the song I led with was because, looking back, I had ‘Bestie’ and I was on the single ‘Bad’ which did really well,” he told NME. “I think I felt a change around me, that people started thinking, ‘Oh, he’s gone.
You’re a popstar, you’re gone.’ When really, I was just the same person the whole time.”He continued: “So ‘Popstar’ was kind of that idea in a song – basically saying, ‘You thought I was a popstar but really, I’m just the same person I always was’.
I think that was an important message to get out to the public as well – like, look I can still rap, I’m not this popstar that you’re only gonna see with the glitz and glamour.”The release of ‘Popstar’ follows Yungen’s recent debut ‘Daily Duppy’ freestyle and ‘P&P Freestyle’, marking his first new music since 2020’s ode to Liverpool FC ‘Mané & Salah’ and ‘Handsome’ featuring M24.“I was actually quite overwhelmed,” Yungen told NME about ‘Daily Duppy’. “Because I haven’t released in so long, I kind of forgot what that feeling was like.
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