Q&A: Young Franco Takes Hold of the Electronic Resurgence at Portola

Q&AMusic

Oct 5

☆ CARSON HUFFER ☆

YOUNG FRANCO GOT HIS MONEY AT PORTOLA - Opening up the Pier Stage with a smash of energy, Young Franco took the inaugural meeting of the festival by storm.

Hot off the heels of his latest hip-hop inspired disco release “Get Your Money” featuring Theophilus London, Young Franco’s already monumental career is hitting impressive new strides. Boasting well over a million monthly listeners on Spotify and major global recognition with song usage by brands like Apple and Starbucks, the early festival goers of Portola were in for a treat when Young Franco took the stage to show off his explosive performance energy to light up the weekend.

Luna received the opportunity to catch up with Young Franco post-set to learn all about his preparation for Portola, the collaboration on “Get Your Money” with Theophilus London, and the emergence of a renewed and energetic electronic scene.

LUNA: You got to kick off the Pier stage for the first year of Portola and are in the midst of playing a lot of shows. What do you like about the festival setting versus a normal venue show?

YF: I'm really enjoying the festivals. I had a great time today, and I had a great time at Lollapalooza, too. It's been a lot of complimentary sort of artists playing and people were grooving. People are out to have fun, and I think that's really exciting. I think the venue shows are just as good in their own way. It can be a little bit more intimate and people are out on a night out. There are advantages to both of them. Today was one of the best sets I've had. I was so happy - I got to the end of the set and realized I should have played more originals because I was just having so much fun.

LUNA: When curating your set, is it a different approach when you're curating your set for a festival versus a venue set?

YF: It just depends on so many things, and America is great because it's so diverse. There's so many different niches. So one hour you might play a little bit more dancey and fast music, and suddenly you have a bit more hip hop in some places, and then some places you might play somewhere in the middle. It's a mixed bag, and I definitely think I'm still learning.

LUNA: You just released your track "Get Your Money" with Theophilus London - how did that collaboration come about? What was that creative process?

YF: I had this demo lying around for a while, and we sent it over to him. He came back with something really exciting from the start. It was really easy in that sense. I came back and reimagined it a little bit and got it together pretty easily.

LUNA: How's the crowd's reactions been so far?

YF: Fantastic. It's been really good so far. I played it out today and it felt really good. I think people were excited to hear original music, which is really nice.

LUNA: Even though you explore different sounds and vibes with your music, you always have your Young Franco touch that lets the listener know it's yours, which I imagine is a big goal for artists. What advice do you have for artists trying to find their sound?

YF: Maybe it's cliche, but just write the music that you enjoy. If you listen to a certain style of music that you really like, just draw from that. It's very easy to be caught up in what is trending at the time, and by the time the trend has become mainstream, you're already behind. If you like that style of music, then it doesn't matter what's trending or not. Just do what you want to do, don't put stress on yourself. Yeah,

LUNA: What have you been listening to lately?

YF: A lot of disco at the moment - 70s and 80s vibes like Earth Wind and Fire, The Whispers and Duran Jones, which are all really cool.

LUNA: How have you kind of seen your music start to evolve with new tracks?

YF: Definitely in that disco direction. I'm enjoying writing with more instruments and writing with people, and am just more open to everything depending on what the song needs and what I'm feeling at the time.

LUNA: The electronic music scene has been around for a long time, but it feels like it's taken on a new identity the past couple of years, with Portola being a perfect example of all the talent we're seeing. What do you like about this community and how it's starting to evolve.

YF: People want to go out and dance again, which is nice. They want to just enjoy themselves, and I think it has changed in the last two years a lot. The way people consume music and how it reaches people is very quickly changing. It's the same way Limewire disrupted the industry at the time - people felt it was like the death of music, but then people just worked around. You could adapt your tastes, could be more broad and explore more music. It can be easy to feel behind with whatever the new social media thing is, but it's happened before, and it can move in your favor. Independent artists can reach the most amount of people ever in the history of music. I find a lot of new music through Tik Tok and enjoy using it to discover new artists.

LUNA: What intentions do you have for the rest of the year?

YF: I'm going to Europe in the first part of October so that'll be great. Then it's my sister's wedding at the end of October, so I'm flying to Brisbane and it'll be Australian summer, so I'll get to enjoy some nice weather and be home with the Family into the Christmas time. I'll also be putting a couple more tracks out and am excited to see what happens

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We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫