Spotlight: TYSM! Brings Hyper Pop to Life in “OUT OF MY MIND”
EVERYONE LIKES A SUMMER ADVENTURE SONG - the kind that makes you feel like you’re the main character or their best friend, packed into the car for a last-minute, cross-country road trip. The kind of song that has everyone in the car screaming the chorus with the windows wide open and the radio blasting so hard everyone else on the road can hear it, too. It’s during these moments that you can’t help but thank the universe for its sporadic benevolence and plentifulness.
TYSM! is a rising rapper and pop artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he’s the visionary behind your next beloved summer vibes song, having just released “OUT OF MY MIND”. The 20-year-old, Korean American Elijah Mason, who also goes by Min Hyeok, is one of the leading voices in Minneapolis’ music “renaissance.” Mason believes that artists from the city have been pushing new music genres, like hyper pop, punk-pop, and a blend of others that ultimately come together to make a “brand new sound.”
That brand new sound comes through is Mason’s brand new release: “OUT OF MY MIND”. It is exactly what it reads like: loud in all caps and with clear intentions. The song comes straight from Mason’s mind, written about a person he wanted to hang out with. But it’s more than just wanting a connection with another guy or girl. “I wanted the song to represent going out and chasing something. Whether it’s like a girl or a guy, dream or goal, just get out and go find it. Live your life and find new experiences,” he says.
It’s about being spontaneous and enjoying what the world has to offer, as soon as the thought emerges. Mason suggests the song is best listened to in a “fun social setting, with your friends.” He says this from experience. The music video is a compilation of clips filmed by his friends throughout the summer, particularly during their trip to Los Angeles, with a 2000s/Y2K coming-of-age aura. Every clip in the video is complete with an edgy, teen angst animation style: scribbling, hash marks, circles, and zooming in and out with a camcorder.
“OUT OF MY MIND”, is the song that you bring with you on the Bluetooth speaker to the beach and the skate park, the kind of song with lyrics stuck in your head as you try a weird ice cream flavor and work up the courage to meet someone new. It is vivacious and alive, with a beating heart for a chorus. It’s a new anthem for youth.
As a freshman in high school, he figured he would try his hand at making music because he loved listening to it so much. Music inspirations like Tyler the Creator, as well as older R&B artists like TLC, Lauryn Hill, Boyz II Men, Stevie Wonder and Minneapolis’ very own Prince, fueled Mason in learning about rhythms, rhymes, and music engineering. Shortly after that, he was on his way to making songs, putting out singles and projects. His mentality at the time was: flesh it out, a little bit more is better.
But it hasn’t always been easy. Even though Mason had been making (primarily) rap music for a long time and had a long tracklist, he was beginning to feel sick of it. After meeting his current producer in June, Alex Campbell, he more easily found his own genuine voice, sound, and direction.
In the year 2021, TYSM! released two other singles: “SCOUT” and “Crash the Rental”. He also performed live for the first time since the pandemic started. Mason says that as an artist, he feels that it is “part of [the] job to bring people together in live spaces, and also our responsibility to keep everything safe” during the pandemic, which is why his performance was such a momentous occasion for him and his team. He was so grateful to have been able to host such a private and intimate show.
While other artists who jumped back into live performances this year have described their experiences as rushing with excitement, TYSM’s immediate reaction was an appreciation for his listeners in the local community—fitting for his name “Thank you so much!,” which one of his friends suggested because he said ‘thank you’ a lot.
TYSM! has a unique gift of creating lyrics that are exhilarating; his songs bend genres and expectations and lead listeners onto the great open road, where they might discover that there is always something worth chasing in life. The rich visuals and sensory overload of his music videos encompass already bright lyrics.
One thing that fans can expect from TYSM! is more music, soon to be released this year — a semblance of hope that Gen Z’s artists will bring forth masterpieces post-pandemic, building the next Renaissance.
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