By Zach Collier
I have hung out with ysabelle just long enough to know there’s two sides to her. In social and performance settings, she’s a flaming ball of sunshine with a quick wit and a wicked sense of humor. In business settings, she’s quiet and contemplative – a good listener, an organized strategist, and an adept audio engineer and producer.
ysabelle is the mononym of Ysabelle Cuevas: a Utah-based singer, songwriter, and arranger originally from Los Angeles, California. Since she started uploading to YouTube 9 years ago, she’s amassed an impressive 2.8 million subscribers and nearly half a billion views. She found her niche translating and covering K-pop songs in English – and matching the originals with quality production and performance. The process helped her study songcraft at a level most musicians could only dream of. After nearly a decade of learning, analyzing, and performing some of the freshest pop in the world, she’s making a splash as an original artist.
Her new single “Slow Dancing” dropped on July 28, 2023. Her vocals are front and center, showcasing the iconic, heart melting, soulful quiver that won me over the first time I heard her sing. She’s supported by rolling synths, muted acoustic guitar, and intricate pop percussion. Though it’s titled “Slow Dancing,” the song is anything but slow. It’s driving, bombastic, and catchy as h*ck. Written by ysabelle, she teamed up with Utah producer Todd Tran and South African producer Connor Austin to bring it to life.
“Connor laid an arrangement for the song after I sent him the demo a year ago,” says ysabelle. “When Connor was in town, we sat with Todd and fine tuned the entire thing.” When the song was complete, they sent it to indie pop artist Adam Turley for mixing and Fili Fillizola for mastering.
The production process was refreshing for ysabelle. “I come from a YouTube background of acoustic pop,” she says. “So everything we got to do for production was new and fun to me! I think the guitar pattern that Connor came up with is the song’s main personality. I also love the super retro kicks.” She jokes that it took them over 30 minutes to decide on the exact kick samples to use. “There’s also this synth we call the ‘Taylor Swift Synth’ because it reminded us of a synth used in nostalgic tracks from her album 1989.”
One of my favorite lines comes from the end of the chorus: “Your hands are on my body, keep your eyes on me. Slow dancing with our two left feet.” It begs the question: does ysabelle really have two left feet? It’s hard to imagine a clumsy dancer creating such a danceable track.
“I’m not terrible, but I’m not good either,” ysabelle jokes. “I usually stick to singing at parties – and the usual head bobbing and jumping up and down with a fist in the air.”
These final lines of the chorus were actually inspired by something ysabelle’s mother always tells her when they discuss relationships. “She says most of the time, her and my dad don’t know what they’re doing. They keep growing together as they make mistakes along the way. The difference is, from the beginning, they promised to never let go of each other – no matter what. And I think that inspired the image of slow dancing with two left feet. Love isn’t about two perfect dancers, but two people trying.”
How does she harmonize feeling like she has two left feet with the incredible reception her music has gotten over the years? “It’s pretty confusing sometimes. Having two left feet – or feeling like I’m not good enough – sometimes stops me from creating,” says ysabelle. “I used to have the biggest fear of letting people down. And it grew bigger as more people watched my videos.”
To overcome that imposter syndrome, she constantly reminds herself of how she felt when she first started making music. “I remember how much fun it is to be making music, filming, and editing videos. Imposter syndrome is real with creatives, so constant communion with myself, God, my loved ones, and my fans has helped me stay true to myself when creating. It also helps to not take everything too seriously and pursue where I find joy! The output that comes from those creative sessions are usually the ones I love most.”
The love ysabelle has for creativity really shines through in her video editing. Her reels and long form videos all feel vintage and retro without actually referencing a specific era. It’s all very timeless, cinematic, and picturesque. To create this vibe, ysabelle puts together lots of Pinterest boards for inspiration “I am heavily inspired by second generation K-Pop groups; female artists like NIKI, Sasha Sloan, and Maisie Peters. Their visuals always feel so nostalgic and early 2000s but feel modern at the same time. I also love the colors used in Studio Ghibli movies and music videos from solo K-Pop legends like IU and Taeyeon.”
Recently, ysabelle traveled to the Philippines for a two week tour. Because of her brief time in the country, she mostly stayed in Metro Manila. “I was playing shows with my friends almost every day, which was so cool!” she says. “The biggest crowds were probably the mall shows. The malls in the Philippines are huge and 4-stories high.” She opened for Jeremy Zucker in front of a thousand people at one of these shows.
“But one of the coolest moments was playing a show with one of my favorite bands, Moonstar88,” she says. “I learned their songs on the guitar, and sang them at family parties growing up. So it was cool when their vocalist personally invited us for the show. It was awesome hearing her stories about pursuing multiple careers and just following what your heart is passionate about. I also loved getting to know the band I toured with. We played shows together and then had a last minute road trip to an iconic volcano on the day of my flight back to the US. So thank you, Daniel and the rest of the DP team!”
While in the Philippines, she was welcomed to the Universal Music Group Philippines family in a signing ceremony. UMG was recommended to her by a previous manager when ysabelle decided to pursue original music. “After many conversations, we decided to make it official! I met the team IRL when I went to the Philippines,” she says. “I’m super excited about partnering with a young, driven team of creatives who puts the artist first.”
ysabelle has a busy future. A collaboration with folk/rock group Michael Barrow & The Tourists drops on August 18, 2023. The song is the theme for Season 4 of the popular Webtoon original comic, The Kiss Bet. Webtoon is a South Korean comic platform for digital creators that boasts 6.2 million daily readers.
ysabelle’s original music will soon hit millions of ears all over the world. And while “Slow Dancing” is a strong start, she and her team have already completed an EP to follow it up. This will drop under Republic Records Philippines (a subsidiary of UMG) in only a few months.
No matter how successful she becomes, ysabelle approaches every opportunity with humility and excitement. The little things mean the world to her. “Occasionally, someone who listens to my music stops me for photos at the mall, in a cafe, or at the grocery store. The last time I was in the Philippines a few months ago, my song was playing at a restaurant and a couple of teenagers were singing along across from our table. They didn’t recognize me at all. But that was pretty awesome.”
“Slow Dancing” is out now on all streaming platforms. You can follow ysabelle on Instagram @justysabelle and listen to the song below.