Martin Yates – Let You Go | Upbeat and Emotive

UK-based singer-songwriter Martin Yates recently released a soulful pop track called ‘Let You Go’ that features his signature blend of infectious melodies and emotive vocals. Known best for his releases like ‘Lay It On Me’ and ‘Let Your Love’, the artist is back with groovy yet a heart-warming song that is bound you keep you engaged throughout. With upbeat rhythms, mellow pianos and a few synths, Martin takes you on a journey of love and nostalgia and doesn’t let go till the very end!

The track begins with a wobbly bass arpeggio and stabbed chords on the piano. Martin’s strong vocals come in and are accompanied by a dem-bow beat and EDM-inspired elements/textures. He sings about how relationships slowly fade away when people start drifting apart and how difficult it is to let go – “I’m the same as I was / And you know how it feels to be loved / And you know the truth is / It’s harder just to let you go.”

As the track progresses, Martin showcases his versatile vocal singing technique with his flawless delivery and powerful voice. Accompanied by a hard-hitting kick drum and energetic percussion, the guitars on ‘Let You Go’ carry the rich harmonic content of the upbeat track excellently – an extravagant production!

Interview with Martin Yates

Q1 – Your vocals on the track are very powerful and sound amazing with the beats! Which singers do you look up to and how have they influenced you?

A1 – The singers that have influenced me are of great calibre. Whitney Houston being my day one influence, I taught myself to sing by watching her performances as a kid. I’d listen to people like Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway growing up. When I started writing music, I delved into Adele a lot. She’s actually the reason I began to write songs. The honesty and purity of her lyrics made me feel comfortable to write about my own life so I have a lot to thank those people for. Jessie Ware is also a major influence.

Q2 – There’s a familiar yet fresh blend of sounds on ‘Let You Go’ that makes it a top-notch production. How do you start off writing your songs? What comes first, the lyrics or the beat?

A2 – I’ve never been able to track a formula of how I start writing songs but it usually starts with a life experience. All of the songs on my EP that’s coming out was inspired by a relationship I had in 2019 that I’ve only just gotten over which is why the latter portion of the EP is more reflective and forgiving as opposed to the bitter lyrics in the first half. I’ve noticed with recent songs, the idea usually comes at 2 or 3 am and I’ll get up and have a lyric idea or a backing vocal idea and it evolves from there. I’ll send it to my band to arrange the production and we usually come out with something that I’m proud of.

Q3 – If you had the chance to collaborate with any artist in the world for a live show, who would you want to perform with and why?

A3 – It would have been Whitney, that was the dream. Now it would be Adele. I think we’d create something incredible on stage. It would have to be a mashup of my track Yesterday and her song Love In The Dark. That would be beautiful. Adele hit me up, babes.

Q4 – ‘Let You Go’ is a fusion of dance music, dem-bow beats and soulful vocals – a unique and engaging mix of sounds. What inspired you to write this track?

A4 – “Let You Go” is actually really out of the artistic wall that I’ve created around myself. First of all, it’s uptempo which is very unlike me but the LLR Music group in London got in contact in the Spring and wanted to work on a track and that idea with the drum beat stood out to me the most. It gave me summer vibes at first, but then I penned the lyric and it fitted perfectly with the story of the rest of the EP and almost closes that chapter of my life. It speaks of observing the differences between myself and the other person in the relationship and how different our outlooks on partnership really was, that’s something I never realised when I was in it.

Q5 – With your sixth single out, I’m sure the fans are ecstatic and eager to hear more. What can we expect from Martin Yates in the future?

A5 – The EP is ready and to be released very very early 2022, we’re getting everything together at the moment ready for that. There will be a tour to support the record release too which will be announced not long after that. I’ve written the second project and will be back in the studio in February to start production on that.