September 4, 2023 • 41 mins
Back in January 2020, Yasmine and Jahan were VERY gracious to invite me to their house in LA to chat for a previous podcast of mine. It was such an incredible chat (and honor) that I wanted to share it on America's Dance 30: The Podcast as well.
With incredibly emotional lyrics to their songs, Krewella's rise to fame in the EDM world, and their connection to their fanbase, was meteoric. They were being requested and booked for every club and every festival across the world. But in 2014, they faced something they had never faced before: a lawsuit that not only tore apart their group, but their fans as well; and forced everything to come to a screeching halt. On this episode, Yasmine & Jahan share how they found themselves again after feeling like they had lost their self-identity. Plus what it was like for Krewella for 4 years prior to getting signed, what advice they would have for up-and-coming artists, and what to expect from their album 'Zer0'!!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
With incredibly emotional lyrics to their songs, Krewella's rise to fame in the EDM world, and their connection to their fanbase, was meteoric. They were being requested and booked for every club and every festival across the world. But in 2014, they faced something they had never faced before: a lawsuit that not only tore apart their group, but their fans as well; and forced everything to come to a screeching halt. On this episode, Yasmine & Jahan share how they found themselves again after feeling like they had lost their self-identity. Plus what it was like for Krewella for 4 years prior to getting signed, what advice they would have for up-and-coming artists, and what to expect from their album 'Zer0'!!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey, a d thirty fam,Thank you so much for following and subscribing
to America's Dance thirty the podcast whereveryou get your podcasts. From the bottom
of my heart, I honestly cannotthank you enough for supporting and listening to
America's Dance thirty. Every week It'sBrian Fink. You can count down the
biggest dance songs in the country everyweek on stations around the world. Just
(00:24):
check America's Dance thirty dot com forstations, days and times. So we
were supposed to chat with our goodfriend Afrojack this week on America's Dance thirty.
Unfortunately, it was literally the perfectstorm. I had an impending hurricane
that I had to deal with.Thank god it did not hit my area
(00:44):
direct, but of course my thoughtsand prayers are with those that were affected
by the hurricane. And then whenwe were supposed to chat with Afrojack,
unfortunately he wasn't feeling well. SoI have spoken with Nick. We should
be chatting with that Jack next weekon America's Dance thirty. But I wanted
to get to a new episode ofthe ad thirty podcast, so I dug
(01:07):
deep into the archive back to Januarytwenty twenty, right before the pandemic.
So crazy to think about, butI got the chance to be in La
and chat with my good friends Cruella, who invited me into their home,
which was so amazing of them.You know. I actually was lucky enough
(01:29):
to know Yasmine and Jahan for yearsprevious to this, but it was always
quickly catching up at shows and festivalsor music summits, never really sitting down
and chatting for a long time andgetting to know them. This was for
a previous podcast of mine called theSeesaw Sessions, So if you hear any
(01:51):
mention of the Seesaw Sessions, that'swhat that is. We get to know
everything Cruella and everything Yasmine and Johan. I can't thank Cruella enough for the
time that they spent with me.So without further ado, here is this
week's episode of America's Dance thirty ofthe podcast Dance counting down the biggest dance
(02:25):
songs in the country. This isAmerica's Dance thirty. My guests on this
episode have been together since two thousandand seven musically, and that's what I
was gonna get to sisters, Yasmine, Johan Cruella, welcome, thank you
so much for having us fry andwelcome to Los Angeles. Yeah. My
(02:49):
welcome to Los Angeles is getting intoan accident on I don't know what interstate
was at I ten. Maybe ifyou were close to hear it was the
one o one accident on the oneoh one In my uber the way,
I'm like, is this really happeningright now? And they're like, yeah,
it's la. Before we get tothe crew, life seesaw including a
brand new album that's dropping in afew days. Let's do the three words
(03:14):
I see you guys getting a littlenervous. Yes, mean, what three
words best describe you? And whycan I swear by the way, because
if I have to censor myself,I need to know right now. Okay,
perfect, So Johanna and I alwaysflip this around. We do each
other's words because we can never thinkabout words about ourselves. So would you
(03:35):
like to do mine and novel toyours? That is interesting. I like
the take absolutely. So what arethe best three words to best describe Johan?
I've thought of two already, andI'll think of the third as I
go. Curious, leader, andheadstrong, So before I ask you the
(03:57):
three words to best describe Yasmin?Were those good three words the best describe
you? I'll take it sure,thank you? Were those the three words
you would have used to describe yourself? Curious would definitely be one of them.
Leader, I don't know, it'sweird, that's like a very That's
an intense position to think of myselfas being in. But I would say
ours overlap because curious is one thatI would definitely have for you. Nurturing
(04:23):
and deep. I like that fourthone, creative. Toss that fourth one
back at her creative. Okay,guys, we got to move this along,
and you know this love fest that'sgoing on here your sisters. You
can do this later. But what'scrazy to me is I think it was
in the video love Yazzy that Iwas watching where you actually talk about how
(04:44):
Johan kind of considers you somewhat ofthe leader because you remember everything. Is
that not the case? So definitelynot a leader in the sense of my
memory leading us, because that's morejust John being like, wait, do
we know this person? Have webeen here before? And I'm like,
yes, it was two thy teen, they were here and we mean yeah,
so in that sense, I thinkI lead with the memory, but
(05:04):
I think because she's my older sisterand I grew up with that as like
the leading my way, that's howI think of her. But I'm sure
we both take the lead in differentsituations when our personality shines better in that
situation, or when we have thetools and our tool belt to help us
in that situation better. Obviously that'sperfect for you guys being together almost every
(05:27):
single day of your life. Yeah, I would say what you just said
about us kind of having this checksand balances system of leadership, like like
immediately, what comes to my headwhen I when I think about like health
and like wellness, I think you'veI really really look up to you because
you do extensive research and you havejust asked me as a wonderful like holistic
view on healing self healing, nutrients, diet, workout. So I definitely
(05:53):
see you as a leader in thatway. So I shouldn't tell you that
I had a couple of red bullthe other day because are so bad for
you. I know they're bad foryou, but I don't want this podcast
to go downhill already, so we'renot going to talk about that. Collection.
All right, exactly, thanks mom. Okay, Now I know in
(06:19):
twenty ten you guys decided to prettymuch give up everything to follow the Crewella
dream. Right. Yes. It'sactually really funny though, because you'll find
that once you give up everything,then you don't have money to pay rent,
and so we did have to getside jobs for three months. It
was, I would say, backin twenty eleven when we started to run
(06:41):
out of money because we were like, oh, we really have to pay
rent. We can't just be thrownout of this place that is our studio
and our workspace. So we're goingto get to some past jobs in a
sec. But when you guys werelittle kids and we were kind of talking
about this, did you want toget into music? I think we want
to just make art in general,all kinds of art. And we're always
(07:02):
playing at the time, and Ithink when you're a kid, you're not
really thinking about like, oh mygod, like this is a job.
You're just so you're still in yourimagination and you're playing. So we definitely
experienced, you know, like writingsongs or poetry or rhymes, or messing
around on guitar and drawing and painting, sewing, like all forms of art.
(07:23):
It was a very creative household.But the concept of a job,
I don't know if we really startedtaking that seriously until like maybe around two
thousand and nine, like right beforeour dedication year in two thousand and ten,
and that's when we started thinking like, Okay, the only way you
really can quote unquote make it ormake a career for yourself is by dedicating
(07:43):
yourself full time and really going inon this. What did you want to
be when you grew up? Ohweird. I think I was so in
the moment and like dreaming of amillion different lives I could live. I
wasn't really thinking about that when Iwas Yeah, I was thinking. I
think I was just dreaming. Itwasn't like a I need to make a
career for myself when I was akid and experimenting. I think I've always
(08:05):
been like, I need to liketest the waters, I need to try
these classes at my university and notthink so far. I had an advance
and take every day, but youknow, day by day, and what
about you. I think I'm abit more pragmatic of a person, and
I definitely always wanted to have aplan, and I was like I need
to do well in school and thengo to college and then get a job.
And that was I had the verytraditional mindset until we did what we're
(08:30):
doing now. It was a weirdblend of my left and right brain.
I loved being creative, I lovedthe arts, but then I also had
a fascination with the sciences and mathsand wanted to be an engineer and like
find a way to mix the twoin a way, Like I was looking
into the dual major at Brown andRisdy to take like an art major and
(08:52):
an engineering major between the two schoolsand try and find a way to combine
the two in some way. Butnever really had this solid plan of a
ware that would lead me. Musicwas never it was always a pipe dream,
as always like, you can't makemoney doing this, so this has
to be a hobby. To goback to that question, and it really
does seem like a pipe dream ifyou think about ten years ago. Now
(09:13):
we're in a completely different age.The age of the Internet has bred this
new mindset of like I can livein my bedroom in my own world and
become a pop star basically. Soyeah, it's different now looking back to
maybe June seven, twenty ten.What career path were you, guys on
(09:33):
that you had to give it up? I was just graduating high school,
so the path was wide open forme because I decided not to go to
college or take a year off.I'm air quoting. You guys can't see
me. I'm air quoting because myparents thought I was taking a year off
and it become it became like alifetime off. I'm so glad your mom
(09:54):
wasn't here, so that would havebeen awkward. Yeah, that's a thing
I probably could tell them now andthey'd be okay with it. And then,
what career path were you on rightbefore you gave everything up? I
wouldn't really call it a career.It was more of just a way to
pay a rent. So I wasa server a bottle service lounge. I
made good money there, so ithelped out with rent. But it could
(10:18):
have been a trap because you know, it's like, you make good money
there, but then you age.I've always thought about this. It's like
at thirty five, when there's anexpiration date for a lot of women in
that realm. Unfortunately, like forty, when you show the signs of aging,
you can't really do that anymore.And then I also was a freelance
makeup artist's also in school. Butshe's not listening. That's right. We
(10:39):
don't need to talk about dropping out. But no, I mean you do
sometimes have to do things that areuncomfortable at the time when you want to
pursue your dream. Now, there'sa lot of bs sometimes on Wikipedia,
so I'm treading lightly when I getinto this question. But is it true
(11:00):
that the name cruella was from Johanmisspelling cruel? No? Really did I
ever say that? And I justblanked on saying that that is what is
on Wikipedia. No, you cango edit that. I don't know how
to edit in Wikipedia, And tobe honest, I really don't care what's
on Wikipedia because they like, youcan't control everything that's said about you on
(11:20):
the Internet. It's like, justmeet me face to face and we'll talk
and get to know each other.Then cruel. No, But I think
I liked that word juxtapose with somethingthat felt really like delicate and feminine,
like ella, So we'll make senseof it. Whoever wrote that and said
it was inspired by the word cruel, sherlt you have it? Were there
are other names when you guys weredeciding to go down this route that you
(11:43):
guys were going to be possibly Nothat No, it's really, really,
really weird because sometimes I think aboutthe early days, like the two thousand
and seven to two thousand ten days, and thinking about how arrogantly confident we
were in just whatever we did.Not like every song we made we thought
it would be a hit. Itwas more like, oh, yeah,
(12:05):
we could do this, Okay,we could try this. It wasn't like
maybe we should struggle with this fora bit and then land on it.
No. Sometimes we just decided thingsand they were the way they were going
to be. And I think that'syouth, and I think sometimes we lose
that as we grow older. Justbeing confident because you don't you haven't been
kicked down yet probably that's why.But just being confident and whatever feels right
(12:26):
and whatever comes up in the moment. And so John came up with the
name Kruella. It was never discussed, it was never talked about. It
was just like, this is it, this is great, let's roll with
it forever. And so how manyyears later, thirteen years later, still
still doing it. Good job,an incredible name. So you guys were
telling me that your mom lent youthe money to get your first microphone.
(12:50):
Yes, our mother and then ourformer manager who's like we both love him.
He's a dear friend of ours.I think his mother also chipped in
for a loan. He also themoms came together and supported us, and
like I like so when I thinkabout all the people along the journey who
have helped in like small and bigways, like our mother is a huge
part of that. This wouldn't havehappened if she didn't support us. But
(13:11):
she is also a fellow artist incollege dropout who made a career for herself,
self sustained businesswoman. It's incredible.And you were talking about how there
was a point where the money ranout and you had to get other jobs.
So you signed your first deal.What was it twenty eleven? What
were the four years prior to that? Twenty twelve? I thought I read
(13:35):
that Monster Cat was twenty eleven.Do you want to take a SHARPI tier
tattoo and kind of change that theone on my fingers Columbia and Amilne the
day we signed with both of them, which is now paradigm, but the
day we signed with Monster Cat wasa one off single, so it didn't
get a tattoo. It didn't makeit. Sorry monster Cat. So the
(13:56):
four years prior to that, whatwas it like? When I guess you
guys were just grinding away at it. It was a lot like shouting into
an abyss and hoping that someone wouldhear you, and I'm sure a lot
of artists feel that way. Itwas the feeling of just like, let's
post this on MySpace and see ifwe get place. I mean, that
was a lot of what we did. And obviously all those songs are taken
(14:20):
down now and nobody should ever hearthem. But every time we got like
five hundred plays on the song,we were like, are we up and
coming? Is this what it feelslike? And obviously we were not.
So yeah, it was it waslike shouting into an abyss and hoping that
someone would hear you and connect withyou and like your music. And finally
things started to turn around around twentyeleven. But for a while it was
(14:41):
like is this gonna work? Imean, let's just keep trying and hitting
our heads against a wall. Butit was worrisome towards like the end bit
there no you mentioned that, youknow, when you're young, you kind
of don't have that this isn't gonnawork. You're more just like, we're
gonna keep doing this. Everything isgonna work. We're gonna be superstars.
(15:01):
Was there a point, though,after let's say three years of grinding,
that you're like, all right,maybe we should just give this up.
No, I don't know. Idon't think we ever came to that moment.
And I think a huge part ofit is that we had each other.
If I was a solo artist orfor you were a solo artist,
might be very, very different andwe probably would have been discouraged. But
I think because we had each other, we're slightly delusional, also in a
(15:24):
good way. It's like I thinksometimes delusion can lead to hope, where
you like, I mean, wemanifested it, Like I think about it
all the time. We were talkingabout like, oh my god, living
in LA. You know, wewere always like talking to artists online who
were in LA and just dreaming abouthaving the support of a label, which
at the time meant you know,that meant success. Now, there's so
many other ways to be quote unquotesuccessful as an artist, but we manifested
(15:46):
it, and it was like aweird feeling like we didn't know it was
going to work up. When Ilook back, I'm like, I weirdly
felt something within me, something likereally quietly and mysteriously within me, being
like it's you're the destinies folding.Life is unfolding right now. And knowing
that, I always remind myself,I'm like, we manifested this. So
everything I'm dreaming now, everything you'redreaming now, everything we're dreaming together.
(16:08):
If we stay in line with theuniverse and do whatever we can in our
power to stay in line with thatpath, everything we're thinking now is going
to come to us. It's goingto happen. Plus, you had the
five hundred listens, so that thatgets you going. I don't care.
(16:32):
Looking back at twenty twelve, justbefore you release the play hard EP before
a Live is not only on dancestations all over the world, but it
was on top forty stations across thecountry. I mean, we were playing
it on ninety three three FLZ andTampa. Did you think Cruella would lead
you to where it has today?It's so interesting because where we are today
(16:55):
is a version of where we werein twenty twelve and thirteen, and honestly,
no, I think that looking atour career and how much we just
said yes to everything, and howmuch we overworked ourselves, and that's like
to each other and ourselves. Weoverworked each other. We worked, overworked
(17:18):
ourselves, and now we're at thisplace where we have so much balance and
we have learned the power of sayingno. So I think I'm probably taking
this on a left turn, butI think now where we are, I
would have never imagined we would havethe courage to be in the mindset and
place we are right now with ourcareer to still feel like we can have
(17:38):
a sustainable career but say no toso much stuff and be home a lot
and have a healthy lifestyle. Stilltours, still make a bunch of music,
but not just be like rinsing ourselves. I think, at the end
of the day, is what wewere doing. And I think for the
longest time, saying no to things, or not being on every festival lineup,
or not having New Year's show,all these things scared us. They
(18:00):
were like, does that mean thatwe're not successful? Does that mean that
we were irrelevant? And now we'rejust like everything is fine. We are
still so good and we're still soin the faces of our fans because we
have that deep connection with them andwhy why were ourselves and to the point
where we're rinsing ourselves. It's honestlyincredibly you say that because that was actually
(18:22):
something Armand talked about, where,you know, early on when he was
the number one DJ, he wouldjust say yes to everything and do every
single show and run himself into theground. And he said he finally reached
a point with the help of hiswife, who would say no to a
lot of stuff, where like heturned down a huge show in India that
(18:42):
would have been great for him,but to be able to spend time with
his family to do it. Yeah, so he definitely reached that point.
I don't remember what year I metyou, guys. I want to say
it was around twenty twelve, twentythirteen. Columbia Records had brought you into
play a pool party that I don'teven know if you get I don't think
(19:03):
one of you wasn't old enough toeven be there. I think, but
even then, that first night meetingyou guys, you guys were so nice
to everybody, and you still are. You're nice to not only us,
in the industry, But your fansare so incredible with through this entire ride.
How have you managed to stay sohumble? Why is that funny?
(19:29):
Thank you? Because it's like,why not be nice to people? Why
not? But then again, everyonehas their bad days. I'm sure there
are plenty of times where a fanhas been like, oh, she was
super cold, and maybe it's becauseI was just like sleepless or just needed
space for myself or something. Ithink family really grounds us, and we
ground each other too. And yeah, it's like we grew up in a
household where it's always like the simplestthings, where it's like you have a
(19:52):
guest coming over, off for thema drink or water, and like respect
your elders, and I think thatjust trickled into the way we treat people.
We've also been in where we've beenworking as the server. You were
bagging groceries at Trader Joe's. We'vebeen in that received way. Wait wait,
wait are you asked me big fansof Trader Joe's, how did that
not come off? Yes, let'spass the mikes. You asked me,
(20:15):
what did you learn from being abaggy Trader Joe's? Okay, First off,
love Trader Joe's. Shout out TraderJoe's, You're amazing. Stop using
so much plastic. But I loveand receipts and receipts, yeah all that
stuff. Please fix that and thenI'll go all the time. But yeah,
that was when I was nineteen.I worked there for sorry eighteen,
I worked there for a year.The things I learned there actually still sit
(20:37):
with me, Like you sometimes shouldbe able to put away your shitty energy
or baggage and just smile at someoneand then if they smile back, maybe
some of your ship will be relievedand you'll feel better. And that's like
how you feel when you go intoTrader Joe's and there's people smiling at you
and like waving and saying hello.That's real, Like that's the company.
(21:00):
They've created that and so I lovethat company. Trader Shows. If you're
listening, make sure to reach outto Gorilla. Yes. Also, another
thing we always talk about this wreIt's like a lot of it is ego,
and I think it's people being likekeeping your ego in check. It's
like we are no different or morevaluable than someone who's in school or a
(21:21):
kid is in school, or aparent who works at a bank or something.
You know, it's like a fanwho we meet who works at like
Forever twenty one is Forever twenty onestone business, I don't know. Yeah,
but it's like there's no to us, there's no like hierarchy of like
whatever sort of status social status youhave, it to me, everyone has
some value. I've met like awesomehomeless people. I met a great homeless
guy outside Trader Joe's once. Iwas talking to him for an hour and
(21:44):
it was like he was He affectedme and influenced me in a way that
was so powerful, And to me, that's like value. So it's it's
seeing everyone in that way and notreally like I think a lot of artists
sometimes feel like they have it wouldbe a chip on their shoulder. I
don't know what the term is,but yeah, you talk about smiling even
when you're bagging groceries, you know. I kind of tell that to a
(22:04):
lot of people when I talk aboutradio, because I talk about when you
get in that booth, when you'redoing your job and you go on the
radio, you need to put allof your problems aside. You need to
smile. And I need to makethe listeners forget about their problems, because
there's been times. I remember thisone time right before Saturday Night where I
(22:26):
had this massive blowout with my girlfriend. At the time, we're sitting there
screaming and crying on the phone,But the second I step on the air,
all that has to go aside becauseeverybody listening has their own issues.
They don't want to hear my issues. So I completely get that smiling in
Trader Joe's It's also not about suppressingwhat's going on with you. It's more
(22:48):
about like knowing that there's a timeand place and with our fans, it's
like the ego thing is huge.I really I think when John laughed at
when you asked, how did youguys? You guys stay humble? It
is funny to us because it's likeit's just how we think we should be,
and we just want people to feelthat when they've met us, they've
(23:10):
had a good experience. That's allI want to give people is a good
experience they walk away from being likethat was a great time, and that's
my job. My job is tobring happiness to people. It's kind of
how do you not stay humble?That's why you were laughing at it.
Yeah, I think there's a wayto have confidence and like really own your
power, but not be walking aroundlike I'm the I'm too good to talk
(23:33):
to certain people in society, youknow. I also want to say,
you were just in a car accidentand you walked in here with a big
smile on your face, with likebeautiful energy and rolled in with your like
rainbow suitcase, and like I wouldbe thrown I mean, traffic in itself,
let alone just a car accident.Traffic in itself in a Los Angeles
will rile me up sometimes. Sothe fact that you can really just like
(23:56):
move with the flow of the dayin that way is beautiful. I respect
that. Again, back to howyou shouldn't suppress stuff. I think it's
the fact that I know what I'mabout to walk into. I know I've
got a quote unquote job to doand sit here and talking with you guys.
But it's also very calming to bewith two people that I know,
(24:18):
and I can forget about the accidentthat I was just in. I don't
know why you have to call outmy luggage though, I mean, yes,
it's colorful. So everybody laughs atmy bag. My bag. Just
to explain, I could put apicture on my Instagram I and Brian Fink,
but it's like eight million different colors. And the reason is is because
who's going to mistake that for theirsat the airport? I mean, it
(24:40):
is the ugliest bag, but who'sgonna grab that reminds me of Jimberre did
you? But I love it.I love it, and then she goes,
wow, your socks match the bagtoo. As girls that like,
we're limited to only wearing all blackfor like a good three four years,
like we're all about color now,I feel like we were suppressed. I
(25:02):
mean, actually it probably like whateverwere however we were dressing was manifesting,
you know, it was a manifestationof how we fell in our inner world.
But now we love these beautiful likejungle prints and colors and like mandala.
So I think it's like showing thatthere's like a flourishing energy within you
if you're drawn to those calls thankyou. And I did see that on
I don't remember whose Instagram post,but there was a point where it switched
(25:26):
from the all blacks too wearing colorsand I saw that it was kind of
empowering to be able to let goof that. So one thing that comes
with signing a record deal and yoursongs being all over the radio was also
a lot of fans saying that yousold out. And Arman has dealt with
that, and Tiesto has dealt withthat. I think Nirvana even dealt with
(25:48):
that when they made the switch andtheir stuff was on the radio. How
do you deal with kind of thatundeserving backlash? It's crazy thinking about this
because I'm sure you remember this,but the play Hard EP was done and
then Columbia found us and signed usbased off of that, and so we
were so hell bent on nobody thinkingthat this EP was influenced by being on
(26:15):
a major label. So we inour deal with them, wrote it up
in the contract that it had tobe whitelisted. You couldn't look up the
play Hard EP and see it associatedwith Columbia Records. And we were like,
there's no way people can know thisis a major label EP. And
looking back, I'm like, weshould have been so proud, like that
is so cool, but we didnot want the association. And I remember
(26:38):
one time there was like a slipup in an article and we called our
managers freaking out on the airport.I was like six am. We were
like, nobody can know. Whydoes it say Columbia in this article?
People can't know? And now I'mthinking about it, I think people have
changed. I don't think people lookat it the same way as they used
to. Dance music. Is thisblossoming thing in twenty twelve that if any
(27:03):
from anybody from the outside world touchedit, it would have been tainted.
And we understood that, and wedidn't want to take this thing and break
it. Basically, we wanted totreat it with care. And I think
that mindset comes from just understanding thatit's an underground scene and a part of
that needs to be protected. Andso that's where we were coming from.
(27:26):
And we understand the backlash at thattime. It's like someone taking something so
important to you and then just beinglike here, everyone can have it,
and you're like, no, it'smine, it's mine, it's for me.
So I get that. I mean, I get it, and I
was living dance music at that timetoo, and I completely get the mindset
of it. But something that peoplekind of lose out on is if you
(27:47):
are going to be a successful artistand take yourself to that next level.
You need a record deal, youneed people. They're going to help you.
Yeah, you can still be undergroundand doesn't taint the music. It's
just helping you get to that nextlevel. That's all we need to say
about that. Okay, So everythingis going incredibly for you guys until the
(28:19):
fateful time in twenty fourteen with avery public and very ugly lawsuit by Chris
and for the first time in thehistory of Kruella, you're kind of dealing
with not only losing a member,but losing a friend because a lawsuit will
tear you apart like that, andit kind of puts fans in a hard
(28:41):
position because they don't know what's goingon. Really, they don't know where
to go. How did you guysdeal with that at that moment? Oh?
I didn't deal with it. Imean immediately literally upon the onset,
like that first notification, when Iwoke up to dozens and dozens of notifications,
I actually realized, like, holy, this is a panic attack.
Is in my whole life. I'dbeen like that girl in the soccer field
(29:03):
gots a panic attack in gym class, and so I think it definitely like
opened up a space of compassion forlike people who have I mean, I
always was an anxious person, butI never thought I never thought I would
call it anxiety, or I neverthought I would call myself anxiety written I
think it, how do we?I mean, I was like micromanaging everything
else every day. I was justlike, oh my god, we're getting
emails about press from this article,in this article, in these tweets.
(29:27):
So I think I was very muchso focused on outer perception of Kruella,
and I think we created for awhile from a place of fear, like
how do we save this empire,this mini empire that we built that's crumbling
now? But I'm actually, honestlynow, I'm just I'm grateful, as
weird as that sounds, for theexperience, because I don't think we'd be
(29:48):
where we are today, and I'mgrateful that we have both both parties have
forgiven each other and we've moved pastit. I think that in itself is
like the greatest lesson out of allof this, is that like, whether
you're like divorced parents, or youknow, like X's who have rekindled a
friendship five years later, or likea kid that you bullied in high school
(30:08):
and you like reconnect ten years later. I think. I think relinquishing or
like relieving yourself of that grudge isso freeing. And at the end of
the day you asked me, you'realways saying, take care of your well
being, take care of your health, your mental state. And if forgiving
and letting go is what's going toput you on that path of having more
inner peace and calm than that's Imean, I'm grateful for that. And
(30:30):
so I think right now I'm ina place of gratitude because I'm very happy
where I am right now, inthis very moment, and I wouldn't have
been here if it wasn't for that. It's crazy. I deal with anxiety
too, and a lot of timesit comes up about the fact that it's
hard to explain anxiety to somebody thathas never experienced it. And the first
time I ever experienced a panic attack, I literally thought it was a heart
(30:52):
attack and I went to the hospitaland they're like, none of the tests
show anything. I'm like, thereis something wrong with me. And really
I had to drive down to Miamito do Miami Music Week like two days
after that, and I remember beingin the car on the way to Miami
and my friend is in the frontseat going like this, and I turned
(31:14):
the click in the pen and Iturned to him and I'm like, dude,
I love you to death, butyou have to stop that. I
could feel my anxiety just building.It was the craziest thing. So I
totally get that. And it ishard to explain to somebody you're saying,
you know before experiencing it and afterexperiencing it now. I said it was
the first time. But yasmine,you made mention of almost getting kicked out
(31:38):
early of Kruella. You didn't knowthat. Yes, me, what was
that all about? Why don't youexplain it to Johan? End me?
Johan doesn't know that. I wasstill in high school and in our formative
years, and I think I wasso focused on like school and just like
being my own person. Whatever you'redoing at ages sixteen through eighteen, whatever
(31:59):
the heck kids think. I thinkit was one of those things where John
and Chris were like, we aregoing all in with this, Are you
with us or not? And therewere times when I was like prioritizing a
test I had or this or thator whatever. It was, and it
was one of those moments where itwas like you need to be all in
or you need to not be here, and so it was like two thousand
(32:20):
and nine, you know, andit was one of those moments where I
was like this is important to me. I want to be doing this.
It feels fun and it feels fulfilling. Like when do those two things meet
up in a potential career? Sothat is that's that story. Well,
you have both been very transparent aboutdealing with anxiety, dealing with depression,
(32:44):
dealing with losing yourself and having tofind yourself again. Was there a moment
of clarity for each of you whereyou said this needs to stop. I
need to pull myself together. Ithink we still got that all the time.
That ever stops, that never everstops. Yeah, I think going
(33:05):
back to the anxiety think thing itcame from a place of fear, and
that fear is that the thing thatyou're attached to is falling apart. And
it's because we're I think we're bothliving in this reality where it's like I
am Cruella and that is my lifeand I don't exist outside of it,
and my happiness comes from there.My view of success comes from there,
So like I think maybe we bothat the time, at least for me,
(33:29):
I'm like, I don't know whoJohan is when it's you know,
when I'm not thinking associating myself withthe identity of Jehan from Cruella. So
I think it definitely put us onthis journey of like going inward and being
like what makes me happy in lifethat's not just thinking about like continuing to
get this wheel of Cruella going.And that's why we took off time from
(33:49):
touring. It's because you have toslow down. That's why stillness is really
important in this like industry that thriveson just like productivity and saying yes to
every show offer and every opportunity.Yeah, I was going to talk about
that, but I know you guyshave a heart out. But one of
the things is I don't think peoplerealize because everybody thinks it's incredible what you
guys do and you guys get toparty and do shows and travel, But
(34:13):
the truth of it is is thatpartying, that traveling, that doing shows
where you're flying in then flying outand who knows where you're at, that
takes a toll mentally and physically,Yeah, we are realizing looking back how
crazy our schedules were. And Iknow that everybody in this industry can relate
(34:34):
to us when I say this kindof stuff. And I'm super thankful that
we made the collective decision because ifone of us was like, no,
I feel like I still need tokeep saying yes to things, and the
other one was like, I needto slow down, it wouldn't have worked.
I mean, we both have tobe on the same page for that
kind of stuff. So I'm reallythankful we both feel that way. And
I think shout out to anyone whois in a duo or a group and
(34:58):
you can actually make space for yourother partner or group members and needs.
If you're a solo artist, youneed to do that for yourself. Nobody's
going to do that for you.Nobody's going to tap you on the shoulder
and be like, hey, youneed to slow down. So you need
to do it for yourself, whichis really hard to do because all the
weight falls on you. You can'tshare that with anyone. But actually,
if you don't have the right teamaround you, that's also not stepping in.
(35:22):
Was there like maybe just a momentwith the incredible success of Kruella.
That was one of the hardest momentsto get through that maybe we as fans
didn't see besides the obvious, whichyou know was the lawsuit and that whole
I mean, that whole period lastedlike over half a year of the back
(35:43):
and forth. I think some ofthe hardest moments have been, like this
internal stuff that fans don't know about, is like those moments when you asked
me and are like driving home fromthe studio and we're just talking about like,
well you said this, you mademe feel like this, and we're
going back and forth and it's alljust like our different versions of reality,
are different stories of what happened andhow we are receiving each other's energy just
not lining up. And those havehonestly been the hardest moments because you're like
(36:07):
looking in the eyes of someone youlove dearly and it's like you're going to
be with me through life and deathand eternity, and here I am,
you know, treating you in away that like, oh my god,
I would never want the best versionof me to be watching that, you
know, my behavior, And forme it's hard because of the shame dealing
with that, We're like, Idon't like knowing or reacted like that.
I don't know like knowing that likeI thought about yasmine in that way,
(36:30):
in that negative way. So forme, I like I carry a lot
of shame and guilt in those situationsand that continue sometimes to perpetuate a negative
energy. It escalates because you guysare together, your careers depend on each
other, and not only that,but your sisters. So this stuff would
normally be going on, but it'sescalated because of the position you guys are
(36:52):
in as sisters. At the beginningof this sesaw session, I asked you
the three words that best describe you? Guys? What are the three words
that best describe the future of Kruella. Oh my god, that's such a
good question, and now I'm unprepared. Oh wow, John, can you
come up with three words? Whilehe has me, we'll go back and
forth. Okay, when I saythis word, I don't want you to
(37:13):
immediately think of like, oh,cash, money, finances, prosperity,
because there are many ways you canthink about prosperity, joy, being in
the moment, fulfillment, community,bliss, inner peace, prosperity, and
you guys do do a lot ofcharity work, which is right along that
is being able to the word thatcame to mind is kind of funny because
we're talking about wearing all black forso long and now we finally have color
(37:36):
in our lives, but colorful inso many different ways. I think the
music is more colorful. Maybe weare more colorful physically with our clothes.
I'm wearing a black even though youguys are both sitting in black right now.
For a second, I was like, am I wearing a color and
I'm not. That's why I showedup so colorful. Our shows everything about
this project I think is going tosound, feel, taste, just look
(38:00):
more called the colorful. And thena third word, Oh god, we
have to do this together in sync. Y askmine. Okay, you guys
aren't twins, but if you wantto do it on three and say the
word one, two three, evolution, yasmine blanked. I actually had like
five words in my head at thesame time. You already one two three,
(38:21):
yellmout is evolution? Is that theword fulfilling? Yes? I like
fulfilling. I was It was definitelynot one of the ones I'm thinking of,
But man, I hate being puton the spot. I realized that
in interviews, I'm like, Ihave nothing, I've got nothing, And
now you see we are talking aboutthis before starting. Now you see why
I like to give a little bitof an advanced notice. So it's not
(38:45):
a situation like this. There's gotto be a word for this. It's
like, it's like, it's theword that describes the feeling of destiny once
again, destiny unfolding, and everythingwe're doing. How Cruella is of evolving
is exactly in the line of how, yeah, what is cosmic comic?
(39:07):
That's it? That's it. Niceacted way more confident in that word than
I was. I'm like, isthis the right one? But I was
like, oh, it's perfect.So the new song green Lights is out
sounds amazing on Evolution on iHeart Radio, where a few days away from the
release of the new album zero.What can fans expect? Wow, a
(39:29):
huge, huge range of new emotionsand sounds and color palettes that we've never
touched before. It's going to bereally interesting to see how people connect with
it, if they do or not. Let's hope they do. But there's
a couple songs on there that Johnand I have talked about before, but
it's literally like we opened a diaryof ours and just took that and put
(39:49):
it on a song and and justlike, really, really, we're more
vulnerable than we've ever been. Andeven with the creation of the production,
in the lyrics together, the wholething, we were just like, let's
just try this and hope it works. But that's really one of the good
things about Cruella through the years isyou guys have always been very diary esque
(40:12):
with your songs and very emotional.And I think that's why the crew really
love you guys, is because peoplecan get attached to that because they're going
through a lot of that stuff themselves. So what's next for Cruella Besides the
album? I know you guys areabout to go on on tour too.
Yes, we just announced that.We just announcing I brought that up,
Okay, So we just announced ourfirst live headlines tore in three years in
(40:36):
the US right in about three years. We're playing a lot of Europe this
year also, so we'll be announcingthose dates soon. And we're still in
the studio and living life and experiencinglife and working on ourselves every day and
playing and be creative and continuing thispath of balancing through all this chaos.
So so glad that you guys areat a good place, not only with
(40:58):
everything, but with yourselves. Imean, that's so incredible at Cruella on
all socials. I can't thank youguys for not only doing the Seesaw sessions,
but for inviting me into your home. I mean, crap. Thank
you guys so much for being onthe show, Brian, thank you so
much for America's Dance thirty, countingdown the biggest dance songs in the country.
(41:20):
America's Dance thirty
Hey, a d thirty fam,Thank you so much for following and subscribing
to America's Dance thirty the podcast whereveryou get your podcasts. From the bottom
of my heart, I honestly cannotthank you enough for supporting and listening to
America's Dance thirty. Every week It'sBrian Fink. You can count down the
biggest dance songs in the country everyweek on stations around the world. Just
(00:24):
check America's Dance thirty dot com forstations, days and times. So we
were supposed to chat with our goodfriend Afrojack this week on America's Dance thirty.
Unfortunately, it was literally the perfectstorm. I had an impending hurricane
that I had to deal with.Thank god it did not hit my area
(00:44):
direct, but of course my thoughtsand prayers are with those that were affected
by the hurricane. And then whenwe were supposed to chat with Afrojack,
unfortunately he wasn't feeling well. SoI have spoken with Nick. We should
be chatting with that Jack next weekon America's Dance thirty. But I wanted
to get to a new episode ofthe ad thirty podcast, so I dug
(01:07):
deep into the archive back to Januarytwenty twenty, right before the pandemic.
So crazy to think about, butI got the chance to be in La
and chat with my good friends Cruella, who invited me into their home,
which was so amazing of them.You know. I actually was lucky enough
(01:29):
to know Yasmine and Jahan for yearsprevious to this, but it was always
quickly catching up at shows and festivalsor music summits, never really sitting down
and chatting for a long time andgetting to know them. This was for
a previous podcast of mine called theSeesaw Sessions, So if you hear any
(01:51):
mention of the Seesaw Sessions, that'swhat that is. We get to know
everything Cruella and everything Yasmine and Johan. I can't thank Cruella enough for the
time that they spent with me.So without further ado, here is this
week's episode of America's Dance thirty ofthe podcast Dance counting down the biggest dance
(02:25):
songs in the country. This isAmerica's Dance thirty. My guests on this
episode have been together since two thousandand seven musically, and that's what I
was gonna get to sisters, Yasmine, Johan Cruella, welcome, thank you
so much for having us fry andwelcome to Los Angeles. Yeah. My
(02:49):
welcome to Los Angeles is getting intoan accident on I don't know what interstate
was at I ten. Maybe ifyou were close to hear it was the
one o one accident on the oneoh one In my uber the way,
I'm like, is this really happeningright now? And they're like, yeah,
it's la. Before we get tothe crew, life seesaw including a
brand new album that's dropping in afew days. Let's do the three words
(03:14):
I see you guys getting a littlenervous. Yes, mean, what three
words best describe you? And whycan I swear by the way, because
if I have to censor myself,I need to know right now. Okay,
perfect, So Johanna and I alwaysflip this around. We do each
other's words because we can never thinkabout words about ourselves. So would you
(03:35):
like to do mine and novel toyours? That is interesting. I like
the take absolutely. So what arethe best three words to best describe Johan?
I've thought of two already, andI'll think of the third as I
go. Curious, leader, andheadstrong, So before I ask you the
(03:57):
three words to best describe Yasmin?Were those good three words the best describe
you? I'll take it sure,thank you? Were those the three words
you would have used to describe yourself? Curious would definitely be one of them.
Leader, I don't know, it'sweird, that's like a very That's
an intense position to think of myselfas being in. But I would say
ours overlap because curious is one thatI would definitely have for you. Nurturing
(04:23):
and deep. I like that fourthone, creative. Toss that fourth one
back at her creative. Okay,guys, we got to move this along,
and you know this love fest that'sgoing on here your sisters. You
can do this later. But what'scrazy to me is I think it was
in the video love Yazzy that Iwas watching where you actually talk about how
(04:44):
Johan kind of considers you somewhat ofthe leader because you remember everything. Is
that not the case? So definitelynot a leader in the sense of my
memory leading us, because that's morejust John being like, wait, do
we know this person? Have webeen here before? And I'm like,
yes, it was two thy teen, they were here and we mean yeah,
so in that sense, I thinkI lead with the memory, but
(05:04):
I think because she's my older sisterand I grew up with that as like
the leading my way, that's howI think of her. But I'm sure
we both take the lead in differentsituations when our personality shines better in that
situation, or when we have thetools and our tool belt to help us
in that situation better. Obviously that'sperfect for you guys being together almost every
(05:27):
single day of your life. Yeah, I would say what you just said
about us kind of having this checksand balances system of leadership, like like
immediately, what comes to my headwhen I when I think about like health
and like wellness, I think you'veI really really look up to you because
you do extensive research and you havejust asked me as a wonderful like holistic
view on healing self healing, nutrients, diet, workout. So I definitely
(05:53):
see you as a leader in thatway. So I shouldn't tell you that
I had a couple of red bullthe other day because are so bad for
you. I know they're bad foryou, but I don't want this podcast
to go downhill already, so we'renot going to talk about that. Collection.
All right, exactly, thanks mom. Okay, Now I know in
(06:19):
twenty ten you guys decided to prettymuch give up everything to follow the Crewella
dream. Right. Yes. It'sactually really funny though, because you'll find
that once you give up everything,then you don't have money to pay rent,
and so we did have to getside jobs for three months. It
was, I would say, backin twenty eleven when we started to run
(06:41):
out of money because we were like, oh, we really have to pay
rent. We can't just be thrownout of this place that is our studio
and our workspace. So we're goingto get to some past jobs in a
sec. But when you guys werelittle kids and we were kind of talking
about this, did you want toget into music? I think we want
to just make art in general,all kinds of art. And we're always
(07:02):
playing at the time, and Ithink when you're a kid, you're not
really thinking about like, oh mygod, like this is a job.
You're just so you're still in yourimagination and you're playing. So we definitely
experienced, you know, like writingsongs or poetry or rhymes, or messing
around on guitar and drawing and painting, sewing, like all forms of art.
(07:23):
It was a very creative household.But the concept of a job,
I don't know if we really startedtaking that seriously until like maybe around two
thousand and nine, like right beforeour dedication year in two thousand and ten,
and that's when we started thinking like, Okay, the only way you
really can quote unquote make it ormake a career for yourself is by dedicating
(07:43):
yourself full time and really going inon this. What did you want to
be when you grew up? Ohweird. I think I was so in
the moment and like dreaming of amillion different lives I could live. I
wasn't really thinking about that when Iwas Yeah, I was thinking. I
think I was just dreaming. Itwasn't like a I need to make a
career for myself when I was akid and experimenting. I think I've always
(08:05):
been like, I need to liketest the waters, I need to try
these classes at my university and notthink so far. I had an advance
and take every day, but youknow, day by day, and what
about you. I think I'm abit more pragmatic of a person, and
I definitely always wanted to have aplan, and I was like I need
to do well in school and thengo to college and then get a job.
And that was I had the verytraditional mindset until we did what we're
(08:30):
doing now. It was a weirdblend of my left and right brain.
I loved being creative, I lovedthe arts, but then I also had
a fascination with the sciences and mathsand wanted to be an engineer and like
find a way to mix the twoin a way, Like I was looking
into the dual major at Brown andRisdy to take like an art major and
(08:52):
an engineering major between the two schoolsand try and find a way to combine
the two in some way. Butnever really had this solid plan of a
ware that would lead me. Musicwas never it was always a pipe dream,
as always like, you can't makemoney doing this, so this has
to be a hobby. To goback to that question, and it really
does seem like a pipe dream ifyou think about ten years ago. Now
(09:13):
we're in a completely different age.The age of the Internet has bred this
new mindset of like I can livein my bedroom in my own world and
become a pop star basically. Soyeah, it's different now looking back to
maybe June seven, twenty ten.What career path were you, guys on
(09:33):
that you had to give it up? I was just graduating high school,
so the path was wide open forme because I decided not to go to
college or take a year off.I'm air quoting. You guys can't see
me. I'm air quoting because myparents thought I was taking a year off
and it become it became like alifetime off. I'm so glad your mom
(09:54):
wasn't here, so that would havebeen awkward. Yeah, that's a thing
I probably could tell them now andthey'd be okay with it. And then,
what career path were you on rightbefore you gave everything up? I
wouldn't really call it a career.It was more of just a way to
pay a rent. So I wasa server a bottle service lounge. I
made good money there, so ithelped out with rent. But it could
(10:18):
have been a trap because you know, it's like, you make good money
there, but then you age.I've always thought about this. It's like
at thirty five, when there's anexpiration date for a lot of women in
that realm. Unfortunately, like forty, when you show the signs of aging,
you can't really do that anymore.And then I also was a freelance
makeup artist's also in school. Butshe's not listening. That's right. We
(10:39):
don't need to talk about dropping out. But no, I mean you do
sometimes have to do things that areuncomfortable at the time when you want to
pursue your dream. Now, there'sa lot of bs sometimes on Wikipedia,
so I'm treading lightly when I getinto this question. But is it true
(11:00):
that the name cruella was from Johanmisspelling cruel? No? Really did I
ever say that? And I justblanked on saying that that is what is
on Wikipedia. No, you cango edit that. I don't know how
to edit in Wikipedia, And tobe honest, I really don't care what's
on Wikipedia because they like, youcan't control everything that's said about you on
(11:20):
the Internet. It's like, justmeet me face to face and we'll talk
and get to know each other.Then cruel. No, But I think
I liked that word juxtapose with somethingthat felt really like delicate and feminine,
like ella, So we'll make senseof it. Whoever wrote that and said
it was inspired by the word cruel, sherlt you have it? Were there
are other names when you guys weredeciding to go down this route that you
(11:43):
guys were going to be possibly Nothat No, it's really, really,
really weird because sometimes I think aboutthe early days, like the two thousand
and seven to two thousand ten days, and thinking about how arrogantly confident we
were in just whatever we did.Not like every song we made we thought
it would be a hit. Itwas more like, oh, yeah,
(12:05):
we could do this, Okay,we could try this. It wasn't like
maybe we should struggle with this fora bit and then land on it.
No. Sometimes we just decided thingsand they were the way they were going
to be. And I think that'syouth, and I think sometimes we lose
that as we grow older. Justbeing confident because you don't you haven't been
kicked down yet probably that's why.But just being confident and whatever feels right
(12:26):
and whatever comes up in the moment. And so John came up with the
name Kruella. It was never discussed, it was never talked about. It
was just like, this is it, this is great, let's roll with
it forever. And so how manyyears later, thirteen years later, still
still doing it. Good job,an incredible name. So you guys were
telling me that your mom lent youthe money to get your first microphone.
(12:50):
Yes, our mother and then ourformer manager who's like we both love him.
He's a dear friend of ours.I think his mother also chipped in
for a loan. He also themoms came together and supported us, and
like I like so when I thinkabout all the people along the journey who
have helped in like small and bigways, like our mother is a huge
part of that. This wouldn't havehappened if she didn't support us. But
(13:11):
she is also a fellow artist incollege dropout who made a career for herself,
self sustained businesswoman. It's incredible.And you were talking about how there
was a point where the money ranout and you had to get other jobs.
So you signed your first deal.What was it twenty eleven? What
were the four years prior to that? Twenty twelve? I thought I read
(13:35):
that Monster Cat was twenty eleven.Do you want to take a SHARPI tier
tattoo and kind of change that theone on my fingers Columbia and Amilne the
day we signed with both of them, which is now paradigm, but the
day we signed with Monster Cat wasa one off single, so it didn't
get a tattoo. It didn't makeit. Sorry monster Cat. So the
(13:56):
four years prior to that, whatwas it like? When I guess you
guys were just grinding away at it. It was a lot like shouting into
an abyss and hoping that someone wouldhear you, and I'm sure a lot
of artists feel that way. Itwas the feeling of just like, let's
post this on MySpace and see ifwe get place. I mean, that
was a lot of what we did. And obviously all those songs are taken
(14:20):
down now and nobody should ever hearthem. But every time we got like
five hundred plays on the song,we were like, are we up and
coming? Is this what it feelslike? And obviously we were not.
So yeah, it was it waslike shouting into an abyss and hoping that
someone would hear you and connect withyou and like your music. And finally
things started to turn around around twentyeleven. But for a while it was
(14:41):
like is this gonna work? Imean, let's just keep trying and hitting
our heads against a wall. Butit was worrisome towards like the end bit
there no you mentioned that, youknow, when you're young, you kind
of don't have that this isn't gonnawork. You're more just like, we're
gonna keep doing this. Everything isgonna work. We're gonna be superstars.
(15:01):
Was there a point, though,after let's say three years of grinding,
that you're like, all right,maybe we should just give this up.
No, I don't know. Idon't think we ever came to that moment.
And I think a huge part ofit is that we had each other.
If I was a solo artist orfor you were a solo artist,
might be very, very different andwe probably would have been discouraged. But
I think because we had each other, we're slightly delusional, also in a
(15:24):
good way. It's like I thinksometimes delusion can lead to hope, where
you like, I mean, wemanifested it, Like I think about it
all the time. We were talkingabout like, oh my god, living
in LA. You know, wewere always like talking to artists online who
were in LA and just dreaming abouthaving the support of a label, which
at the time meant you know,that meant success. Now, there's so
many other ways to be quote unquotesuccessful as an artist, but we manifested
(15:46):
it, and it was like aweird feeling like we didn't know it was
going to work up. When Ilook back, I'm like, I weirdly
felt something within me, something likereally quietly and mysteriously within me, being
like it's you're the destinies folding.Life is unfolding right now. And knowing
that, I always remind myself,I'm like, we manifested this. So
everything I'm dreaming now, everything you'redreaming now, everything we're dreaming together.
(16:08):
If we stay in line with theuniverse and do whatever we can in our
power to stay in line with thatpath, everything we're thinking now is going
to come to us. It's goingto happen. Plus, you had the
five hundred listens, so that thatgets you going. I don't care.
(16:32):
Looking back at twenty twelve, justbefore you release the play hard EP before
a Live is not only on dancestations all over the world, but it
was on top forty stations across thecountry. I mean, we were playing
it on ninety three three FLZ andTampa. Did you think Cruella would lead
you to where it has today?It's so interesting because where we are today
(16:55):
is a version of where we werein twenty twelve and thirteen, and honestly,
no, I think that looking atour career and how much we just
said yes to everything, and howmuch we overworked ourselves, and that's like
to each other and ourselves. Weoverworked each other. We worked, overworked
(17:18):
ourselves, and now we're at thisplace where we have so much balance and
we have learned the power of sayingno. So I think I'm probably taking
this on a left turn, butI think now where we are, I
would have never imagined we would havethe courage to be in the mindset and
place we are right now with ourcareer to still feel like we can have
(17:38):
a sustainable career but say no toso much stuff and be home a lot
and have a healthy lifestyle. Stilltours, still make a bunch of music,
but not just be like rinsing ourselves. I think, at the end
of the day, is what wewere doing. And I think for the
longest time, saying no to things, or not being on every festival lineup,
or not having New Year's show,all these things scared us. They
(18:00):
were like, does that mean thatwe're not successful? Does that mean that
we were irrelevant? And now we'rejust like everything is fine. We are
still so good and we're still soin the faces of our fans because we
have that deep connection with them andwhy why were ourselves and to the point
where we're rinsing ourselves. It's honestlyincredibly you say that because that was actually
(18:22):
something Armand talked about, where,you know, early on when he was
the number one DJ, he wouldjust say yes to everything and do every
single show and run himself into theground. And he said he finally reached
a point with the help of hiswife, who would say no to a
lot of stuff, where like heturned down a huge show in India that
(18:42):
would have been great for him,but to be able to spend time with
his family to do it. Yeah, so he definitely reached that point.
I don't remember what year I metyou, guys. I want to say
it was around twenty twelve, twentythirteen. Columbia Records had brought you into
play a pool party that I don'teven know if you get I don't think
(19:03):
one of you wasn't old enough toeven be there. I think, but
even then, that first night meetingyou guys, you guys were so nice
to everybody, and you still are. You're nice to not only us,
in the industry, But your fansare so incredible with through this entire ride.
How have you managed to stay sohumble? Why is that funny?
(19:29):
Thank you? Because it's like,why not be nice to people? Why
not? But then again, everyonehas their bad days. I'm sure there
are plenty of times where a fanhas been like, oh, she was
super cold, and maybe it's becauseI was just like sleepless or just needed
space for myself or something. Ithink family really grounds us, and we
ground each other too. And yeah, it's like we grew up in a
household where it's always like the simplestthings, where it's like you have a
(19:52):
guest coming over, off for thema drink or water, and like respect
your elders, and I think thatjust trickled into the way we treat people.
We've also been in where we've beenworking as the server. You were
bagging groceries at Trader Joe's. We'vebeen in that received way. Wait wait,
wait are you asked me big fansof Trader Joe's, how did that
not come off? Yes, let'spass the mikes. You asked me,
(20:15):
what did you learn from being abaggy Trader Joe's? Okay, First off,
love Trader Joe's. Shout out TraderJoe's, You're amazing. Stop using
so much plastic. But I loveand receipts and receipts, yeah all that
stuff. Please fix that and thenI'll go all the time. But yeah,
that was when I was nineteen.I worked there for sorry eighteen,
I worked there for a year.The things I learned there actually still sit
(20:37):
with me, Like you sometimes shouldbe able to put away your shitty energy
or baggage and just smile at someoneand then if they smile back, maybe
some of your ship will be relievedand you'll feel better. And that's like
how you feel when you go intoTrader Joe's and there's people smiling at you
and like waving and saying hello.That's real, Like that's the company.
(21:00):
They've created that and so I lovethat company. Trader Shows. If you're
listening, make sure to reach outto Gorilla. Yes. Also, another
thing we always talk about this wreIt's like a lot of it is ego,
and I think it's people being likekeeping your ego in check. It's
like we are no different or morevaluable than someone who's in school or a
(21:21):
kid is in school, or aparent who works at a bank or something.
You know, it's like a fanwho we meet who works at like
Forever twenty one is Forever twenty onestone business, I don't know. Yeah,
but it's like there's no to us, there's no like hierarchy of like
whatever sort of status social status youhave, it to me, everyone has
some value. I've met like awesomehomeless people. I met a great homeless
guy outside Trader Joe's once. Iwas talking to him for an hour and
(21:44):
it was like he was He affectedme and influenced me in a way that
was so powerful, And to me, that's like value. So it's it's
seeing everyone in that way and notreally like I think a lot of artists
sometimes feel like they have it wouldbe a chip on their shoulder. I
don't know what the term is,but yeah, you talk about smiling even
when you're bagging groceries, you know. I kind of tell that to a
(22:04):
lot of people when I talk aboutradio, because I talk about when you
get in that booth, when you'redoing your job and you go on the
radio, you need to put allof your problems aside. You need to
smile. And I need to makethe listeners forget about their problems, because
there's been times. I remember thisone time right before Saturday Night where I
(22:26):
had this massive blowout with my girlfriend. At the time, we're sitting there
screaming and crying on the phone,But the second I step on the air,
all that has to go aside becauseeverybody listening has their own issues.
They don't want to hear my issues. So I completely get that smiling in
Trader Joe's It's also not about suppressingwhat's going on with you. It's more
(22:48):
about like knowing that there's a timeand place and with our fans, it's
like the ego thing is huge.I really I think when John laughed at
when you asked, how did youguys? You guys stay humble? It
is funny to us because it's likeit's just how we think we should be,
and we just want people to feelthat when they've met us, they've
(23:10):
had a good experience. That's allI want to give people is a good
experience they walk away from being likethat was a great time, and that's
my job. My job is tobring happiness to people. It's kind of
how do you not stay humble?That's why you were laughing at it.
Yeah, I think there's a wayto have confidence and like really own your
power, but not be walking aroundlike I'm the I'm too good to talk
(23:33):
to certain people in society, youknow. I also want to say,
you were just in a car accidentand you walked in here with a big
smile on your face, with likebeautiful energy and rolled in with your like
rainbow suitcase, and like I wouldbe thrown I mean, traffic in itself,
let alone just a car accident.Traffic in itself in a Los Angeles
will rile me up sometimes. Sothe fact that you can really just like
(23:56):
move with the flow of the dayin that way is beautiful. I respect
that. Again, back to howyou shouldn't suppress stuff. I think it's
the fact that I know what I'mabout to walk into. I know I've
got a quote unquote job to doand sit here and talking with you guys.
But it's also very calming to bewith two people that I know,
(24:18):
and I can forget about the accidentthat I was just in. I don't
know why you have to call outmy luggage though, I mean, yes,
it's colorful. So everybody laughs atmy bag. My bag. Just
to explain, I could put apicture on my Instagram I and Brian Fink,
but it's like eight million different colors. And the reason is is because
who's going to mistake that for theirsat the airport? I mean, it
(24:40):
is the ugliest bag, but who'sgonna grab that reminds me of Jimberre did
you? But I love it.I love it, and then she goes,
wow, your socks match the bagtoo. As girls that like,
we're limited to only wearing all blackfor like a good three four years,
like we're all about color now,I feel like we were suppressed. I
(25:02):
mean, actually it probably like whateverwere however we were dressing was manifesting,
you know, it was a manifestationof how we fell in our inner world.
But now we love these beautiful likejungle prints and colors and like mandala.
So I think it's like showing thatthere's like a flourishing energy within you
if you're drawn to those calls thankyou. And I did see that on
I don't remember whose Instagram post,but there was a point where it switched
(25:26):
from the all blacks too wearing colorsand I saw that it was kind of
empowering to be able to let goof that. So one thing that comes
with signing a record deal and yoursongs being all over the radio was also
a lot of fans saying that yousold out. And Arman has dealt with
that, and Tiesto has dealt withthat. I think Nirvana even dealt with
(25:48):
that when they made the switch andtheir stuff was on the radio. How
do you deal with kind of thatundeserving backlash? It's crazy thinking about this
because I'm sure you remember this,but the play Hard EP was done and
then Columbia found us and signed usbased off of that, and so we
were so hell bent on nobody thinkingthat this EP was influenced by being on
(26:15):
a major label. So we inour deal with them, wrote it up
in the contract that it had tobe whitelisted. You couldn't look up the
play Hard EP and see it associatedwith Columbia Records. And we were like,
there's no way people can know thisis a major label EP. And
looking back, I'm like, weshould have been so proud, like that
is so cool, but we didnot want the association. And I remember
(26:38):
one time there was like a slipup in an article and we called our
managers freaking out on the airport.I was like six am. We were
like, nobody can know. Whydoes it say Columbia in this article?
People can't know? And now I'mthinking about it, I think people have
changed. I don't think people lookat it the same way as they used
to. Dance music. Is thisblossoming thing in twenty twelve that if any
(27:03):
from anybody from the outside world touchedit, it would have been tainted.
And we understood that, and wedidn't want to take this thing and break
it. Basically, we wanted totreat it with care. And I think
that mindset comes from just understanding thatit's an underground scene and a part of
that needs to be protected. Andso that's where we were coming from.
(27:26):
And we understand the backlash at thattime. It's like someone taking something so
important to you and then just beinglike here, everyone can have it,
and you're like, no, it'smine, it's mine, it's for me.
So I get that. I mean, I get it, and I
was living dance music at that timetoo, and I completely get the mindset
of it. But something that peoplekind of lose out on is if you
(27:47):
are going to be a successful artistand take yourself to that next level.
You need a record deal, youneed people. They're going to help you.
Yeah, you can still be undergroundand doesn't taint the music. It's
just helping you get to that nextlevel. That's all we need to say
about that. Okay, So everythingis going incredibly for you guys until the
(28:19):
fateful time in twenty fourteen with avery public and very ugly lawsuit by Chris
and for the first time in thehistory of Kruella, you're kind of dealing
with not only losing a member,but losing a friend because a lawsuit will
tear you apart like that, andit kind of puts fans in a hard
(28:41):
position because they don't know what's goingon. Really, they don't know where
to go. How did you guysdeal with that at that moment? Oh?
I didn't deal with it. Imean immediately literally upon the onset,
like that first notification, when Iwoke up to dozens and dozens of notifications,
I actually realized, like, holy, this is a panic attack.
Is in my whole life. I'dbeen like that girl in the soccer field
(29:03):
gots a panic attack in gym class, and so I think it definitely like
opened up a space of compassion forlike people who have I mean, I
always was an anxious person, butI never thought I never thought I would
call it anxiety, or I neverthought I would call myself anxiety written I
think it, how do we?I mean, I was like micromanaging everything
else every day. I was justlike, oh my god, we're getting
emails about press from this article,in this article, in these tweets.
(29:27):
So I think I was very muchso focused on outer perception of Kruella,
and I think we created for awhile from a place of fear, like
how do we save this empire,this mini empire that we built that's crumbling
now? But I'm actually, honestlynow, I'm just I'm grateful, as
weird as that sounds, for theexperience, because I don't think we'd be
(29:48):
where we are today, and I'mgrateful that we have both both parties have
forgiven each other and we've moved pastit. I think that in itself is
like the greatest lesson out of allof this, is that like, whether
you're like divorced parents, or youknow, like X's who have rekindled a
friendship five years later, or likea kid that you bullied in high school
(30:08):
and you like reconnect ten years later. I think. I think relinquishing or
like relieving yourself of that grudge isso freeing. And at the end of
the day you asked me, you'realways saying, take care of your well
being, take care of your health, your mental state. And if forgiving
and letting go is what's going toput you on that path of having more
inner peace and calm than that's Imean, I'm grateful for that. And
(30:30):
so I think right now I'm ina place of gratitude because I'm very happy
where I am right now, inthis very moment, and I wouldn't have
been here if it wasn't for that. It's crazy. I deal with anxiety
too, and a lot of timesit comes up about the fact that it's
hard to explain anxiety to somebody thathas never experienced it. And the first
time I ever experienced a panic attack, I literally thought it was a heart
(30:52):
attack and I went to the hospitaland they're like, none of the tests
show anything. I'm like, thereis something wrong with me. And really
I had to drive down to Miamito do Miami Music Week like two days
after that, and I remember beingin the car on the way to Miami
and my friend is in the frontseat going like this, and I turned
(31:14):
the click in the pen and Iturned to him and I'm like, dude,
I love you to death, butyou have to stop that. I
could feel my anxiety just building.It was the craziest thing. So I
totally get that. And it ishard to explain to somebody you're saying,
you know before experiencing it and afterexperiencing it now. I said it was
the first time. But yasmine,you made mention of almost getting kicked out
(31:38):
early of Kruella. You didn't knowthat. Yes, me, what was
that all about? Why don't youexplain it to Johan? End me?
Johan doesn't know that. I wasstill in high school and in our formative
years, and I think I wasso focused on like school and just like
being my own person. Whatever you'redoing at ages sixteen through eighteen, whatever
(31:59):
the heck kids think. I thinkit was one of those things where John
and Chris were like, we aregoing all in with this, Are you
with us or not? And therewere times when I was like prioritizing a
test I had or this or thator whatever. It was, and it
was one of those moments where itwas like you need to be all in
or you need to not be here, and so it was like two thousand
(32:20):
and nine, you know, andit was one of those moments where I
was like this is important to me. I want to be doing this.
It feels fun and it feels fulfilling. Like when do those two things meet
up in a potential career? Sothat is that's that story. Well,
you have both been very transparent aboutdealing with anxiety, dealing with depression,
(32:44):
dealing with losing yourself and having tofind yourself again. Was there a moment
of clarity for each of you whereyou said this needs to stop. I
need to pull myself together. Ithink we still got that all the time.
That ever stops, that never everstops. Yeah, I think going
(33:05):
back to the anxiety think thing itcame from a place of fear, and
that fear is that the thing thatyou're attached to is falling apart. And
it's because we're I think we're bothliving in this reality where it's like I
am Cruella and that is my lifeand I don't exist outside of it,
and my happiness comes from there.My view of success comes from there,
So like I think maybe we bothat the time, at least for me,
(33:29):
I'm like, I don't know whoJohan is when it's you know,
when I'm not thinking associating myself withthe identity of Jehan from Cruella. So
I think it definitely put us onthis journey of like going inward and being
like what makes me happy in lifethat's not just thinking about like continuing to
get this wheel of Cruella going.And that's why we took off time from
(33:49):
touring. It's because you have toslow down. That's why stillness is really
important in this like industry that thriveson just like productivity and saying yes to
every show offer and every opportunity.Yeah, I was going to talk about
that, but I know you guyshave a heart out. But one of
the things is I don't think peoplerealize because everybody thinks it's incredible what you
guys do and you guys get toparty and do shows and travel, But
(34:13):
the truth of it is is thatpartying, that traveling, that doing shows
where you're flying in then flying outand who knows where you're at, that
takes a toll mentally and physically,Yeah, we are realizing looking back how
crazy our schedules were. And Iknow that everybody in this industry can relate
(34:34):
to us when I say this kindof stuff. And I'm super thankful that
we made the collective decision because ifone of us was like, no,
I feel like I still need tokeep saying yes to things, and the
other one was like, I needto slow down, it wouldn't have worked.
I mean, we both have tobe on the same page for that
kind of stuff. So I'm reallythankful we both feel that way. And
I think shout out to anyone whois in a duo or a group and
(34:58):
you can actually make space for yourother partner or group members and needs.
If you're a solo artist, youneed to do that for yourself. Nobody's
going to do that for you.Nobody's going to tap you on the shoulder
and be like, hey, youneed to slow down. So you need
to do it for yourself, whichis really hard to do because all the
weight falls on you. You can'tshare that with anyone. But actually,
if you don't have the right teamaround you, that's also not stepping in.
(35:22):
Was there like maybe just a momentwith the incredible success of Kruella.
That was one of the hardest momentsto get through that maybe we as fans
didn't see besides the obvious, whichyou know was the lawsuit and that whole
I mean, that whole period lastedlike over half a year of the back
(35:43):
and forth. I think some ofthe hardest moments have been, like this
internal stuff that fans don't know about, is like those moments when you asked
me and are like driving home fromthe studio and we're just talking about like,
well you said this, you mademe feel like this, and we're
going back and forth and it's alljust like our different versions of reality,
are different stories of what happened andhow we are receiving each other's energy just
not lining up. And those havehonestly been the hardest moments because you're like
(36:07):
looking in the eyes of someone youlove dearly and it's like you're going to
be with me through life and deathand eternity, and here I am,
you know, treating you in away that like, oh my god,
I would never want the best versionof me to be watching that, you
know, my behavior, And forme it's hard because of the shame dealing
with that, We're like, Idon't like knowing or reacted like that.
I don't know like knowing that likeI thought about yasmine in that way,
(36:30):
in that negative way. So forme, I like I carry a lot
of shame and guilt in those situationsand that continue sometimes to perpetuate a negative
energy. It escalates because you guysare together, your careers depend on each
other, and not only that,but your sisters. So this stuff would
normally be going on, but it'sescalated because of the position you guys are
(36:52):
in as sisters. At the beginningof this sesaw session, I asked you
the three words that best describe you? Guys? What are the three words
that best describe the future of Kruella. Oh my god, that's such a
good question, and now I'm unprepared. Oh wow, John, can you
come up with three words? Whilehe has me, we'll go back and
forth. Okay, when I saythis word, I don't want you to
(37:13):
immediately think of like, oh,cash, money, finances, prosperity,
because there are many ways you canthink about prosperity, joy, being in
the moment, fulfillment, community,bliss, inner peace, prosperity, and
you guys do do a lot ofcharity work, which is right along that
is being able to the word thatcame to mind is kind of funny because
we're talking about wearing all black forso long and now we finally have color
(37:36):
in our lives, but colorful inso many different ways. I think the
music is more colorful. Maybe weare more colorful physically with our clothes.
I'm wearing a black even though youguys are both sitting in black right now.
For a second, I was like, am I wearing a color and
I'm not. That's why I showedup so colorful. Our shows everything about
this project I think is going tosound, feel, taste, just look
(38:00):
more called the colorful. And thena third word, Oh god, we
have to do this together in sync. Y askmine. Okay, you guys
aren't twins, but if you wantto do it on three and say the
word one, two three, evolution, yasmine blanked. I actually had like
five words in my head at thesame time. You already one two three,
(38:21):
yellmout is evolution? Is that theword fulfilling? Yes? I like
fulfilling. I was It was definitelynot one of the ones I'm thinking of,
But man, I hate being puton the spot. I realized that
in interviews, I'm like, Ihave nothing, I've got nothing, And
now you see we are talking aboutthis before starting. Now you see why
I like to give a little bitof an advanced notice. So it's not
(38:45):
a situation like this. There's gotto be a word for this. It's
like, it's like, it's theword that describes the feeling of destiny once
again, destiny unfolding, and everythingwe're doing. How Cruella is of evolving
is exactly in the line of how, yeah, what is cosmic comic?
(39:07):
That's it? That's it. Niceacted way more confident in that word than
I was. I'm like, isthis the right one? But I was
like, oh, it's perfect.So the new song green Lights is out
sounds amazing on Evolution on iHeart Radio, where a few days away from the
release of the new album zero.What can fans expect? Wow, a
(39:29):
huge, huge range of new emotionsand sounds and color palettes that we've never
touched before. It's going to bereally interesting to see how people connect with
it, if they do or not. Let's hope they do. But there's
a couple songs on there that Johnand I have talked about before, but
it's literally like we opened a diaryof ours and just took that and put
(39:49):
it on a song and and justlike, really, really, we're more
vulnerable than we've ever been. Andeven with the creation of the production,
in the lyrics together, the wholething, we were just like, let's
just try this and hope it works. But that's really one of the good
things about Cruella through the years isyou guys have always been very diary esque
(40:12):
with your songs and very emotional.And I think that's why the crew really
love you guys, is because peoplecan get attached to that because they're going
through a lot of that stuff themselves. So what's next for Cruella Besides the
album? I know you guys areabout to go on on tour too.
Yes, we just announced that.We just announcing I brought that up,
Okay, So we just announced ourfirst live headlines tore in three years in
(40:36):
the US right in about three years. We're playing a lot of Europe this
year also, so we'll be announcingthose dates soon. And we're still in
the studio and living life and experiencinglife and working on ourselves every day and
playing and be creative and continuing thispath of balancing through all this chaos.
So so glad that you guys areat a good place, not only with
(40:58):
everything, but with yourselves. Imean, that's so incredible at Cruella on
all socials. I can't thank youguys for not only doing the Seesaw sessions,
but for inviting me into your home. I mean, crap. Thank
you guys so much for being onthe show, Brian, thank you so
much for America's Dance thirty, countingdown the biggest dance songs in the country.
(41:20):
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