INTERVIEW: Le Youth Ascends To New Heights With 'Clap Your Hands'

With just a few weeks left of the summer season, Le Youth returns with his shimmery new single, "Clap Your Hands," which features newcomer Ava Max and hears the pair unleash a sweet ode to living in the moment of music. It's the latest serving from the LA-based producer via Warner Music Group, which sees the dance maestro backed once again by a major label and elevating the next phase of his art.

Over the weekend, Le Youth took to the 2017 Billboard Hot 100 Festival at Jones Beach for a pulsating set, which included the new single as well as old school classics from Michael Jackson and R. Kelly. After his performance, iHeartRadio caught up with the producer, who filled us in on the festival action sidelines about his newest offering, being supported by a major label and his admiration for fellow festival performer T-Pain. Take a look below at our Q&A with Le Youth!

iHeartRadio: When you come to New York, are there must go-to spots to visit? 

Le Youth: Nah, I usually to go to my friends place in Hell's Kitchen and that's usually where I stay. It's nice having friends in the area. You save money on hotels.

My best friend lives in Hell's Kitchen, so she has all those restaurant everything up and down those avenues.

We go to this pizza place called Connie Pie. It's really good pizza!

We watched your set and you did great. I had never been to Billboard Hot 100 Fest, and I didn't know the demo skews a little younger.

It's way younger, yeah. It took me a second. I kinda looked out at the crowd and I was like, "Oh shoot, these are all really young people."

I thought it was cool that you incorporated your own songs, but you threw in the oldies, the classics, the stuff that we grew up on [like] R. Kelly and Michael Jackson. 

Those, I think those are the mistakes. 

We have to educate them!

Yeah, no, I get it, totally, but I didn't feel like it was working.

Moving onto your current single, "Clap Your Hands." Talk to me a little bit about how that one came about.

It was with me and this singer/artist, named Ava Max, who rules. We just sent it back and forth, and it was just standard stuff. Every once in a while you start to get the idea that something you're working on is gonna be really good. ["Clap Your Hands"] was one of the ones. We were, like, "Oh, we're onto something here." At that point, the song just kind of writes itself.

Now, last year, iHeartRadio premiered "Me Without You," and that was off of HOMEWERK. I just wanted to know a little bit about that venture. I hear that you're supported differently now.

Yeah, so I signed with another record label, so I had to kind of put HOMEWERK on hold in the sense that I can't release myself, but I can finally start releasing other artists, which was always kind of the goal. Now, I know it sounds strange, but it's actually focused HOMEWERK into a certain direction, so I'm actually glad. For the next year, there won't be any Le Youth released through HOMEWERK, but there will be some other stuff coming out.

Is there something in particular that you've learned with starting your own label?

Yeah, I mean, I couldn't do any of it without my team. They make it all possible for me. I only have so much time to do stuff, so I'm lucky to have a great team to allow me to do those kinds of things.

"Clap Your Hands" doesn't feature a sample like some of your notable tracks. Do you want to move into that direction, where you're just doing original material that's not necessarily extracting from these gems?

Yeah, I mean, I've always kind of done that. In fact, I've been a songwriter my whole life. I got successful with a couple of things that I had sampled, and that kind of screws with your head and makes you feel like, "Oh, this is what I should be doing," or, "I should be doing this every release," and that's not sustainable. That doesn't satisfy me as an artist. I wanna do more than just that.

Then there's also clearance and all the bulls**t that most people don't actually know about.

That's a pain as well. It's nice to be able to work and, obviously, working with other artists. Not having to clear the samples is more fun.

Aside from Ava Max, do you have other collaborations in the works?

I do. I can't say any names. This new record label [is] this new phase of Le Youth. It has been a lot of fun and really exciting for me. There's some cool stuff in the works.

I feel like a lot of artists, they do the major thing and then realize, "Hey, I'm not getting enough money" or whatever, and they'll go to the independent thing. I remember Ashanti saying something about how she made more money as an independent artist than she ever did when she was with Murder Inc. and Ja Rule.

For me, it's not so much about money, but with the bigger label, there's a bigger budget, and they can get more music out to more people in a bigger way. For me, it's the exposure. If I could do this without requiring any money, I would. I don't do it for the money and I know that's not what you meant. For me, it's just getting more people to listen to my music, and if that means I make less money, then that's cool. I'm fine with that.

I think a lot of people are short sighted in that sense, where they're always just thinking about money, money, money, and that's not what it is. To create a sustainable career, in any form of art, it needs to be about the art and the exposure of that art.

Aside from releasing music, are you gonna round up another tour before the end of the year?

Yeah, I don't know if it'll be like a branded tour and have a name like the "Homewerk Tour." I'm always on the road, so every once in a while, someone decides to put a start and an end, and try to give it a name, and that's kind of how the "Homewerk Tour" came about, but I'm always on tour.

Lastly, I know T-Pain is coming on and he's a must-see for you and someone you've wanted to collaborate with for a bit. What's your favorite T-Pain song? What do you hope he sings?

That T-Pain, Akon track. ["Bartender"] I've always been a fan of the vocoder. In fact, in the last band that I was in, I used it a lot when I was singing. I've just always had an attraction to it. It's always been cool to me. He kind of was the one who made it sort of mainstream. I don't know. I always have a spot in my heart for that stuff.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Photo: Rachel Kaplan for iHeartRadio


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