boylife – “nada”
Is it too early to declare these next few months boylife summer?
Ryan Yoo, the musician behind the boylife project, has been in the LA scene for a while. There was the dreamy R&B-pop dripping project Common Souls, which we fell in love with a few years back. Then there was mmmonika, the upbeat indie-pop cohort that soundtracked my personal summer of 2019 and disappeared just as quickly as it arrived. And then there was boylife. Yoo’s solo project fused the best elements of those two groups into a project that felt like the arrival of something more personal, more finely tuned. gelato, the project’s sole album, came out in 2021 and found its own legion of fans before suddenly going quiet. But after four years, it seems like he’s back!
“nada” is boylife’s big comeback single, and boy, does he make up for lost time. Striking, bold, and (admittedly) surprisingly sexy, the alt-pop enigma “nada” arrives all guns blazing with an intro built off of dramatic guitar chords, an aggressive bubbling beat, and an underlying atmospheric anxiety. There’s some longing in the lyrics that are compounded by the vocal layering here, and Yoo’s falsetto singing style contrasts the darkness well. He also gets an assist from Porches, who contributes some backing vocals and a verse in the second half that winds down the drama against the powerful vibrant first. What can I say? It’s good stuff.
Pennacky, a Japanese music video director who was once known for his filmic nostalgic pastel music videos, also completely switches gears here, choosing instead to trade that retro equipment in for stark black-and-white noir. Those strobing lights are seriously putting in some work! The video for “nada” is gorgeously shot, and it’s all skin, sweat, and sex appeal. Watch it below.
It seems like we won’t have to wait long for some new boylife… he’s already started teasing another new song, “1time” that will be out on July 8. Fingers crossed this means that there’s an album on the way…
Artist pages: Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Li-Wei Chu is the chief editor of From the Intercom. When he’s not editing drafts and searching for new artists to cover for the website, he loves watching cult films, cooking, and listening to his ever-growing collection of vinyl records. You can follow him on LetterBoxd and make fun of his taste in movies here!