Grammy Nominated Singer/Songwriter YawnyBlew

James has a fun conversation with the East Coast based performer. YawnyBlew is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based songwriter Johny Gonzalez. Debuting in 2020, YawnyBlew was initially a vehicle to showcase music during the global pandemic, but eventually evolved into a vehicle for self discovery, artist expression and industry reform for the Grammy and NME nominated creative. Beginning his professional songwriting career in 2017, Yawny scored his first placement “Light It All Up” for the television series Empire. Produced by Rodney Jerkins, the protest anthem was featured in season 3 and sung by Rumer Willis. He would go on to pen three additional songs that season for Jussie Smollett, a major win for Yawny, a queer boy from The Bronx, NY who dreamed of uplifting others like himself with his music. In the years since, Yawny has been working hard behind the scenes writing for the likes of Keiynan Lonsdale, Dyllon Burnside, Maeta, Cocoa Sarai and Cam Anthony. He would be one of the key creatives behind Thai Pop singer Pyra, who's music has been called “dystopian pop” and features themes of feminism, self discovery, queer exploration and more. Their work together scored several NME Award nominations in 2022. Later that same year he would mentor under Pharrell Williams while crafting songs for TikTok star Marley Bleu. As YawnyBlew, he unapologetically champions body positivity and queerness on songs like “Can’t Compete,” and “Curious?” made in collaboration with Brooklyn based multi-hyphenate Tarik “amir.” Carroll. Their collaborative debut DREAMBIIG was released in Oct 2023. Elsewhere on solo songs like “driveslow,” Yawny talks about figuring out life on your own terms while not being afraid to live authentically. Following the launch of his podcast BIIGGER THAN OUR DREAMS in 2022, Yawny has been stepping out more into the public speaking realm, discussing issues that directly affect marginalized creatives and how they show up in the world. His abilities to tell other’s stories through his journalist works (The Source Magazine, The Music Times) and podcast endeavors caught the attention of tech giant META, where Yawny serves as a Music Coordinator and communication strategist for Meta’s Music. yawnyblew.com