Professional Weirdo: Yves Tumor

With his newly announced album and tour, artist and professional weirdo Yves Tumor continues to take the world by storm with his groundbreaking music and absurd music videos. Yves Tumor is an American artist from Miami, Florida, whose genre of music and art is truly indescribable. On the surface level, their music seems to be very hip hop based, but after further listening, Yves’ music constantly changes forms from hip hop to psych rock to straight-up experimental. Their most recent full-length album, released in 2020, Heaven To A Tortured Mind, was an abstract masterpiece that focused on themes of religion, sex, and death. Yves recently concluded a tour with industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, a band that obviously serves as an inspiration for the artist through their music and accompanying videos. Although Yves’ music is amazing, their music videos are where they really shine as an artist. From performing as a devilish sex demon surrounded by scantily clad women in pig makeup to being stabbed through the heart with a railroad spike by a group of dwarves, Yves’ music videos serve as some of the strangest music videos in recent times. On the surface level, Yves’s videos may appear as strange, disturbing and borderline satanic, meaningless montages, but they serve as the purest form of self-expression for the artist, with their videos often focusing on their sexuality and identity. 

One very interesting aspect of Tumor’s music and videos is the aesthetic that is established, whether it be creepy and eerie, like their recent God is a Circle video or a devastating love story, as depicted in the Kerosene video. Yves was questioned about this in a recent interview with Courtney Love in Interview Magazine. Tumor states, “Well, it’s not about the song. If I say I want it to sound like “The Scientist” or “Yellow” by Coldplay, I wouldn’t really be talking about the music. It’s about how that song makes people feel. Whatever they were doing in the studio that made that song so special, I want that same essence.” This is something that is really what makes Tumor an outstanding artist. They have the ability to establish a certain vibe and aesthetic that consumes you the moment you start listening to their music or watching videos, which most artists struggle to achieve. 

With their new album, Praise a Lord Who Simply Chews but Which Does Not Consume, coming out on March 17th, Tumor is looking to further expand their impact on the alternative music scene and continue to inspire a generation of new musicians.