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Jun 29, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Casey Pflipsen

Minneapolis indie trio Yam Haus began gaining traction in the pre-pandemic years, debuting in 2019 with their first full-length record, Stargazer. In the years since, they’ve begun drawing a larger following online and have been teasing their upcoming project with a series of singles this year. They have already shared their cathartic new tracks “Rafters” and “Sandcastle,” and today they’re back with another new song, “Stupid and Famous,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Stupid and Famous” leans hard into anthemic alt rock riffs, trading off between subdued pop percussion and bursts of stadium-ready guitars. It’s big, loud, and full of hooks, offering a crystallized blend of distorted rock guitars blended with a welcome melodic sheen. Simultaneously, the track’s lyrics also show off a playful side to the band as they toy with the trappings of modern fame, most especially social media.

The band says of the track, “‘Stupid and Famous’ is a song that was inspired by our time trying to figure out how to use TikTok as a band. The internet can be such a scary place, and it felt really dishonest to try and be social media influencers. We were very disenchanted with a lot of what we felt musicians are told they have to do to promote their music on there.

This song sprang up as a sarcastic attempt at confronting the situation head on. Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure I started writing the song on a TikTok livestream. Over time, I would say we’ve altered how we relate as a band on social media. It’s hard to be vulnerable and have people critique you on a regular basis. It’s even hard to have people you don’t know lavish attention on you and think you’re amazing. It can all feel very weird.

On TikTok, we definitely pivoted from our early strategies on YouTube or Instagram where we were all about sharing our personal lives and being positive. In recent years, especially on TikTok, we’ve taken a much more insincere approach to the whole spectacle, which actually felt like one of the most honest things we could do outside of just not using it. It felt very necessary.

We definitely feel stupid at times – and we’re obviously not famous – but trying to be popular on social media can really drain you mentally. However you use it, if you’re trying to promote yourself you will inevitably bump into that feeling. Overall, we’re just trying to figure out how to make music for a living, be honest with ourselves and our fans, and be healthy individuals all at the same time. This song stemmed from these types of struggles.”

Check out the song and video below. “Stupid and Famous” is out everywhere tomorrow, June 30th.