AY AY releases empowering video for “what you need” ft. QNTN

“People tend to let their external world determine who they are and how they have to think. That’s bullshit, you’ll end up not knowing yourself. To some people my music and my ambitions may seem too big, but actually it represents so clearly who I am and the energy I feel when thinking about how I broke out from the narrow-minded reality I was born in.”

Introducing Berlin based producer/writer AY AY and his debut single ‘what you need’. The track was written with his London based mate and the track’s featured vocalist QNTN aka DWY.

‘what you need’ is co-produced by James Rushent, best known for his work with The Prodigy, Biffy Clyro and Dillon Francis and is a striking combination of dark, energetic and chilled.

After being asked about the video AY AY explains: “I wanted to visualize the motivational energy of the song. Team sport activities trigger people’s authentic strengths, physically and mentally: you have to believe in what you have and who you are, that’s what you need, fight to own yourself. ” The music video which also features a powerful coach speech was directed by Folkert Verdoorn and produced by Berlin based LeBerg in cooperation with L.A. based HPLA.

AY AY grew up in Bayern, Germany, in a very conservative, wealthy neighborhood where he struggled to fit in. As a young teenager he fought with addiction and started slowly abusing himself before he was diagnosed with depersonalization disorder. He believes that it wasn’t only drugs causing this issue, but also his heavy non-stop internet consumption.

When AY AY turned 15, bored of being stoned, he felt the urge to do something meaningful, already writing raps he then immersed himself in production and started creating his own world, his way out of the reality he was born into. Since then AY AY has been writing songs which have helped him move past his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, and to get back his life.

AY AY wants to give his listeners the strength and inspiration needed to see what they also need to move ahead in life, with the hope that ‘what you need’ will help them find that energy that worked for him, “you shouldn’t try to adapt to other people’s expectations, you have everything it takes in you, just embrace, train and own it, that’s what you need”.

After finishing ‘what you need’ AY AY says he, “got stoked by the energy of the song and the message. I felt relieved and free, a feeling I haven’t had for a long time. I wanted to create a unique vibe and I think I nailed it as this record sounds weirdly chilled and powerful at the same time”.

AY AY – depersonalized, but here for you: