YORKE enters a bold new era. With her latest single break up season, she’s swapping heartbreak ballads for shimmering synth-pop, turning relationship drama into an infectious anthem inspired by the larger-than-life pop records of the 2010s. Co-written with Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy Brown through the ARIA Collab program, the track marks the beginning of a new creative chapter — one YORKE describes as being defined by confidence, clarity and trusting her instincts.
Fresh off the release of the satirical, Barbie-horror inspired music video, Futuremag caught up with YORKE to chat about the real-life breakup gossip that sparked the song, working alongside one of pop’s biggest hitmakers, why Britney Spears and Teenage Dream became unlikely creative references, and how this new chapter of her career is all about backing herself.
Futuremag: Congratulations on your new release! How are you feeling, and what has the reaction been like so far?
YORKE: I’m stoked. Everyone seems to be really excited. I love this song so much. It’s one of my favourites and it’s so nice that it’s finally out in the world. Getting the music video out there has been especially exciting because the visuals are such a big part of YORKE. Seeing everyone react to the craziness of the video has been really fun.
Futuremag: You said this song came from having breakup gossip with a friend. At what point did you realise, “This needs to be a song”?
YORKE: Literally when she said the words, “It’s breakup season.” I got my notes out and said, “I’m going to write this song today. I hope that’s okay with you.” Then I did. It was pretty immediate.
Futuremag: It’s so true, though. Even now, I’ve noticed couples you never expect to break up suddenly do. It’s like a domino effect. You’re like, “I didn’t see that coming,” and then another breakup happens, and you start wondering, “Is my relationship doomed? Am I doomed?”
YORKE: That’s exactly where my head was during that conversation. It was nice to be able to articulate those thoughts while they were still so fresh.
Futuremag: What’s in your personal breakup survival toolkit?
YORKE: Definitely surrounding yourself with friends and doing things that make you feel good. Lots of hot girl walks – I’m a big hot girl walk fan — Pilates, home cooking, lots of tea, just anything that nurtures you.
Futuremag: You’ve referenced the energy of 2010s pop. Which artists or songs were on your mood board while writing this?
YORKE: I listened to a lot of Britney Spears while writing this song. I kind of missed the boat when she was at the absolute peak of her career, so I hadn’t really dived into that world before. Then a friend made me a playlist of all her most iconic songs, plus a bunch of other classic pop tracks, and I became obsessed. I also got into Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream album which I’d never properly listened to before. Songs like The One That Got Away are just incredible. I hadn’t fully appreciated the songwriting until now, so it was cool to revisit those records as an artist and really study the writing, the production, and how they made me feel before making a pop record myself.
Futuremag: It’s funny how songs can hit differently years later.
YORKE: Exactly. That’s one of the best things about timeless music. Even if you’ve heard it a hundred times before, you can come back to it years later and it still feels fresh.
Futuremag: You worked with Tommy Brown on this release, who’s collaborated with some of the biggest names in pop. What were the biggest lessons you took away from working with him?
YORKE: I worked with him for a week, and it was honestly one of the most formative weeks of my career. The biggest thing I learned was that less is more. He’d be listening to the track and say something like, “That one drum beat in the eighth bar should be slightly quieter.” You’d think, “One drum beat? That’s not going to make a difference.” Then he’d adjust it, and suddenly the whole song felt better.
He also really encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone. On day one he pulled up a Britney reference, and I laughed because I’d been listening to so much Britney already. From there it just felt like everything aligned, and we went off and wrote fun pop music together. In between writing, he’d casually tell stories about working with Ariana Grande or Janelle Monáe, and I’m just sitting there thinking, “This is wild.” It felt like getting this incredible inside look into how those songs came together. He was amazing.
Futuremag: Tommy described hearing Breakup Season as hearing Teenage Dream for the first time. What was that moment like?
YORKE: Josh Wells, who I was also working with, and I just looked at each other like, “Did he really just say that?” That compliment meant so much. Tommy genuinely felt that way, and I’ll remember that forever. It’s such a huge compliment, especially considering I’d been discovering Katy Perry’s music while making this record.
Futuremag: You wrote several songs together during those sessions. Why did Breakup Season feel like the right one to release first?
YORKE: There are definitely more songs coming, but this one felt like the most immediate. It was the perfect way to introduce the songs we wrote together. We also released it during the first week of winter here, while it was summer in the US, so it felt very seasonal. It’s a really fun record and a great way to set the tone for what’s coming next.
Futuremag: The music video blends Barbiecore, satire and horror. How did the Breakup Clinic concept come together?
YORKE: The director and I threw around heaps of ideas, but a lot of them were way too ambitious for our budget, which is pretty common for us. We kept coming back to the cyclical nature of breakups and how your friends come to you for advice over and over again throughout your friendships. I wanted to capture that feeling of becoming the therapist for your friends.
From there it evolved into heart surgery, then an exploding heart. Sometimes you can’t fix the people you love — they have to heal on their own. I wanted to show that with the exploding heart. I can try to help the people I care about, but sometimes healing is something they have to do themselves. Then it somehow became Barbie horror with a pink truck.
Futuremag: One thing I loved was how the video shows that breakups don’t just affect the couple — they impact everyone around them too. Why was that important to portray?
YORKE: It was really important because the song isn’t actually about being in the breakup yourself. It’s about documenting the breakups happening around you. Knowing that’s what the song was about, it felt natural to tell that story visually too. It was also really fun getting some of my friends involved as extras in the video.
Futuremag: If you could check yourself into the Breakup Clinic, what’s the one emotion you’d want fixed?
YORKE: Too much empathy.
Futuremag: You’ve just come back from Japan again. How did this visit compare to your first?
YORKE: Honestly, the biggest win was finally being able to navigate the trains properly! But the whole experience felt much more familiar. Seeing people again and meeting fans for the second time was really special. In Japan, a lot of Western artists say they’ll come back and then never do, so there’s a bit of a trust factor. Being able to return and keep my word meant a lot to people, and I think they trusted me even more because of that. It was really special.
Futuremag: You’ve described this new chapter as one of clarity. What does clarity look like for you moving forward with the YORKE project?
YORKE: It’s about being self-assured and knowing exactly what I want. There’s no real doubt anymore. I’m trusting my instincts and not holding myself back. It was a real eye-opening moment where I thought, “I’ve got it now. Let’s go.” I’m also really lucky that my team trusts me to follow what feels right creatively. That’s made this whole new chapter really exciting.