It’s interesting that the song is interpreted by some as a love song when that wasn’t the original intention. I showed them some of the spots I used to hang around to show my roots, and this is really important for me to make because there are very few popular artists from South Jersey, and I want to show that you don’t have to be in a big city to get the attention you desire–you can be from somewhere as quiet as Gloucester County, NJ. I just knew that I wanted to make something lo-fi and include green-screen visuals with a similar aesthetic to the cover art, so the guys over at Idle House helped me out with creative ideas that I was a big fan of. The video for “Yellow Hearts” was shot in your hometown – how involved were you in the creation of the visuals? Is it important for you to have that connection to your roots reflected in your art? Whichever comes first! Sometimes a good lyric will pop into my head and I will try to write and produce around that (this was the case for Yellow Hearts), or I’ll be making a beat on my computer and get deep into thought so I’ll settle on a theme and write away. When you write a song, what do you start with? The idea, a specific lyric, or the melody? I’ve also been told that the song has a nostalgic feel to it, and this may have also gotten people’s attention since everybody loves the feeling of nostalgia. The intro with just the bright piano and synth was used in a lot of videos on TikTok (where the song originally blew up), and I know that you have to try and get people hooked from the very beginning in order to make a popular song, so I must have done just that. Thanks a lot! I think that people were mostly appealed by its catchiness and the vibe of the instrumental. We spoke to Saunders on the major success of “Yellow Hearts”, his creative process, his inspirations, as well as his future plans.Ĭongratulations on the success of “Yellow Hearts”! What is it about this song that you think appealed to people so much? The song has already amassed 80 million streams and has even charted on the Billboard Hot 100. With artwork designed on Microsoft Paint, a self-written, recorded and produced R&B-influenced pop track, and TikTok as his main platform – Saunders managed to launch his own career off of major viral success with “Yellow Hearts”. Where most 18-year-olds are preoccupied with celebrating the end of their high school career and dreading the looming pressure of going to college or finding a job, Ant Saunders spent the day of his high school graduation releasing a track.

Yellow hearts