By: Cassidy Rose
Julie King is described as the voice of a generation. Also known as YULIANNA, she is an internationally acclaimed performer, multi-award winning singer/songwriter, recording artist, sound healer, and author. Julie has graced major stages ranging from the Bangkok Lyric Opera to the Coachella Music Festival and the Festival Of Colors in Miami. Her innovative crossover-style performances were broadcast in 26 states around the US and in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, and Turkey, among others.
Born to a conservatory-trained concert pianist mother in Almaty, Kazakhstan while it was still the USSR. Her mother has always said she was born to sing opera, even in her belly she responded to it particularly. Julie and her sister both trained with the violin at a young age. Julie’s true gifts manifested later, with full song compositions and enchanting lyrics spilling out of her.
However, her childhood was anything but rose-colored. Her music teachers, growing up, were extremely strict. Her violin teacher broke several bows over her head during the course of her tutelage, and her piano teacher would slam the key cover down on her hands if she wasn’t ‘performing properly.’ Luckily, this didn’t kill her love of music! It’s such an integral part of her soul. At one point, Julie’s mom made a trip to America to perform and brought back a cassette player and a tape that had Whitney Houston on one side and Mariah Carey on the other. Julie listened to it so much that she had to repair the film in the tape multiple times. Then, sadly, her big sister was in a terrible accident, and Julie was thrown into flux, hiding in music to escape the bleak reality of her situation. Julie would daydream of commanding the stage herself one day, just like her idols.
A few years later, they moved to the Santa Barbara region when Julie was a young teen. Transitioning to an American high school was very difficult. She barely spoke English and was bullied to the extreme. She wound up transferring to the Dunn School in the Santa Ynez Valley, a distinguished specialty school that helped Julie in a more one-on-one capacity than public school could. She began to slowly come out of her shell there and even had some of her poetry published in the Bell View Journal, her school’s magazine. The poems focused on her mother and sister and were a catharsis for her, walking through her emotions from the preceding years of upheaval. And she had her music, which always kept her going.
King also competed in the Applause Music & Vocal competition in Los Olivos, setting the record for most consecutive Grand Prize Wins in both categories, playing the violin and singing. She graduated at 17 and applied to multiple colleges, with CalArts being her #1 pick. Though her teachers said, she’d never get accepted to such a prestigious school while not being fluent in English. Well, in a funny twist of fate, it was the only one who accepted her! Julie immediately started making friends upon moving into the dorms, including the now-famous Marco Marco, who designed clothes for King to perform in.
King quickly became known affectionately as “the voice of the hallways,” practicing her singing and composition while her voice floated through the school. She was still learning English at the time and would carry a dictionary around with her so she could write whenever the muse struck.
Her favorite classes were taught by the much-loved and very talented James Tenney and Wadada Leo Smith. She reflects on how blessed she is that they really took the time with her and helped foster her crossover style of composing, always encouraging her to push her limits. Having had a bumpy start at CalArts, partially because of the language barrier, but also her issues with authority figures, ended in her being asked to stay for a Masters. Which she earned with flying colors.
After receiving her Masters from CalArts, King decided not to go the route of pursuing a Doctorate from UCLA and instead opted for an AA in Composition from College of the Canyons because she got to study under Daniel Catán and Bernardo Feldman. Catán is world-renowned as one of the best 21st-century opera composers, and Feldman is one of the world’s leading composers in experimental music.
This education and innate innovation eventually led to Julie’s first major operatic composition piece titled “Popra Soldier.” It was a story told through song, which was first inspired by a little toy soldier Julie found on the beach as a teen. Something in the moment sparked the inception of a tragic yet beautiful love story about a Russian girl who falls in love with an American soldier.
It was truly an emotional experience whether you listened to it or were lucky enough to see one of her televised performances across the globe. It is currently being remastered and will be re-released this Summer.
Growing up in the crumbling USSR, where the government had an iron grip on all facets of society, left an indelible mark on King that she carries to this day. Having spent time there as an adult hired to perform on Russian TV, another childhood dream coming true, she got to experience the dualities of both countries from a more mature perspective. This Soviet-turned-American childhood gives Julie a unique perspective on life and a seemingly bottomless well of love, compassion and understanding.
Navigating the music industry as a young woman was never going to be easy, and King was no exception. Lousy contracts dressed up to look nice, the pressure of the higher-ups. It’s a story we’ve grown very familiar with. “At least I kept my artistic integrity, even if I was getting ripped off,” says King, who is still trying to recover her rights to this day. But fortune favors the bold.
Amos Newman took a shine to her and introduced her to her idol, Walter A. Together, King and Walter would sit at the piano for hours and compose several full-length songs together. Only one has been released, and there are still two floating in the ether. Hopefully, someday soon, we will be lucky enough to see them published, though King says she is still holding off for the time being. “When the time is right, I’ll know. But it isn’t now.” Julie chuckles.
During the early 2010s, King was approached to do a music video for one of her songs’ Forgiveness”, which actually went on to win multiple film awards. This song, in particular, has a special meaning for Julie because she wrote it about her relationship with her father, who was abusive to her as a young child, a sadly common thing in Communist culture at the time.
“Forgiveness” is about the weight it lifts from you when you finally let go of all the anger and resentment; to honestly and truly forgive someone is to free yourself. Many years later, after not speaking to him for two decades, Julie reached out after spending several years on extensive spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of herself and others. It was tentative at first, but she eventually traveled to the Czech Republic to visit him and his new wife. Honesty is such a powerful tool to start healing old wounds. They even did a little ceremony to really start fresh, planting a baby apple tree together. This is especially significant because the Almaty region is where apples originate from. Even the name ‘Almaty’ means ‘Big Apple Father’ in their native Kazakh language.
Teaming up with Oscar-winning film director Waleed Moursi, Julie jetted off to Phuket to start filming the music video for “Forgiveness.” She really wanted the video to focus on the spiritual aspect of the lyrics, so filming at the temples and other breathtakingly beautiful places Thailand has to offer seemed perfect. However, they arrived right at the start of monsoon season, much to their chagrin. Not letting that stop them, they decided to film parts of the video under a veranda with the rain cascading around Julie as she sang, truly lending itself to the feeling of the song. They adapted to the moment and created something soothing and lovely to watch out of a situation that could have been a terrible setback. They also filmed at one of the local temples during a brief break in the rains, though they needed to seek permission from the monks, which they received after an astounding spiritual moment involving Julie and a yellow butterfly. The whole amazing story can be found in “Women Living In Alignment – Stories of Embracing the Heart, Soul and Energy as One,” a compilation book by Sue Urda and Kathy Flyer. [Forgiveness Music Video]
At about this same time, in 2012, she started working with producers Nick Furlong and Spencer Nezey. It was her first time working with people her age, and she found it quite inspiring. They were always up on new sounds and loved experimenting with her. One day, it was Reggaeton, followed by a bouncy pop sound, then smooth and sexy. Nick taught Julie the intricacies of vocal production, while Spencer took the time to teach her how to use the Grid when composing, telling her they saw real potential in her as a producer. Music to Julie’s ears! She had been on a roller coaster for years in her personal life and was just coming out of a messy divorce on top of that. This warmth and support was just the redemption her self-esteem needed, and she started to blossom again.
“But we can’t talk about my musical career and not talk about Frankie Bernstein or Metaphase as he is artistically known. He was my first producer during my CalArts days. Later on, I approached him about making a remix of my song, ‘Californ-i-a,’ which I had done in collaboration with The Game. We had such a fun time working together again that he invited me, spur-of-the-moment, to come and perform on the main stage at Coachella with him. It was amazing! We had such chemistry onstage, and it was the first time I’d performed original music to such a large crowd. Afterward, I was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest and iHeartRadio, and I was approached by multiple radio promoters. It was a bit overwhelming, honestly. But this is what I had been waiting for!” King smiles broadly.
“I want to touch on something that really expanded my musical horizons early on. When I was in my 20’s, I lived across from the Hollywood Bowl, and you could always hear what was playing pretty loudly. This exposed me to many different genres of music, and I found elements I liked in all of them. This really got my imagination going. I started composing what I call a ‘sound salad.'” Julie laughs, “They used to call me the ‘Mad Scientist of Music.’ I used a classical base, my focus being strung since I grew up playing the violin. I wanted to meld all the entertainment mediums together into a new kind of storytelling. Creating the storyline and combining all these very different songs, the interludes are incredibly important in creating the proper flow. Ruslan Sirota was instrumental in weaving together these threads to form a beautiful tapestry. I woke up one day with the word ‘Popra’ in my head, and I thought, what a great word for this! A blending of traditional music with a whole heap of currently popular genres. This led to the completion and later televised production of ‘Popra Soldier,’ which I still consider my most boundary-pushing album. At least for now. I do have another album coming out very soon, which I am incredibly proud of.”
Stay tuned for the second interview in the saga of Julie King, which is coming out next week! All article links can be found on her website: www.juliekingmusic.com
Follow these other links for more!
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/julie-king/1730168262
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5LtMStrVbEokvGgLcdp1rz
https://www.facebook.com/juliekingmusic
https://www.instagram.com/julieking_music/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeFae9ZfTdpUkIQDRD7FzCA
Published by: Martin De Juan
