Interview: Four Of Diamonds on their new single ‘Walk Away’.

Four Of Diamonds made their debut to the world when they formed on Season 13 of the UK version of ‘The X Factor’. The dynamic girl group finished in 8th place but didn’t let that stop them from making music together and gathering fans up and down the country. They’re now living together (cute!) and set to release their debut album to the world. We caught up with Yasmin Broom and Sophia Saffarian to talk about their musical journey over some pizza and vodka (what a combo!).

...it’s really important for women to lift other women up. It’s so easy for us to be bitchy, and so many women drag each other down. We’re so much stronger when we stick together, and we can do so much. There are so many incredible women in our industry!

COUP DE MAIN: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today! How’s your Friday night going?
FOUR OF DIAMONDS - YASMIN BROOM: We’re literally having pizza right now! We’re gonna go out - me and Sophia love to go out, so we’re gonna head out soon and go dancing.
FOUR OF DIAMONDS - SOPHIA SAFFARIAN: And party!
CDM: A good start to the night!
YASMIN: Yeah! We were gonna get wine but we ended up getting vodka so… <laughs>

CDM: What made you want to kick off 2019 with your new song 'Walk Away'?
SOPHIA: We’ve all been really passionate about this song since we first heard it. We got to go to Sweden to record it - we’ve got some really nice memories attached to the creating of the song. And also, a fun fact for you - Rihanna and Zara Larsson both recorded versions of it before we got it, so we feel very privileged to be able to release it, it’s obviously in demand! But we love it, it’s such a good vibe, and it ties in with the rest of our music really well.

CDM: It’s a really empowering song! What do you want your fans and listeners to feel and take away from listening to the song?
YASMIN: We do want them to feel empowered, and that they shouldn’t be afraid to walk away from something that isn’t right for them. Because you need to do you - your happiness is the most important thing.
SOPHIA: You’ve got one life, so you might as well make the most of it.

CDM: I feel like it’s hard sometimes when you have to walk away from a situation, because a lot of the time in society you’re told not to put yourself first all the time - but obviously that is a really important thing that people learn, that they are the main character in their own story, so you kind of have to be selfish at times!
YASMIN: Yeah, sometimes, yeah - I think that is what the song is about, that sometimes you have to be selfish.
SOPHIA: Yeah. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.
YASMIN: At the time people will probably-- this is an example of one of the lyrics, ‘Say that I’m a slave to the money but I’m not,’ sometimes you just need to not care what someone else thinks and do what’s right for you.

CDM: In your Wonderland interview you said that you wanted to empower girls through your music. Do you think it’s important to help support other women - from you being in a group with other girls, as well as in the music industry in general?
SOPHIA: I think it’s really important because there’s this whole feminist movement at the moment that we’re so much in support of and I think it’s really important for women to lift other women up. It’s so easy for us to be bitchy, and so many women drag each other down. We’re so much stronger when we stick together, and we can do so much. There are so many incredible women in our industry!
YASMIN: Yeah!
SOPHIA: There’s room for everyone. It makes sense to just support each other, spread positive vibes, and empower each other. Then there’s nothing you can’t do.

CDM: You also talked about your style and how you’re a mixture of not being overly girly, but also having the chance to be girly too! Do you think that music, and artists today, are able to be a bit more explorative and different in the way they present themselves? Artists like Billie Eilish are proving you don’t have to conform to what people expect from a typical female popstar.
YASMIN: Yeah, I really like that. Some days you’ll catch us on a good day and we’ll be all dressed up, and other days we’ll be in a tracksuit and trainers and no make-up on, but we’re not bothered anymore! I think we used to be a bit worried, but not we’re comfortable just being in our own skin, and it’s nice to feel that a lot of other artists are doing that now.
SOPHIA: I think the nice thing as well about there being four of us is that each of us has a very different style, but we embrace that, and it’s like, 'Yes we’re a girl-band,' but I think that’s one thing that makes us gel so well together, that we do each have our own lane - but when we come together, it works really well. It’s nice for us to be able to express our individuality, but then also come together and do our thing as a group, it’s really good.

CDM: I love that you really want to encourage people to be true to themselves - it’s such a powerful message. What advice would you give your fans who are trying to be strong and stand behind who they are?
SOPHIA: I think it’s hard, especially with social media pressures at the moment. I think a really important thing to put across is that you’re allowed to have your insecurities, you’re allowed to be sad every now and again.
YASMIN: Everyone is. We’re not constantly happy.
SOPHIA: Yeah! Let yourself feel how you want to feel and just remember that no-one is you, no-one has the qualities and the imperfections that you have. That’s your strength and you should embrace it.
YASMIN: And never compare.
SOPHIA: That’s the worst thing.
YASMIN: Comparing will bring you down.
CDM: On social media, comparing yourself to others is so easy to do, because you’re constantly getting bombarded with expectations of everyone around you.
SOPHIA: But what you see on there is never reality, is it? Well, it can be. but it’s people’s best parts of their reality - you don’t see the whole picture, so it’s easy to get wrapped up in it.

CDM: We love your cover of The 1975’s song ‘Somebody Else’! What was it about that song that drew you to cover it?
YASMIN: To be honest, when we went into the studio we were a bit unsure - we really loved the song--
SOPHIA: It’s so different! It’s not our usual vibe. But it really worked.
YASMIN: And the lyrics are really nice, we connected with the lyrics 100% and then our producer put his own twist on it as well.
SOPHIA: It’s one of those songs where it was easy for us to put our stamp on it and that was something that we really wanted to do. The fact that it’s a guy who sung the original song and now it’s girls. The 1975 are so cool, they’re doing so well at the moment, so it just seemed right. It seemed fitting.

CDM: When you’re working on Four Of Diamonds music, what catches your attention when you hear a demo that could become a 4OD song?
YASMIN: It’s definitely the chorus.
SOPHIA: The chorus has to be catchy, and the beat.
YASMIN: And relatable! As soon as the beat comes in we all look at each other like, ‘What are you thinking? Do you like it?’
CDM: You’re like, ‘Can we dance to this?’
SOPHIA: Yeah exactly! I think it always says something when we all agree on a track - when all four of us like it, because again we all have really different music tastes, when we all like a track we’re like, ‘Okay let’s go record this.’

CDM: Is the songwriting process something you guys want to get involved more in in the future?
YASMIN: Yes, definitely. For our first album, we’re not writing much on it. We’ve done some co-writing because we wanted to get the vibe right because we’re all completely different writers, and we’ve got completely different music styles. So I think for the next album we’ll definitely be writing on that one.

CDM: I feel like the sentiment of ‘Stupid Things’ is so relatable - I love the line, “I mix up my drinks and I mix my feelings.” Do you think that we all do ‘stupid things’ sometimes?
SOPHIA & YASMIN: Yes, of course <laughs>.
SOPHIA: We all do. I feel like that song is the most relatable one out of all our songs. It’s a little bit controversial. Like, you don’t have to drink to mess it up, do you? That was a good one, we love that one.
CDM: Everyone can be confused about feelings, regardless of if they’re drinking or not.
SOPHIA: Exactly! Exactly.

CDM: That song saw you collaborate with Saweetie - is there anyone else you guys would love to work with on music?
SOPHIA: I feel like we all have very different ideas for this one! Because we all have very different music tastes. Mine would probably be Post Malone or Rihanna.
YASMIN: I think my favourite musician is Alicia Keys, but I don’t think that would be right… I feel like someone like Tory Lanez, that would be good. But if you ask Lauren or Caroline, Caroline would say someone Latino like Rosalía, and then Lauren would say Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith or someone like that I think. So I don’t know, maybe we could do one of each! That would be good.

CDM: What was it about ‘Name On It’ that made you want it to be the first ever Four Of Diamonds release into the world?
SOPHIA: Oh my god, this single! I think it wasn’t originally meant to be the first single - ‘Stupid Things’ was gonna be the first single and then we heard ‘Name On It’, and I remember we messaged our manager and the label and we were like, “Please can we release this first! We love it!” There was just something about that song, and there still is I think. Whenever we listen to it, it’s a special song. Hopefully one day it will reach its full potential! It’s such a special song, we love that song.
CDM: I guess it must be sentimental as well, knowing that it was the first one out into the world. It’s like your first baby!
YASMIN: Yeah that’s what we call it - our baby!

CDM: What was it like playing your first ever live shows last November?
YASMIN: Oh my gosh, it was incredible! We’ve done Manchester, Birmingham, and London! And for me, Manchester is my hometown, so when we went out into the audience and I saw everyone I knew, it was incredible. I think Sophia actually started crying at one of the shows! It was so overwhelming! But we just want to do it again, we can’t wait to be performing again this summer.

CDM: How’s work going on the Four Of Diamonds debut album? What stage are you at with it?
SOPHIA: We’ve basically finished it. But we don’t know exactly when it's coming, so we couldn’t even give you an exclusive here. It’s one of those things where it’s nearly there, but there’s always still room… There’s a couple of moving parts that we’re not sure about yet, we want to make sure it’s right before it goes anywhere. But I feel like if you like what we’ve released so far, you’ll love the rest of the album.

CDM: Are there any particular songs on the album to that you’re really excited to release?
SOPHIA: Do you know what? I actually feel like the album, it’s one thing we wanted, it’s really consistent, like all of the songs on it are really strong.
YASMIN: I think for me, and I’m speaking for Lauren as well because I know she’ll say this, but we have a song called ‘The Writer’, that’s a Jonas Blue one, I think me and Lauren are really excited for that one. It’s such a summer banger. I can imagine playing it in like, a convertible car… <laughs>

CDM: Sophia, do you still have the nickname Donkey?
SOPHIA: Oh my god.
YASMIN: She does!
SOPHIA: I do. I literally could talk for England, and the rest of Europe, and probably New Zealand as well.
YASMIN: Even in the most awkward of situations, she’ll just talk her way out of it!
SOPHIA: I don’t know how that came about, it was just-- OH! We were in Paris!
CDM: I think it was, because I was going to ask what your favourite ride at Disneyland was?
YASMIN: Yeah, we were on our way back from Disneyland.
SOPHIA: We were all shattered.
YASMIN: We were so tired.
SOPHIA: And I’d been singing Donkey, <sings> “But you gotta have friends! Donkey!” - that bit, and it just stuck from there!

CDM: Yasmin, you’re one of seven kids! Did you find that growing up in a big family has been helpful for going into a band dynamic with three other members?
YASMIN: Yeah! I’m just so used to living with so many people. I’m used to waiting for the bathroom, I’m used to being in a busy kitchen. But it is nice to come away from that now, there are only three girls now, not seven!

CDM: What’s an average day like in the Four Of Diamonds house? You guys all still live together right?
YASMIN: Yeah! So, every day is different, you know? We like to sleep in. And never speak to Lauren when she’s just woken up! Because you won’t get a word out of her, you’ll just get an evil look. And Sophia, she’s actually quite good, she’ll wake up and she’ll have a smile on her face.
SOPHIA: I’ll probably annoy everyone in the morning, and be like, “Morning, guys! Wake up!”
YASMIN: And then ten minutes after she’ll be like, “I’m going back to bed!” We do a lot of filming at our house, we’re on TikTok - so we’re constantly filming and doing special videos in the house for that.
SOPHIA: You need to look at our TikTok. Oh my gosh. We’ve had some hate - they know that we don’t know what we’re doing, but it’s okay. It’s okay! It’s fine!
CDM: As long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.
BOTH: Exactly!

CDM: I’m from a magazine based in New Zealand. When can we hope to see you down here?
SOPHIA: Oh my gosh, is that an invite? Let’s go!
CDM: Yes, it’s an official invitation from the country of New Zealand!
SOPHIA: Yeah I think that would be ideal.
YASMIN: Hopefully this year.
SOPHIA: I’d love to go to New Zealand. Your weather as well is a joke over there, isn’t it? So let’s just leave the cloudy, gloomy UK and come and see…That would be amazing, to come and do a show there.
CDM: You have to come during the summer, it’s nice from October / November onwards because we have summer during Christmas time.
SOPHIA: Maybe we’ll come for Christmas one year!
CDM: Yes, you can spend Christmas here!
SOPHIA: Sounds good.

Four Of Diamonds’ new single ‘Walk Away’ is out now - click here to purchase and listen below…