Written by Tyra Buckley
Music has always been a vessel for vulnerability, opening the stage doors to conversations wrapped in emotion and authenticity, which many tend to shy away from. It’s been a channel for anger, understanding and nostalgia; a medium by which communities often excluded from the music industry—like women—have been able to flourish, even if only a shoe in. This is something Yasmin Coe and her “girl power pop” knows well.
The blossoming and fully booked artist tells us, sat in a vacant office space, that she appreciates the vulnerability of lyrics; like cracking a rib, music opens you up. “I appreciate having vulnerable lyrics, and then pairing them with this upbeat music.” A combination which, when perfected, can distract so much from the sadness and honesty dripping from every word that it comes across as completely pop, rock, or alternative, much like Yasmin’s long-term influence, Radiohead.
“I feel like my music might not specifically sound like it, but from a lyricism standpoint, from listening to that [and Arctic Monkeys] from an early age, you realise you can do clever things with lyrics—that’s fun.”
There was a space in music for Yasmin before she was born. Having been only calmed by the voices of indie band Primal Scream when she was younger, their songs making her kick from inside her mother’s stomach, music has been as much a part of her as tissue is on bone.
And it shows. With her affinity for lyricism which, at its core, is almost as much poetry as it is communication, the building blocks of any great, Yasmin has pieced together tales of girlhood, yearning, and authenticity; take Expected As Much, for example, featuring on her 2024 EP The Most I Could Do. Opening with a rock beat and drumstick taps, it’s a sad song in disguise, rhythmic but devastating all the same. A story about “trying to convince yourself that you could be the one for that person, but you’re not and you know it,” as Yasmin describes it, “…when you know what someone is like, and you still get involved thinking maybe you’ll be the one to change them, and then they don’t, it’s like… you should’ve expected as much.”
However, Yasmin manages to bring a cool sort of edge to everything she masterminds, meaning “[she] feels like now [she] can sing it in a more sassy and controlling way,” despite its roots in melancholy and disappointment, much like the Arctic Monkeys—who’s lead singer, Alex Turner, turns odes to muses into catchy rock hits—and Mazzy Star, who has evidently had an influence on Coe in her haunting, lingering vocals that had me charmed the first time I heard her sing (alongside the rest of the audience in Manchester) sat on the floor and forming a circle around her, lights low and faux candles in their place.
Similar to Expected As Much, the single alone that amounted to over 8,000 listens and that Coe considers “the best-performed songs on the EP so far” despite initial debate to include it, the accompanying songs Linen, When You Can’t Have Her, Opener and Closer, are equally as “dreamy and camp,” wrapped in nostalgia and fame-worthy cadence.
Fronted by a cover of Yasmin blurred in a haze of red hue—contrasting the cool, blue background—the EP begins with Opener, one of Coe’s favourites and the perfect song to set the mood; beginning slow, calm and melancholic, rising either Ethel Cain-like harmony and crashing back down into a mix of guitar and melodies, able to fade right into the next track. It takes skill to put together songs that merge so perfectly with one another, and Yasmin is brimming with it. Her talent emerges clearer with each song, each chorus, and leaves you desperate for a new release.
The music is rooted in girlhood; in such a male-dominated industry, songs like that of Yasmin Coe open up a space for discussion. Hardship and emotions are what drive storytelling, and more and more women are dominating stages and opening up. When asked to describe her music, Yasmin tells us, “My bio is girl power pop, like… I write music for girls. But, if guys enjoy it too, that’s fine—that’s good for them. I think it’s very obvious that everything I write is channelled from being a girl and the experiences of womanhood. The power, I think, is just absolutely finding fun in performing these vulnerable songs and the power that comes with actually being able to do that and be on stage, saying things that are quite difficult to say, and finding the strength to do that.”
“I think it’s helpful,” she says, on creating a community through vulnerability, pouring your heart out on stage. “But there’s still so many limits on being a woman in the music scene. But I think so much more now than ever before, people are very interested in what women have to say, and I think there’s been a big shift away from the whole… I’m a lad and sat talking about going to the pub with my friends.
“Women have been oppressed and shut down for so long and now, more than ever, we’ve taken these year’s worth of experiences and hardships we’ve had to go through and putting that into the music. I think there’s been a bit more of an elevation for those sorts of voices recently, but there’s still so many circumstances where there won’t be an equal billing. It’s difficult for women to communicate what they want without worrying they’re going to come across as a diva.
“I do think, though, that the narrative has shifted a lot recently, and people are more interested in hearing these raw, authentic experiences. And there are so many girls in the music scene that have been through the same thing—we’ve all had that struggle together and what we have to say really does matter.”
It’s important that women forge their own paths in creative worlds, and with talent like Yasmin’s, it’s hard not to step aside and watch the magic happen. Now, more than ever before, thanks to musicians like Yasmin Coe and Jo Hill (who invited Coe to sing two unreleased songs at her Manchester gig in December 2024) who both highlight the struggles and adversity of girl- and womanhood, talent is flourishing.
Yasmin Coe is not only one to watch out for, the curator of girl power pop and elevating emotion and discussion through dream-like music—singles that feel like they could induce an out-of-body experience—she is also one to see, with a stage presence that is commanding even if she does struggle with pre-performance jitters (she reminds herself, and new artists, “never, ever be afraid to take a risk and do something new. Play a song you’ve written the day of the gig, and have fun until it’s serious. Always take yourself seriously and respect yourself, but do have fun.”)
Find her latest EP, The Most I Could Do on Spotify and Apple Music, and find her at Manchester Psych Fest in August 2025!
