Yung Gravy Unveils 'Joy Rider' and an Exciting OG Gravy Revival

Yung Gravy Looks to the Future With ‘Joy Rider’ and an OG Gravy Revival

By Alina Pawl-Castanon – Photos by Dennis M. Kelly

2027 is going to be a big year for Yung Gravy; you just don’t know it yet. With new single “HBO” and the tease of new music on the horizon, a new direction might be in store for Gravy’s energetic beats and comically timed lyricism.

Yung Gravy makes a surprise appearance at Lollapalooza, joining the Tito stage with longtime friend and collaborator BBNO$ set on August 1st to bring the crowds into a frenzy.

Yung Gravy and BBNO$ have shared the stage for years, collaborating on duo projects under the name “Baby Gravy.”

Gravy is no stranger to Lollapalooza, making his first appearance in 2019 at the height of his debut album Sensational. Since then, Gravy has built his career on his signature modern trap beats and collaborations with artists like Lil Wayne and Chief Keef, resulting in multiple albums and singles across a genre-mixed discography.

For Gravy’s new album, he explains that we’re going back to the ‘deep past’. His anticipated album Joy Rider is scheduled to be released in October, with a single titled “My Bitch” for an August 14th release.

“We are going OG Gravy”, He said.

Before having his first appearance at the Grant Park festival grounds since 2023, Yung Gravy sat with Chicago Music Guide and discussed what’s to come in life and music.

Yung Gravy Unveils 'Joy Rider' and an Exciting OG Gravy Revival 1 — Alina Pawl-Castanon, Yung Gravy, & Ari Kytsya

CMG: Welcome back to Lolla! Thank you for sitting down with Chicago Music Guide.

You haven’t had a performance at Lollapalooza since 2023. Reflecting on your previous Lolla performance as well as the transition from your collaborative project “Yung Baby Gravy” to your most recent 2024 album “Serving Country” and single “HBO”. What do you want people to know about your developing sound, and can we expect a separation from your past country influence?

Yung Gravy: So I’ve done Lollapalooza in 2019, 2023; both times BBNO$, my best friend and collaborator, popped out for me. So today I’m popping out at his set. So it’ll be crazy. Happy to be here for that. It’s my favorite festival I’ve done. My 2023 set was like the top one for me.

I took a little break from dropping for a while, so I’m very excited to say that my next single, “My Bitch”, is coming out on the 14th of August. It’s a song about my queen here, Ariel, and a full album coming in October called Joy Rider, and I just started saying the name out loud today, so you are one of the first.

We’re going back to the deep past. It’s OG gravy style. It’s sort of a sequel to my second or my first debut album, Sensational. This is a sequel, so there are some actual sequel songs, such as “Gravy Train 2”, and the sound of the whole project is basically my original style, but a little bit faster.

CMG: The newest single’s music video has a lot of nods towards classic horror movies like The Chainsaw Massacre and other slasher films. What was the inspiration behind these elements, and are there any visual hints regarding releases to come?

Yung Gravy: From the jump, I said I wanted to make a horror music video. I’d never seen it, you know. I wanted to keep it tasteful, and I think if it’s overly like slasher crazy vibes, it would not be, you know, that would be a weird combo of my positive music. So I made it a little funny and tried to just get the visuals to really match up with that 80s slasher vibe, so I loved that video, and we have a few more coming that are in that same vein.

CMG: You have a large media presence that certainly has aided your growing fanbase. Is there something to be said about using the internet and media presence as a tool for emerging musicians and artists?

Yung Gravy: What I’ve done with the oversaturated social media climate is basically just find ways to make content that’s just showing what I do normally. I’ll do like vlogs and chill videos that are not overly edited or trying to match a trend, and just adding my music to it. And you know, showing the behind-the-scenes and everything.

It might not do as well as it did at another time; people really will catch on, and you can get hardcore fans, you know, just from being yourself and showing people the brand that you created. So don’t overthink it. Don’t feel like you have to follow some trends or make a new trend because you can’t really control that, and it happens on its own.

CMG: If you could go back to your past self during your 2019 Lolla appearance, what advice would you give him reflecting on the past 7 years of music and navigating the saturated music and media industry?

Yung Gravy: Back then, I was doing things pretty perfectly at that time. The social media climate; everything worked out really great. You know, 2019 to 2022. It helped blow up my next big song at that time, which was Betty, which I’ll be performing tonight. And since then, you know, it’s very saturated, and you just gotta try a little harder and cross your fingers because people don’t really like full albums anymore.

They like singles, so you know, just kind of going back to my oldest release style, which is just singles and singles until an album comes together. So that’s where we’re at right now, and I’m excited to be putting out this music I really love.

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