tUnE-yArDs on how to succeed in the face of criticism
- Text by Huck HQ / Nick McGregor
- Photography by Mike Belleme
#2 – tUnE-yArDs
tUnE-yArDs, founded in the late 2000s by native New Englander Merrill Garbus, is the definition of joyous cacophony. Together with partner Nate Brenner, the band’s music is an intriguing mish-mash of ukulele riffs, looped beats, propulsive percussion, fluid bass lines, and full-throated howls. Visually, Garbus trends toward the riotously kaleidoscopic, rocking face paint on stage and punching up tUnE-yArDs’ imagery to retina- scalding levels. Here, Garbus explains how letting go helped her hit her stride:
“Is it personally gratifying to succeed in the face of criticism? No, it’s terrifying still. I wish that I could be so confident about my future and myself and turn away so easily from negative criticism. There are always people who really don’t like this stuff, and as a perfectionist, that hurts. I really have this vision that I can get every single person in the whole wide world to like my music. But again, as I get older and mature in this industry, I realise the championship is really just creating more work. Letting go of all the fear around what people think about me. And having a dialogue with people. Like, ‘So my cultural appropriation is offensive to you? Let’s dig into that conversation.’ But if anything ever gets me to stop making music, then I’ve truly lost.”
This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.
Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
Latest on Huck
The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth
Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The British intimacy of ‘the afters’
Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.
Written by: Ella Glossop
See winners of the World Press Photo Contest 2025
A view from the frontlines — There are 42 winning photographers this year, selected from 59,320 entries.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
Inside Kashmir’s growing youth tattoo movement
Catharsis in ink — Despite being forbidden under Islam, a wave of tattoo shops are springing up in India-administered Kashmir. Saqib Mugloo spoke to those on both ends of the needle.
Written by: Saqib Mugloo
The forgotten women’s football film banned in Brazil
Onda Nova — With cross-dressing footballers, lesbian sex and the dawn of women’s football, the cult movie was first released in 1983, before being censored by the country’s military dictatorship. Now restored and re-released, it’s being shown in London at this year’s BFI Flare film festival.
Written by: Jake Hall
In the dressing room with the 20th century’s greatest musicians
Backstage 1977-2000 — As a photographer for NME, David Corio spent two decades lounging behind the scenes with the world’s biggest music stars. A new photobook revisits his archive of candid portraits.
Written by: Miss Rosen