Lovless Youth: "Just Be Yourself"

Lovless Youth has only recently signed to Prinz Publishing, but the story behind that signing reaches much further back. Behind the name is Tom, 27, who grew up in Recklinghausen and now calls Cologne home. He describes his own path as anything but straightforward, a road full of detours that eventually led him to the sound he stands for today.

His journey into electronic music began in 2012 with dubstep. "Electronic music has stayed with me ever since," he says. By 2015 he had started building his own beats and spent the next six years deep in the hip-hop scene. His first sets were played at the local club in Recklinghausen, back then still trap and hip-hop into the early hours. "A fun and beautiful time, I love looking back on it," he says of that period.

At some point, though, he realized this path no longer made him happy. The turning point came in 2021. Together with a close friend, he produced his first house tracks and began collaborating with other artists. "Since then my heart beats for house, and I'm really happy," he says today. Putting his current sound into words still doesn't come easily to him, house, breakbeat and electronica with hip-hop elements come closest. But, as Lovless Youth puts it: "It's hard to describe, you're better off just listening for yourself."

Alongside his own music, Tom also works as a mixing engineer, among others for clients and labels. It shows in how precisely he talks about detail.

How much structure matters to him also shows in his daily routine. He's up at eight, followed by yoga, "very important," as he stresses. Then come emails and the to-do list, mostly mixing or mastering jobs, which usually keep him busy into the late afternoon. After a short break, a coffee or a bike ride, he turns to his own tracks and prepares sets for upcoming gigs. Weekends are reserved for gigs and for his own event, which he's built together with friends.

He found his way to Prinz Publishing through an old companion: Johan Jimi Prinz, with whom he had made music together years earlier before the two lost touch for a while. About a year ago they reconnected and started talking regularly again, and at some point came the call asking whether Tom would be interested in joining Prinz. "We're both from Recklinghausen and used to make music together back in the day," he recalls.

His production process doesn't follow a fixed pattern. Most of the time he starts with a drum groove before melodies or chords come in, though sometimes a track begins with a sampled vocal he found on the radio or on YouTube. "I always work from feeling and do whatever I'm feeling in the moment," is how he describes his approach.

Asked about the biggest lesson of his career so far, his answer is clear: "Never fake it. Stay who you are, and stand by what you make." For a long time, he says, he tried to copy a certain sound or sound like someone else, until he understood that in a field full of talented people, it's your own voice that matters most. His advice to himself three years ago is more pragmatic: release more music. Too many finished tracks stayed in the drawer, he says, even if looking back he wouldn't change much.

Right now, he has a real milestone to look back on: he recently released his debut album, "Forever Is a Feeling," something he's especially proud of. The next steps are already set. Next year he plans to start his own label together with a close friend and play several shows in and outside Germany. Longer term, his ambitions are even bigger: his own label, touring abroad, a lot more music, and growing the event he runs with friends even further.