As a multi-hyphenate artist, model, musician, actor, activist, and animal advocate, Yves Mathieu East is passionately committed to each of these aspects of his life. Alongside his print and runway campaigns for some of the world’s most prominent fashion labels, last year saw him appear in a groundbreaking episode of Michelle Buteau’s Netflix rom-com series Survival of the Thickest as the officiant at Peppermint’s wedding. He also graced the cover of The New Yorker‘s 100th anniversary edition alongside fellow NYC art and fashion trailblazers Julio Torres, Claire Sullivan, Jari Billie Sadé Jones, and Max Lillian Donahue. He is a regular and powerful presence at protests for LGBTQ+ rights and is particularly vocal about trans rights in this threatening and unrelentingly regressive political climate. East also released two stirring singles, Born in the 90’s and Trap Disco, with impactful accompanying music videos.
Ahead of his upcoming album release slated for later in 2026, Yves Mathieu East speaks with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about what inspired his new songs, his early musical influences, how he got started in his modeling career, his own approach to fashion, why he is so dedicated to rescuing pit bulls, and his love for Ballroom culture. With exclusive portraits for The Queer Review by photographer and creative director Steven Menendez.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: as a multi-hyphenate, when someone casually asks what you do how do you tend to reply?
Yves Mathieu East: “I usually say that I’m an artist and a glorified volunteer.”
What was your way into modeling?
“I got scouted by an agency in London when I was 18 going on 19 after dropping out of arts college. At that time, I was completely oblivious about the business and all that it entailed like going to castings, but before I knew it I walking a handful of shows. That soon snowballed into campaigns and shoots and here we are 12 or 13 years later and I’m still going. I’m 31 now, but I’m really bad at math!”
What was your first gig as a model?
“The first job I did was for Vivienne Westwood. After that, I did some showroom stuff for a few European brands. That got me seen by my now New York agency, Heroes. Once I signed with them I started doing stuff for Calvin Klein, Burberry, Yeezy, Willy Chavarria, Kenneth Cole, GQ, and Louis Vuitton. All these incredible things were happening all at once. It was all too fast for me to catch my breath and really grasp what was happening but it was all good stuff. I was also balancing being a hot head and going to protests with having to show up on time for fittings.”
What’s been the highlight so far when it comes to modeling?
“I’m really shocked by the work I’ve been able to do with Burberry because growing up it seemed like such a distant thing. The Beyoncé job that I did with her Ivy Park x Adidas Collection is always going to blow me away. I still can’t believe that exists. No matter what jobs I’ve booked, I still just feel like a regular queer Brooklyn boy who loves dogs and loves people and likes to help and work as much as I can. I’m in awe of the opportunities that I’ve had with some of these amazing teams. Little Yves would never have been able to believe it.”
Do you see modeling as an art form?
“Absolutely. The shoot that we did together with Steven Menendez for this interview felt very much like canvas and painter which is sometimes my favorite thing to be a part of because it feels like a collaboration. In its own way, modeling is art and the way that you can transform with—or without—a garment breathes life into that art. It’s also an art to be able to portray an emotion through a single image.”
What was your relationship with fashion before you got involved in modeling?
“I’ve always been a bit of a freak fashion kid. I’ve always liked go against the grain of what was happening around me. It’s just naturally how I am. I was poor, so my idea of doing something different was wearing a shirt inside out because the inside stitching was a different color. That was cool to me. Or I’d cut a hole in a random spot on my shirt for no reason and wear it like that’s how I’d bought it. I always did little details like that which I could do with no budget to make myself feel more original and comfortable in my skin.”
“What I like so much about working in fashion is that pretty much every person I meet was also that kid at some point themselves. They were looking for something that was a bit different to the other kids. One thing that I’d never take for granted is that through my career I feel like I’ve been able to find multiple voices through the way that I’ve been able to express myself. I’ve been able to do so without caring what other people think or have to say about what I’m doing.”
How you describe your own sense of style now?
“I wear what I want, when I want, how I want.”
Where does your love of music come from?
“As a kid, if I wasn’t at school, skateboarding, or playing middle league sports, I would be at my grandparents listening to old records like Tina Turner, The Temptations, New Edition, and David Bowie. I always had an affinity for the sound of music and I knew that I wanted to at least try to emulate the sounds that I heard in my head. I started playing a few instruments when I was a kid and putting pen to paper.”
“As an artist, no matter how much you get an idea out into the world, it’s never going to be a hundred percent what you hear in your head. You get as close to that as you can. I’m really grateful for what I’ve been able to get close to in terms of trying to replicate the sounds that I hear in my mind out into real life. Music is always going to have a place in my life in some capacity because it’s so important to me.”
What instruments did you learn?
“It was mainly keys. In elementary school I played the violin for five years because we had to, but I ended up really liking the sound which is why now I try to add a classical take with the production choices on some of my music. I like it when music, even without the lyrics, tells its own story.”
What can you say to give us a flavor of your upcoming album?
“It’s very groovy, a little spicy, and really good for driving at night.”
How do you want people to feel when they listen to it?
“Often people only associate attraction with being a physical thing and what gets lost is that there is an inner attractiveness that we also need to water and to take care of. I hope that when people listen to the album they feel attractive on the inside, which to me is an inevitable outcome of feeling attractive on the outside.”
Let’s get into some of the new songs. What inspired “Trap Disco” and how would you describe the vibe of that track?
“I love “Trap Disco” so much. I actually started writing that song after a dear friend of mine, a beautiful trans woman, died in San Francisco. I had this lyric in my notes: Trap Disco, trans girls run the world in San Francisco. At that time, our friend group was so focused on getting resources out there after everything had happened. That led to me writing the chorus and wanting to create this short but sweet and also very intentional anthemic pop sound in regards to a place where we could exist and be as people. A place where no one has control over the way that we think and the way that we feel. A place where we have full autonomy over our bodies and what we choose to do with them. That’s how “Trap Disco” came to be. I listen to it pretty frequently, which is something that I do with a lot of my music. Usually I’m like, ‘I should change this or that’, but that’s one song that I’ve made in recent years where I wouldn’t change a thing.”
I love “Born In the 90s” too. The way you sing it as “nine-zero-s” is fun and unexpected.
“When I was recording it, I wondered if people would think that I was singing in a different language! I’m spelling it out phonetically as ‘nine-zero-s’ instead of singing it as ’90s’ because there are already so many songs that reference the 90s and I wanted to have a different take on it.”
The video is beautiful.
“Thanks so much. We filmed it in Italy at a refugee housing center for kids who are without parents and we got to spend so much time with them. We went to this really beautiful rescue ranch with these bucking horses that we got to ride and spend time with. It was such an amazing experience. I really wanted to tie together how whether you grew up in the 90s in America, or outside of the Americas, we all have this relatability when it comes to struggle and joy.”
“Sometimes people will use distance and different terrain to differentiate how we’re supposed to feel about things. But I think you can relate to someone across the country just as much as you can relate to somebody who lives next to you. When I was writing “Born in the 90s”, I wanted to bring in emotions and fears and worries, but also the feeling of confidence of that you grow into as you’re experiencing these struggles.”
There aren’t enough songs about smell. It’s such a powerful, transporting sense and a major part of attraction of course. Tell me about your album track “Cologne”.
“Yeah, sometimes people downplay the effect and the power that smell has on us. A really strong good smell can transform and take hold of you to. There have been so many times when I’ve been at a party or in a club dancing with someone neck to neck and they smell amazing and it just kind of overtakes you. I feel that same way when I’m nostalgic or missing someone. Sometimes without even realizing it we will smell something that’ll remind us of that person. A really good food smell can take you back to a childhood meal even.”
“When I was writing “Cologne”, I was thinking of my person who smells amazing and going so long without seeing them, then going so far as buying the cologne that they wear and spraying it on my pillow because you miss them so much. That gets you so close, but not close enough because you simply need them to be there with you. You can buy the spray and find the smell, but nothing is going to compare to what it feels like to smell it when it’s against their skin. I wanted to write it in a way that felt timeless and as purposeful as I could lyrically. It’s saying, ‘I need you to come back right now because things are going wrong because I cannot smell you.'”
It struck me when I was listening to “Professional” that a lot of songs about sex tend to be about hooking up for the first time. There aren’t that many songs about a long-standing relationship where you get to know each other’s bodies. I really appreciated that about this song.
“You hit the nail on the head right there. There’s nothing more attractive and beautiful than consent and when consent is already the focal point of intimacy in those moments that we’re sharing, we have endless chances to explore each other. Once we’ve done that, we become each other’s professionals in that arena. We are professional to each other and only to each other.”
“One-night stands and hookups are fun, you can have a good time, but there’s something to be said about really getting to know someone intimately. It’s like when you study for a test and you know that you’re going to pass it because you’ve taken your time to do the research. People like to be studied and researched. They like to know that someone took the time to really get to know them. I think that transcends what’s happening physically because you’re so emotionally tapped into what this person wants. That’s really hot to me.”
You mentioned the music that you grew up listening to, but are there any specific musical influences for this album?
“I love music from the 70s and 80s so much. So there’s always going to be some pit of that in my work. That’s a part of this album along with a lot of R&B influences. I love Usher, he’s such an incredible artist. I love everything that Janet Jackson has done musically. I’m also a big fan of Alexander O’Neal. I’m really into Ambrosia, a group that people have sampled so often.”
“I love it when you’ve been listening to a song and it’s good but then you hear the original that it’s sampling and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is really good! No wonder someone wanted to try to replicate this.’ That’s why I keep going back to artists like Dionne Warwick and all these incredible musicians from 60s, 70s, and 80s because that music is so raw. It reminds me of the kind of music that I always wish to create. Something that’s raw and fresh and as honest as possible.”
It was great to see you in that beautiful episode of Survival of the Thickest season two, where you officiated Peppermint’s wedding. You were also in the feature film NYC Dreams. Is acting something that you’re looking to pursue more of?
“Definitely. I’d love to further myself in the craft of acting. I welcome it all because it makes me nervous. It really challenges me. I want to be different going out than I was coming in. I like to know that I’m going to be a part of something that’s going to change me and allow me to be better as an artist and as a human. I love working with people who I can learn from. When you’re committed to your art, growing as a person is an undeniable part of that process.”
How did you become involved with dog shelters and animal advocacy?
“I started working in animal rescue around 13 years ago. It’s always been solely focused on pit bulls. Through fostering dogs with the New York City Animal Care Center, it has evolved into me traveling to different shelters, near and far, to work with pit bulls and get them rescued and adopted out of shelters. Whether it’s through fostering or doing “Pit Bull Carpool” on my Instagram page, I do all that I can to put more eyes on these dogs and to show them in the way that I’ve always known them to be and not what the headlines and stereotypes say. People only see you as a stereotype is something that I can really relate to as a marginalized person. Sometimes just living your life is the best way to dispel those notions without even trying. Pit bulls can’t talk and if I couldn’t speak I would want someone with a platform, even if only two people are listening, to advocate on my behalf for the truth of who I am.”
What would you say to encourage anyone who was thinking about adopting or fostering a pit bull?
“It’s okay to be nervous, the dogs are nervous too, but you having even some degree of confidence in what the outcome is going to be will help you both.”
Final question for you, what’s your favorite piece of LGBTQ+ culture, or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and resonated with you?
“I love Ballroom culture. I have so many people who I would call my family who are integral to Ballroom culture. To me, it’s as sacred as the pyramids in Egypt. It’s beautiful and monumental and has saved lives and changed lives and continues to do that. I hope that we can protect it for as long as we live because kids need it.”
What was your introduction to Ballroom?
“When I was younger, before I even fully knew what Ballroom was, I would go with older queer friends to different vogue nights at clubs where people would walk face, walk body, and walk sex siren. Seeing a place where people could exist and take up space was a huge reminder of why it’s important to be confident out loud.”
By James Kleinmann
Yves Mathieu East’s latest singles “Trap Disco” and “Born in the 90’s” are available to stream and purchase digitally now. Follow him on Instagram @the_yvesdropper and subscribe to his YouTube channel.