Youngr

Dario Darnell wouldn't be where he is now if he'd grown a little bit more. At school he was a prodigious basketball talent, playing on a national level, with his eyes set on playing professionally. “But then I got to 13,” he laughs, “and all my mates shot up, and I stayed the same size!” So, instead, he fixed his sights on music, and – though it's been a long and peculiar path from there to his current success as Youngr, with millions of YouTube views and dedicated fans all over the world – hasn't looked back.

Buoyed by this, he put out his first Youngr single proper 'Out of my System' in the summer of 2016 – but he didn't give up on the cover versions, though, and released his rework of Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition alongside it. These two together very quickly made waves way beyond the substantial YouTube following he'd already built. His version of Sweet Disposition racked up no less than 15 million plays online in just a few weeks. The exponential viral success could've been too much for some – it even led to him getting to tour South America, where his fan base was vast and crazed. He had to be hustled out of airports, protected by bodyguards, and everywhere was surrounded by hundreds of kids trying to get him into their Snapchats.

He'd better be ready for even more success, mind. With his first official Youngr single now over 15 million plays and counting, it looks like the constant upwards trajectory he's been on since he first had to give up his sporting ambitions at 13 isn't going to stop soon. But this product of the hyper-modern world – conquering the world on a wave of computer clicks, worshipped by kids as a “YouTuber” – is also a very traditional musician, inspired by his father and by generation of proper pop stars, and with skills honed through years of practice and paying of dues. So there is no doubt at all that he's got what it takes to build on what he's achieved so far. He might have been working for years already, but his ambitions to make 'global' pop are undimmed: Youngr has only just begun.