Inside WHATMORE’s Blueprint for World Domination
Half-asleep in a tour van somewhere between Glasgow and London, WHATMORE are bleary-eyed and bursting with spirit—when we catch up with New York’s rising boyband, they’re rounding off their world tour. They may have traded chicken shop pop-ups for Coachella stages but their hustle mentality is still alive and kicking.
WHATMORE in 2026. Image property of Razy Faouri.
When you compare New York and London on paper, the similarities quickly make you realise why they’re called twin cities. Melting pots of culture, tall skyscrapers and chicken shops are some of the quintessential elements of the two. But in recent years, the cities have found another exciting similarity—a bustling underground scene.
As the likes of Fakemink and EsDeeKid win over North American crowds, across the Atlantic WHATMORE have been charming European audiences with their inaugural world tour this month, warming the crowds in support of Joey Valence & Brae.
Having just played Coachella a couple of weeks ago, it’s no wonder that NYC’s rising hip-hop boyband are exhausted. They’re talking to us whilst half-asleep on the way to London in their tour van after ticking off Glasgow and Liverpool on their list.
“I think Liverpool was our best show so far. The crowd was jumping crazy. We went to Penny Lane, The Cavern Club, all The Beatles hotspots. We’ve been trying to see as much as we can, trying to live like the locals, definitely trying to do the same in London when we get there,” says Sebastiano.
Surrounded by the rest of the crew—namely, Cisco Swank, Yoshi T., Jackson August and Elijah Judah—Sebastiano’s eyes light up when talking about the various foods they’ve consumed, with Irn-Bru surprisingly a common favourite in the collective.
Their playfulness has been building for years. The band first crossed paths during their time at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts (alumni include Nicki Minaj, Timothee Chalamet and Al Pacino). Their genius became evident to the masses through their flips of viral TikTok tracks in 2024, laying verses on instrumentals from Clairo, Mk.gee, Mac DeMarco and even Britain’s own Bakar.
They soon became the internet’s newest music obsession, but despite their online success, the boys knew they still had to take their music live. Jackson says, “When the Tik Tok stuff started moving, obviously we were like, ‘This is fucking nuts!’ But at the same time, we’ve seen the pitfalls of it just staying on the internet. We had been super immersed in the New York underground scene for years so we’d already been doing shows. This internet thing was newer to us.”
“We’re gonna be making movies. World fucking domination. We’re taking over the world.”
From pop-ups in Chinese restaurants and chicken shops (where they also shot their music video for the aptly titled track “chicken shop date”) to being on some of the iconic platforms like COLORS, WHATMORE’s rise might seem like it happened overnight—but that’s where the average listener would go wrong. Despite releasing in 2025, their debut album had been mostly ready a year before. They slept on it until the time was right.
As executive producer Elijah puts it, “It was very much not a hibernation. We were super aware of the fact that social media is the way to reach the masses. There’s so many great artists that get lost in the algorithm, so we knew we had to create demand for our music by making content, to get people anticipating before we hit them with the album.”
More than just singles leading to the album, the group also hit fans with music videos. The Big Apple is always in the background to different tracks, no matter the weather (or lyrics). New York has had a massive impact on their music and their mindset.
Cisco recalls nonchalantly, “We went to high school in Manhattan so, we were waking up at six just to get on the train and go to school. From an early age, we just had that hustle mentality. People come to New York from all over the world to hustle. You can't live in New York, bro, and not have the hustle. It's ingrained in the music we make, it just comes out naturally.”
Nowhere else is that hustle more evident than WHATMORE’s INTROs series on YouTube. Comprising five short videos with all members’ individual stories, the series allows fans to know the labour behind their craft. Shot by rising director Patrick Linehan, viewers learn about the family relationships, the emotional cost and how the group’s navigating the early stages of their career.
Like their varied personal stories, the WHATMORE album also boasts a multitude of different genres coming together in the studio, combining rap, R&B and indie rock into one package. Sebastiano, taking a sip of (and almost spilling) his Tim Hortons, explains what a typical studio session is like.
He shares, “Someone lays a piece down and we all put our ideas on it. It's like a puzzle piece almost, deciding the different verses, hooks and the chorus. So that is really fun. There are no rules and that means we get to make different songs about different topics. You know, talk about some shorties.” The whole van erupts in laughter as Jackson quickly interjects, “We don't only talk about shorties!”
The organised chaos in the studio has been translating well with fans in the crowd, especially those who were fighting the heat in Coachella Valley this April. With it being the boys’ first ever time going to the festival, seeing other artists meant just as much as opening for Justin Bieber.
A wide smile takes over Cisco’s face as he remembers their time in the desert. “We got to connect with so many more people [at Coachella]. Not just the artists, but the musicians and the crews behind them. Seeing 54 Ultra, Turnstile, all these artists we’ve been listening to for years—very blessed to have done that. We also shared a trailer with PinkPantheress.”
PinkPantheress is not the only artist from this side of the world that WHATMORE have been dazzled by. Their dream dinner party would host an array of different British musicians across generations: The Beatles, Jim Legxacy, Feng and Arctic Monkeys. It’s the latter that left more than just a sonic imprint; Jackson, a big fan of the Sheffield group, rubs his hands together and thinks back to the first shows.
He says, “Alex Turner and Arctic Monkeys are the reason I make the music that I make. When they got popping, they were playing DIY shows around Sheffield and handing out that first album on CDs. Definitely took a little inspo from that with doing our own pop-up stuff. Alex Turner wasn’t doing no Tik Toks. You’ve always got to have that DIY spirit.”
Like the NYC rap groups that came before and served a big inspiration to their sound—such as Harlem’s A$AP Mob and Brooklyn’s Pro Era—WHATMORE show no sign of stopping. They continue to work on their singles and their shows.
“You can’t live in New York, bro, and not have the hustle. It’s ingrained in the music we make, it just comes out naturally.”
Elijah, switching channels on the tour van TV, reveals their current obsession: “We’re doing this thing called A side/A side. It’s a bunch of double singles that gotta be bangers. So we’re cooking those in the studio, making tracks knowing we gotta live up to the hype. It’s a fun little challenge but we’re prepared.”
Fans got a taste of their ambition through the double release of “Still Loiteringgg” and “2000s Pop Punk Rnb” in March, with those releases showcasing WHATMORE’s multi-genre genius. Featuring smooth drum patterns and a melodic groove, “Still Loiteringgg” carries all the hallmarks of a 90’s classic, while “2000s Pop Punk Rnb” is anchored by crisp, head-nodding drum breaks, pairing loose, guitar-tinged vocal delivery with a soaring, hook-laden chorus that feels instantly familiar yet refreshingly new.
The latter’s music video is also a collective favourite among the lads. Sebastiano says, “It came out pretty perfect in my eyes. Jackson definitely cooked really hard with that one. It was a love story featuring Sean Kauffman who we went to high school with. Filming music videos has been one of my favourite experiences. We’re just in the city pulling shit off. We don't got permits or nothing.”
Their plans for 2026 aren’t just limited to singles, as they look to scale up their creative universe. Whilst scrolling on his laptop, Jackson concludes what the rest of the year has in store for fans. “We’re forming the second album, which will drop sometime next year. We’re doing Reading and Leeds, freaking Capitol Hill Block Party, Lollapalooza. Skits. We’re gonna be making movies. World fucking domination. We’re taking over the world.”
In an industry that often chews up internet obsessions and spits them out just as quickly, WHATMORE’s refusal to give into algorithmic pressures is their ultimate superpower. More than just fans, they’ve also got industry heavyweights like Laundry Day (who they went on tour with), Leon Thomas and Role Model co-signing them, and even legendary journalist Zane Lowe (or “Z-LOOO”, as Cisco calls him) interviewing them for his show.
A similar tour de force that Lowe conversed with in 2019 were 13 odd guys, notorious for being covered in blue paint and redefining the meaning of a boyband—namely BROCKHAMPTON. WHATMORE’s sound and trajectory has already drawn comparisons on social media between the two collectives.
And as we wind down our conversation and the New York band prepare to take a much needed nap in their tour van ahead of their next show, it seems that they’re getting closer to that world domination that they speak of, one roadtrip at a time.