Austin Butler Talks Releasing Music, Taking Breaks and Letting Loose for New Fragrance Campaign

By Tim Chan

Tim Chan

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It’s high noon on a classic sunny LA day, but Austin Butler is casting a moody shadow behind the balcony of the El Rey Theatre in Miracle Mile. The lights are dimmed and stage curtains drawn in the historic art deco venue, with no act booked to perform, save for the 34-year-old actor, who’s been dutifully fielding questions from journalists all morning about his new Yves Saint Laurent fragrance campaign.

Dressed in a tight black T-shirt, black jeans and boots, Butler is mid-way through his latest interview when his phone suddenly begins to ring.

“Oh, it’s my gratitude alarm,” he says, apologetically. “I have one set every two hours, and then I need to name three things I’m grateful for.”

What is he grateful for today?

“I’m grateful to meet you,” he says in a bluesy bass drawl, while flashing a sly movie star smile that leaves this writer flushed. “I am grateful that we get to be in this cool place. And that the weather is so beautiful today.”

Butler has another thing to be grateful for this week, as the actor dances up a storm in a new campaign video for YSL Beauty, promoting the brand’s latest fragrance release, MYSLF Eau de Toilette Intense.

Set to a remix of Billy Idol’s 1961 hit, “Dancing With Myself,” the new clip follows Butler though a day in his life, from getting dressed after a workout, to driving to a dinner party, to chasing the sunset high in the hills. And yes, there’s plenty of solo dancing from the actor — from rooftops to rain-soaked streets — with Butler at his most charismatic, and carefree.

Shot in Mexico City earlier this year and directed by French filmmaker Romain Gavras (best known for directing music videos for M.I.A., Kanye West, and Jay-Z), the commercial offers feel-good vibes that reflect the “freedom” and “joy” of the new fragrance, per a release.

As YSL Beauty notes, the campaign unites “Billy Idol’s belief in self-expression with Yves Saint Laurent’s defiance of rules,” with a magnetic Butler embracing the “intoxicating allure of modernity and the desire to be oneself.”

For the actor, who has been the YSL Beauty Global Ambassador since 2023, the new campaign was a chance to show off his playful side, while collaborating with a director he’s long idolized.

“I’ve wanted to work with Romain for years,” Butler tells Rolling Stone. “He had this movie called Our Day Will Come and I watched it two days in a row, years ago, when I was 20. So I’d been wanting to work with him for a long time. And he had this idea for a campaign that leaned away from the drama that one could lean into for a fragrance campaign, and instead have fun with music and play,” he says. “So it was an awesome experience.”

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The new fragrance is bold and bright, with “masculine floral” notes mixing with warm woods, citrus, bergamot, and white musk. YSL Beauty says the new formula “reveals an extremely long-lasting intensity,” with a freshness that lasts up to eight hours.

Gratitude checklist fulfilled, Butler sat down with Rolling Stone at the El Rey to talk about his new campaign, his favorite musical memories, and why 20 years into his career, he’s got a lot to be thankful for.

You’re a YSL Beauty ambassador and doing this commercial for the new MYSLF Eau de Toilette, so is it safe to assume you’re a big fragrance guy?

Yes! My mom had a perfume and my dad had a cologne, and I have vivid memories of like, not even being tall enough to get into the little cabinet that they would keep it in, and wanting to spray my dad’s cologne on.

What is it about fragrances that appeals to you?

I love the whole process, and anytime somebody has a passion and they obsess about that thing, and so, to talk to the perfumiers and smell the fragrances while they’re in development, I really appreciate that. It’s like that documentary, Somm — you ever watch that? It’s about sommeliers. Oh my gosh, I watched that on a plane and it brought me to tears, to see somebody that passionate.

I was going to say like, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Yes! Yes! [getting animated]

He just works on rice for years.

Exactly!

Have there ever been campaigns or partnerships that you’ve been offered where it’s obviously not the right fit?

I mean, there have been clothing companies that didn’t… well, they’re just not my style. And not because they’re bad; they’re just not what I tend to wear. So I try to find what feels authentic to me.

Would you ever release your own fragrance?

There hasn’t been a conversation at this point yet, but I mean, I keep an open mind about all things.

What about releasing music? We all heard you sing in Elvis.

Over the years, I’ve had musicians who will kind of give me ideas, especially during the Elvis time, where I just got to be around a lot of really great musicians, and we would play together, but would I ever release music? I don’t know. I like to obsess about one thing, and right now, I’m just really focused on what I’m doing and the space that I’m in, but I love music — it’s like my therapy.

How did you first get into music?

Growing up in LA, there was a lot of great music that I was able to see at a young age. I remember when I was 12 or 13, I went to see Peaches at The Wiltern.

There was an all-ages show for Peaches?

Oh, I mean, I snuck in. That was a wild show.

I was going to say…

And then I discovered music festivals when I was a kid, and my first year going to Coachella, we sort of pitched our little camp by the main stage, and it was the Black Keys, and then Bon Iver, and then Radiohead. And that was one of the greatest experiences, just to see them back to back like that. Just imagine the sun setting, the sun goes down, and Radiohead comes on. That was one of the best bits of live music I’ve ever seen.

Do you write music or play any instruments?

I play piano and guitar, but I didn’t take lessons. I was staying with my grandmother when I was probably 11 or 12, and she had a book called “How to Play Piano Overnight.” It was basic music theory and in the course of a weekend, I understood music for the first time, in a way where I could then basically improvise on it.

When’s the last time you played?

I played piano this morning.

What kind of piano do you have?

Well right now, ’cause I’m in this rental, it’s just a little upright.

And what did you play?

This morning I played, “Like Spinning Plates,” the live version. I had played “Like Spinning Plates” when I was 20-something, and then after a few years, it just wasn’t in my head anymore. And then I was in London, like, a year ago, and I thought, ‘Oh, I wonder how I did that?’ And so I started listening to it, and I figured it out again. And now, I find that if you step away for a bit, and then you come back, it kind of gets more into your bones.

You started acting almost 20 years ago and you seem to be busier than ever. Do you ever fantasize about just taking a long vacation somewhere or an extended break?

Well, I do take those times now more than I have in the past. I just got back a few days ago from a sailing trip in the Bahamas for two weeks, in the Exumas. I went with a few friends, and there was no crew on the ship; it was just the five of us on a sailboat. And I was with my friend Tom, who turned 83 on the boat. And he’s a guy that will tell me straight. He’s lived so much more life, so the perspective that he gives me on life, and all the different chapters of life, I just find it very life affirming.

What keeps you motivated and inspired these days?

I think it’s curiosity. And as we were talking about earlier, gratitude. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunities that I have, because I remember so deeply being like, a 15-year-old kid going on hundreds of auditions and not booking anything, and then you finally book one line on a TV show. And so, I feel so grateful to be able to work with the people that I’ve wanted to work with for a long time, and I also know that careers ebb and flow. You have a period of time where there’s opportunity, and then, you know, it’s not promised that they will always be there. I just feel so fortunate to get the opportunities, and I have so many people that I still want to work with. And I kind of know that this is a special window of time.