Hey Emmrose! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a 15 year old singer-songwriter from New York. I go to LaGuardia High School, which is a performing arts school in Manhattan. I started writing music when I was 12 years old, and well, It’s always been a part of me, but when I started playing around with the piano, I started to write music. At first it was just for fun, and then I started writing songs like “Dangerous Eyes”, and thought wow, this is what I really like to do. It became something that I couldn’t live without. I can take little things that happen in my life and write melodies and poems to show exactly how I was feeling at that moment.
You just released your new single “Dangerous Eyes”! Can you tell us the meaning behind the song? How did the idea for this song come about?
It’s about a boy I liked. I asked him to go get coffee with me, just as a casual thing, and he turned to me and said, “Don’t take this personal, but I hate you.”
I felt really sad, and I felt like an outsider. I was in math class when I wrote this song, and he sat and worked with a group of my friends, whereas I sat alone, and they laughed at me. He looked at me with such a look in his eyes, which made me like him even more. Because he had those Dangerous Eyes.
It’s essentially a song about liking someone who is not a good person. He was not nice to me. He would say awful things to me, so I wrote the lyrics “Hold back that dangerous tongue, that steals the breath of my lungs.” I liked what I couldn’t get.
What’s the process of writing one of your songs?
This could go many ways. In the past, I would always have some sort of a melody in mind. and then I would write the lyrics first. I used to have trouble with putting together the chords. Later I started writing the piano part first and play around with some chords, and then I would sing over it and just improvise, and then some things would stick. After that I would go to my phone and I would start writing lyrics, sometimes even writing the entire song in 15 minutes after I broke through with the one lyric that inspired it. Having that one break through lyric is key.
Many times I sit with a song for a week just fine tuning the lyrics and chords. The most important thing is the inspiration. It’s always about “somebody” or a combination of a few people. Every song I have ever written has really taken root from a person.
Are you excited to start performing your new single live?
Actually I’ve been performing this song for a while. I wrote this song when I was 13.
What’s the feeling you get when you are performing live?
It’s like all the thoughts that were in my mind disappear, and every inch of doubt disappears. It is a feeling of joy. I love performing. I love looking out to an audience. And it also feels great to be able to perform my own music.
You also have your debut EP Hopeless Romantics coming out this summer!! Can you spill any details on the new EP?
Oh, sure! I’m super excited, I’ve been working on this EP for a year now. I play the ukulele on a few songs, and all of the songs are connected in a way, mostly because they are all written about the same person. Every song is unique, and it was a lot of fun working in the studio.
Why do you think social media is so important for artists today?
I really don’t like social media. It makes people obsessive over petty things like how many ‘likes’ they have for a photo. It’s always a contest to show yourself in the best lighting and it’s just fake to me. It’s not “you”. it’s the “look how perfect my life is” you. I also think it is affecting people negatively and we find ourselves putting filters on our faces to make ourselves look better.
But on the other side, it is important for artists today, definitely, it’s a great use for discovering artists that you wouldn’t normally find – like Clairo. I found one of her videos as it went viral on YouTube and I absolutely love her. I think she is adorable, and I would never have found her if it hadn’t been for social media.
Do you have any last things to tell your supporters?
I’m determined to write a “happy” song! Stay tuned for that!
FOLLOW EMMROSE:
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