‘First, last, and everything in between’ is an interview feature where upcoming artists talk about some of the favourite music from throughout their lives and how it’s influenced them.
Derby singer-songwriter, emzae (aka Emma Shaw) has been honing her alt-pop sound since the age of 17. Recent single, the spacey pop epic, I Guess, Anyway, was included in my mid-year roundup of 2023’s best tunes. Her debut album, All Those Things I Thought I Knew, is due out in September.
She answered the usual questions, talking through her musical loves; taking in plenty of 90’s pop and plenty of Damon Albarn. Also giving us some insight into her journey so far and what to expect from her debut album. Read the interview below, and you can listen along via the playlist for some of her picks, alongside some of her own tunes.
First song you remember falling in love with?
Viva Forever by Spice Girls. I still love it today. The guitar solo. The harmonies. The chills.
I think most people really start to form their musical ‘identity’ as teens. What music would best define your teenage years?
A curious mixture of Timbaland productions, Britney Spears, Solange and anything and everything ever made by, or involving, Damon Albarn.
When did you first start making music yourself and what’s your journey been like since then?
I’ve been making music all my life, really, but I started seriously putting stuff online in around 2014, and then properly giving stuff full releases and performing live in around 2018. I consider my song Lucid Dreaming to be my debut single proper. It’s been a massive journey for me, both musically and emotionally, because releasing and performing music has really opened up my world and introduced me to so many amazing new experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s really helped to build my self confidence above all else. I think I’ve come such a long way, but I still have a long way to go and there’s so much more music I’d like to make and so many skills that I’d like to improve.
What has most influenced your own music?
Obviously I’ve subconsciously absorbed various elements of my favourite music over the years, and that influences me of course, but most of the time when I’m creating I’m imagining landscapes, colours and feelings rather than literally telling myself I want to make a song that sounds like X, Y or Z.
What have been the defining moments in your career so far?
I will never forget the very first play I got on my local BBC Introducing show. That was one of the best moments of my life, honestly, because I had been going through a really dark time and that was like a light in that darkness. It also made me feel as though I wasn’t actually deluding myself, because other people thought there was something to love about my work.
Since then, some highlights include supporting Altered Images at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham – that was the first time I ever had a dressing room with my name on it, and also the first time I got to take a crowd selfie. Each editorial playlist add I get on Spotify and Apple Music is also a massive rush, because they are like gold dust due to the sheer amount of music being released every day. It was also amazing when I got played on 6music, and some of the articles and reviews people write about my music have been amazing to read.
There was one recently where someone said my album was shaping up to be one of the best of 2023, which absolutely blew my mind, and another where someone said they hoped I got the cult following I deserved. It’s just so incredible to read things like that, because this can be a very isolating career and you get so many rejections and savage feedback that you can begin to doubt yourself massively. I also sometimes receive really lovely and thoughtful comments and DMs from listeners, which equally mean the world to me. Honestly, that even one person could listen to my work and find something within it that they connect to is just amazing.
What’s your go-to sad song?
Either something off Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey, A Design for Life by Manic Street Preachers or a Blur song like This is a Low or Strange News from Another Star.
Go-to banger?
WOW that’s a difficult question. I think one of the best choruses of all time is Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry. I also absolutely adore Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control) by Groove Armada feat. Mutya Buena, and although it’s not a banger, I just want to mention that The Roof by Mariah Carey is definitely in my top 5 favourite songs of all time because it’s quite literally perfect.
Your chance to really prove your hipster credentials – an obscure favourite that not many people will know?
Dolphin by Poe basically feels like it explains my twenties, and I love it.
Your guilty pleasure?
I don’t actually believe in the term guilty pleasure, but I have many that would be considered as such. We’re going to Ibiza! by Vengaboys, Saturday Night by Whigfield, countless more. I keep them all on a playlist when I need to cheer myself up!
Your debut album is due out soon; what can we expect from it and what does it mean to you?
It means everything! I am expecting to feel a rollercoaster of emotions when it does come out, and I’m hoping to have some time off afterwards to finally go outdoors! My debut album has been six years in the making, and those six years have seen massive changes in my life – I quit my day job to focus on music, and there was an entire pandemic.
The album itself is a genre-twisting pop album written right in the middle of my twenties, during an incredibly unstable time in the world. It deals with themes of confusion, change, self-doubt and ambiguous loss. It is also about my experiences of navigating adulthood and making sense of life with a chronic illness. It gets deep at times, but I hope there is also some dark humour in there and some empowering moments. I am most proud of the fact that it is written, recorded, produced and mixed entirely by me in my bedroom.
Finally. What’s the last song you fell in love with?
Oh No Darling! By Sarah Kinsley
emzae’s latest single, Some Kind of Cliché, is out now. Check out the video on YouTube below. And you can follow her social channels/music via the icon links.
(Photo credit: Nigel King)
You can read previous editions of ‘First, last, and everything in between’ via the archives here.
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