Q: You wrote your first song during an 8th grade math class. How do you feel your lyrical talent has progressed since then? What has helped along the way?
EMMROSE: It’s so funny looking back at the lyrics I wrote back in middle school! I’ve definitely improved as a lyricist since then, but honestly what I did write wasn’t that terrible, though definitely a bit cringy haha. 8th grade was when I started getting into literature, such as novels written by Jane Austen and Fitzgerald. I remember very vividly how I felt during that time of my life, I kept a pretty extensive diary, but even without that I remember a lot of what I was going through. Music was what I turned to when I couldn’t express myself any other way. I was dealing with a lot of mental health issues, so music was there for me when I needed to work out what I was really feeling. I still feel like that today— when I write songs, it’s always a way to process what I’m going through. I’ve definitely grown since 8th grade, but the spirit of why I write music is still very much the same.
Q: Your new song, “Brave New World” is an introspective view on our conflicting political and social world. Was there one particular incident that triggered its provoked chorus, “It’s a mind field in our brave utopia, they fill our head with lies. Can we run to truth and euphoria before that hope dies?”
EMMROSE: My new single “Brave New World” was very much a political and social commentary. I’ve been very inspired recently by novels such as 1984 and Brave New World, which is where the title of my song came from. I was taking a class at my university about disinformation, especially what is going on in Russia and the war in Ukraine— it’s just all so awful. When I see who is actually fighting in the war, it’s all people my age or even younger. I truly feel for the Russian people, who are just being fed lies from their government. The disinformation campaigns that Russia is leading are resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands, and the destruction of the peaceful and beautiful nation of Ukraine. I am just disgusted with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, and my heart goes out to any Russian citizens who are speaking out against him, even though the consequences may be deadly. I wrote this song before the war started, but I feel its message is more important than ever.
Q: You won best new pop album with your debut EP, “Hopeless Romantics” for the “We Are the Music Makers” awards. As a newly emerging artist, how did this moment condition you for the music industry?
EMMROSE: It was such an honor to win an award! I released my debut EP right when the pandemic started, and so in the first few weeks of quarantine I really started to focus on my music career. It was just amazing how I got some recognition for my work, and I was just so amazed to have won the WAM Award for Best Pop Album.
Q: Your lyrics evoke emotional depth and spiritual perception. Where do you pull these feelings from?
EMMROSE: I pull my lyrics from so much in my life, from living in NYC to the people I’ve met and the ones I’ve loved. My song “Thorns” is a perfect example of this, I think, as each verse is about a different song that I’ve written. It even mentions Brave New World! Thorns was an incredibly cathartic song to write, and I get really emotional whenever I perform it.
Q: In your song “Four Voices,” you write from a synesthesia perspective with, “There awful colors in my head, 20 rainbows watch them bloom.” Have you always processed life this way?
EMMROSE: “Four Voices” was such a journey to write! When I first started writing the song, I was in a toxic “on again off again” relationship, and I was second guessing everything I said or did. The “four voices” came from all the voices in my head, outlining possible conversations I could have or things that I would want to happen. Then I started realizing how crazy I must have sounded, so I started to write from the perspective of someone quite different from me, as their “voices” were far more intense. The lines “there are four colors in my head / twenty rainbows watch them bloom / someone told me it was just a distraction / to stay away from you” are definitely describing a sort of synesthesia, but I was also inspired by the concept that this was all just going on in the narrator’s head, and that these colors were just a distraction from their reality. I don’t believe that I have full blown synesthesia, but I do visualize colors and images when I listen to music. I wanted this song to do the same, in a very dreamy almost creepy way.
Q: You are currently in the middle of creating a fashion line. What sorts of creative influences have inspired your vision and who is your target audience?
EMMROSE: Yes! I have merch designs! Fashion is such an important part of my life. I love expressing myself with what I wear— and it was just amazing to work with an artist to bring about my dream vision for my merch! I love the “cottage-core” and “fairy-grunge” aesthetic, and so I honestly wanted to have merch that if I were to walk into a cool clothing store, I would want to buy it.
Interviewed by Molly Byrne
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