HEY YOU! EMMA BRADLEY
Hi Emma! It's been a minute since your last release, what have you been up to?
Hello! Yeah, honestly so much has been going on! I’ve been super busy with life and music stuff, I feel like a totally different person to the last time I was putting music out in this way. I’ve been spending my time working hard on a lot of things I’m excited about, which I can’t wait to share soon. But also I’ve been doing a lot of growing and learning, I feel like I’ve really come back into myself over the last 6 months or so. It’s been quite an evolutionary time for me as a person and as an artist. So that’s fun, we love that!
Your upcoming releases will be your first since going independent; has this impacted your approach to making music?
I think going independent, whilst initially daunting, really reignited this sense of determination and motivation in me to believe in myself and just do it. It’s been really empowering to be able to show myself how much I can achieve when I set my mind to something that I’m so truly passionate about. With this next set of music, I’ve had full creative control over everything, even down to painting the graphics for the visualisers and all the minor details. I’ve loved every second of that.
At the end of last year I put out a piano piece, which is something I would never have dreamed of doing before. I wouldn’t have even finished it if it hadn’t resonated in the way it did online. I was so taken back by it all and it really helped me regain my confidence. It showed me the importance of creating and releasing stuff that felt entirely truthful to me and to not overthink what I’m putting out so much.
Overall I feel like I’ve just used this change as an opportunity to really remember who I am as an artist and work even harder towards my goals in the most authentic way I can.
How do you apply your synesthesia to your songwriting?
My synesthesia always just acts as a kind of guiding force for me when I’m writing. If I start writing something and I can visualise what the song looks like and feels like really quickly, it’s usually then an indication to me that I should finish it. It also weirdly helps me finish songs quicker sometimes, if I get really in the zone with it I feel like it all becomes really tangible to me and I can visualise what the rest of the song needs to be quite fast in my head. Then it’s just about putting the puzzle pieces in place like writing the lyrics and finding the right melodies.
In terms of ADHD, I guess being recently diagnosed I’m not sure how much of my process is impacted by it or not yet as I’m still learning so so so much about it and myself. But I definitely think being able to have multiple tabs open in my head at once or the ability to jump super fast from idea to idea can be quite helpful when I’m writing a song. Sometimes the brain chaos is good… sometimes! Haha
What's next for Emma Bradley? Where can people follow you?
I’ll be putting out a lot of music in the next few months which I’m so excited about! And beyond that the plan is to just keep putting songs out and to get better at producing. I have a lot of music and a lot of ideas… it’s gonna be fun! I also would love to play some shows this year, so watch this space for that. I’m most active on instagram/tiktok/twitter and my handle is @emma.brad on instagram and @emmanbradley on tiktok and twitter! Come say hi!
Tell us a little bit about the producing process for Serotonin Skies, and has this changed since your last release?
Yes! So this song means a lot to me because it’s the first song I’m releasing that is produced and written by only me. For my past releases I’ve had collaborators, but this song is like my baby because it all came from me and the inside of my head!
I’d always been really curious about production and I’d always had a pretty clear idea of how I wanted my music to sound. I think I felt frustrated when I would write a song by myself and be able to envision how I wanted it to sound, but was unable to achieve that. So I started learning to produce and this was one of the first songs I properly produced. It’s been a totally different process and I’ve had incredible support for which I’m really grateful for. I’ve learnt SO much it’s unreal. It’s been so rewarding to have been able to make music that sounds exactly like the inside of my brain and also it meant that the writing process was so much more intimate and personal, which is cool!
Explicitly queer music has really boomed over the past couple of years, has this helped direct you on your own songwriting path?
I know and I love it! Growing up I definitely wasn’t exposed to music about queerness in the way that it exists now, so it’s really cool and healing to see. Seeing Chappell Roan win best new artist at the Grammy’s as an out lesbian was honestly such a moment. She’s incredible and it’s such important representation for young queer people to see people like her winning.
In terms of my own songwriting I feel like my references to queerness are often quite subtle. Especially in terms of the music I have already released. But this isn’t because of any intentional reason, I think it’s almost a mindless thing. For example serotonin skies is about queer heartbreak and loneliness, but none of the lyrics explicitly state this. For me when I’m writing I don’t like to think about anything too much and I find that’s when my most honest songs come about. I don’t know how to explain it fully but I think when I am writing songs about my own experience they feel inherently queer to me, because my experience is that of being a queer person? If that makes any sense at all haha. I don’t know. I have definitely recently written some songs that are a lot more obviously queer, so maybe I’m just finding my groove and still exploring it!
