Hannah Grey Emma Louise’s melodic musings spilled onto the scene early last year with her EP Full Hearts and Empty Rooms, which has since gone gold with 35,000 sales. Now the songstress has toured worldwide and signed with US indie label Frenchkiss Records; her debut album is set for release in early 2013. Hannah Grey chats to Emma Louise about her upcoming Sparks Tour, how that heady hit “Jungle” really affected her musical career and what it was like to be courted with snail appetisers. HG: Your debut EP, Full Hearts and Empty Rooms, has gone gold with 35,000 sales. Did you anticipate it would be such a success? EL: No, I really didn’t. I didn’t even expect it to be on the radio! I recorded it a few streets away from my house, back home in Cairns and it was a really low-key event. Your song “Jungle” proved to be really popular, and it was number 23 on the 2011 Triple J Hottest 100. Do you feel this put pressure on you to continue this kind of success in your upcoming album? It definitely did at first, before I started recording my new album. I had noticed that at live shows many people
had come just to hear “Jungle” and were kind of talking through the rest of my set. That sucked a bit, but then again if it weren’t for “Jungle” then people wouldn’t have come to my shows at all. At the same time, it is really important for me not to write ten more songs like “Jungle” and I am happy that I have been able to stay true to what I have always wanted to do. Do you want to talk a little bit about your new single, “Boy”, from your upcoming album? It has been getting a lot of airplay on Triple J. I am really happy with “Boy”, because I wasn’t trying to replicate “Jungle”, and I was just writing about what I felt, so it worked out really well. In fact, my whole album isn’t just going to have ten singles on it, you know. I am really pleased with how it’s going because I feel really strongly about all the songs on the album too. “Boy” is about someone who maybe smokes a bit too much and could be making better choices in their life. I guess everyone knows someone a bit like that. Again, I didn’t really think it would be a single, which is good because I didn’t write it to be a single. I am really happy that it has been getting a lot of airplay. My friend absolutely loves “1000 Sundowns”. Can you tell me what this song is about? Oh yeah. That one I wrote about my auntie and uncle. It’s kind of the story of their relationship. They met when 28