Emerging singer-songwriter Ettie enjoys a lot of wine and is extremely emotional. She has a talent for experimenting with words and ideas that are deeply ingrained in our society to produce a distinctive brand of storytelling. She is a graduate of English Literature and an expert on the angst of millennials. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
ETTIE: Iโve always been writing stories. Itโs something that got me through my childhood to just live inside my imagination and write about the world around me. As I grew up and I started to listen to and fall in love with more and more music, I realised that I could combine the two things I love and write songs. Itโs definitely taken me a while to get here, but now I couldnโt see my life without writing songs about it and sharing them with people.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
ETTIE: I am completely self-taught and I actually have a fun story about that! I am ambidextrous, and I struggle with my lefts and rights. So when I picked up a guitar for the first time it was my sisters, and I put on a YouTube video about how to play guitar. I kept repeating what the guy was doing but it didnโt sound right. After about 2 hours of struggling I let down my pride and went to ask her for help, and she just picked up the guitar and turned it the other way around and left the room. I had tried to play it left-handedly, and I didnโt think that the strings wouldnโt match!
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name โETTIE?
ETTIE: I always credit hearing the bridge of โGotta Go My Own Wayโ in High School Musical 2 as the spark in my songwriting journey, itโs just so beautiful! (This is only half a joke). On a serious note, listening to Paramore, Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy growing up really showed me I could use storytelling as a part of songwriting, and thatโs where the pop-punk homage in my sound comes from. And ettie is actually my nickname in real life!
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
ETTIE: My music is like, to put it plainly, super gay. I no longer hold back my queerness in my lyrics and my sound, and I want to connect with as many queer peoplesโ experience as possible as our narratives have been unsung for so long.
5. What has been the most difficult thing youโve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
ETTIE:
I had a mental health crisis last year that caused me to take a 6 month break. Looking back it was the best decision I couldโve done for my health, as Iโm doing much much better now, but I sometimes hate that I had to drop the momentum on my career. I was performing so many gigs and meeting so many people, and of course that has slowed down. But Iโm trying my best to get out there again and continue doing what I love.
6. Whatโs your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles โ and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
ETTIE:
In my mind, music canโt be taken out of historical context as a means of bringing people together. It has been a binding force for humans since the dawn of time, and so it has practical and emotional functions. Politically, culturally, spiritually and socially, music has the power to change, deconstruct, confront and mould. I think as a LGBTQ+ artist I am automatically entering myself into these spheres, as my identity and sexuality is โdebatedโ and argued against every day. My music exists because Iโm queer, not outside of it, and I feel the more queer artists that attach their sexualities to their music have a greater chance at getting us heard.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
ETTIE:
The music industry is so difficult now! Itโs so easy to lose yourself in streaming numbers and analytics, when really all we want to do is make sense of the world and sing our silly little tunes. My attitude changes daily, but I try to remain true to the little girl in me who just wanted to sing songs and have people enjoy them.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
ETTIE: I nearly exclusively write all my songs on public transport. I donโt know what it is! I think it is partly the fact that I have this liminal space mentally when I am moving from one destination to another, so I finally have space to think about my life. Then a metaphor or a concept will come in my head and Iโll frantically try and record a voice note before someone catches what Iโm doing. And then Iโll build my songs around those small sparks of ideas. Iโll sit down with my guitar the next day and get the story going.
9. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
ETTIE: Hearing people sing the words of my songs!! The best feeling in the world.
10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
ETTIE: I think both of these can exist at once. I am someone that really gets attached to the world behind a song, be that my own songs or another artistโs. I love knowing context about a song, what the artistโs inspiration is, but I also love how there is a secondary meaning made by what it makes me feel and how I can relate it to my own life. As a queer artist I really want to make sure that shines through in my songs, but as much as I could selfishly wish my music isnโt taken out of that context, songs are free to be listened to and absorbed by all, and if I can resonate with even one person in any way thatโs good enough for me.
KEEP IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY
