EMMY MELI TALKS NEW EP HELLO STRANGER

Emmy Meli is a twenty-three-year-old rising pop star, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Always interested in pursuing art and music, her passion for songwriting developed at an early age. Growing up listening to iconic R&B and soul artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Lauryn Hill, and Barbara Lewis, Emmy became inspired to find her style of music and pursue it. Her smooth, beautiful voice is fired up with so much R&B passion and incredible technique.

Breaking out in 2021, Emmy’s song, “I AM WOMAN” became a viral sensation on social media platforms; its affirmative lyrics empowered many women across the globe. She has then gone out to put out more incredible projects, such as her upcoming EP, Hello Stranger.

The R&B pop vocalist has performed alongside and opened up for artists like Hayley Kiyoko, Fletcher, and Alexander Stewart. Emmy has also performed at numerous music festivals, one of which being Lollapalooza. Her music has appeared in ad campaigns for Disney+ and Savage Fenty.

I was incredibly honored to meet her virtually and speak to her about her upcoming EP, Hello Stranger, “the bleeding hearts tour,” and the inspirations behind her music and creativity.

Read below to read and view our full interview.

ROBERTA: Hi Emmy! It’s so nice to finally meet you.

EMMY: So good to meet you!

ROBERTA: Thank you! So, how are you?

EMMY: I’m so good, how are you?

ROBERTA: I’m doing great, thank you for asking! So, let’s go ahead and start from your beginnings, before you even started singing. So, you’re from California – Long Beach, right?

EMMY: Yes! Yep, Cali born and raised.

ROBERTA: Yeah, so you were raised there by parents who I believe were artists?

EMMY: Yeah!

ROBERTA: So you were raised in a very creative household – Did your parents encourage you to start songwriting or did you take a lot of inspiration from them?

EMMY: So, uh, my parents do different forms of art. So my mom does like visual art, painting, and stuff like that. My dad did packaging - well he’s retired now - but he did packaged design and graphic design, and stuff like that. But he absolutely adores music and he was in a band growing up so he played bass and keyboard. I think he would’ve been an incredible A&R, but I digress. I definitely did take a lot of creativity from them in different ways. You know, my dad raised me off of music that is a big part of my inspiration to me today. He didn’t teach me how to play instruments per say but like he introduced me to really really really important genres like the genres that are the bases of pop music. And that being R&B and women in blues and motown and soul, was my entire childhood. So, I definitely took a lot of inspiration from their creativity in just different ways. Like I definitely got my visual brain and my ability to build “worlds” and stuff like that – Like you can see my, this little painting I have here in the back – I get it from my parents. But, in terms of the music stuff and like pursuing songwriting, my parents actually didn’t want me to pursue songwriting because they were just worried that it just wasn’t going to work out, you know, it’s kind of a one in a million chance if you will and it’s hard work. Like you have to be really prepared for the work that comes along with it and the lifestyle that you’re signing up for. I think they were just worried and like, “You’re so smart but please be a doctor!” Well… Sorry, blood makes me woozy. And I think now, they’ve warmed up to – more than warmed up – they’re very, very excited and proud. It came from worry. They wanted me to be happy and pursue whatever I wanted to pursue, but they were definitely worried at first like, “Oh, God what is she going to do?” But, thank goodness we made it.

ROBERTA: Yeah, definitely!

EMMY: Or, we’re doing good so far.

ROBERTA: So, speaking of songwriting and, you know, art, did you always want to be a singer growing up?

EMMY: Yeah, I’m luckily one of those people that just never wanted to do anything other than the one thing they just absolutely adored. It’s my biggest passion, my truest love. I feel lucky in that way because I kind of just always known. I just came here with a purpose basically, you know, it wasn’t – there was never much debate. There was a moment there where I was just like, “Would it be more logical for me to go to fashion school?,” because I really loved fashion. And so in high school I was kind of like secretly putting music out on Soundcloud with my friend, and then thinking, “Should I go to FIDM?” But, it was never – I was like, no. Like I got into multiple colleges that I applied to and my parents really, really wanted me to go to university and I was just like – I don’t want to do it. You know, I’m not supposed to do that. So it’s always been my driving force and the core of everything I ever wanted to do. It’s been the one goal that I’ve worked consistently towards like my entire life – I’ve been singing since I could talk, and performing for as long as I could walk and move my body and be coordinated so I’m living in my purpose, I suppose.

ROBERTA: Yeah, was there like any specific moment or a thing that inspired you to start taking songwriting seriously, like as a career?

EMMY: You know, I think in my heart of hearts I’ve always known that this is where I was going to end up. There wasn’t really a doubt in my mind. But, there was, I think, a turning point in high school when I was making music with a friend who I was in choir with. You know, he did producing and I sang and wanted to continue writing and flexing that muscle. We would kind of just make random songs in his garage. He would put them out on Soundcloud. It kind of just didn’t pay off in my mind, he was like, “Our song’s out on Soundcloud,” and I was like, “Oh, cool.” But then I thought to myself, “I can get used to this, I can get used to this life just sitting here next to a producer. Pressing some buttons and writing some words and singing my little heart out, I can definitely get used to this.” It’s way more than that, you know, producing is way more than just clicking buttons. I didn't mean that like, you know, it’s easy. I think that was kind of the moment that I knew that I couldn’t do anything else. There’s no way, you know, I’m already – At that point I was seventeen years old very deep into it. So, I was like, “Well, what else would I do? Like I’m good at what I put my mind to, but this is where I want to put my mind to.”

ROBERTA: Right. So, let’s talk about the single that made you blow up, I AM WOMAN, obviously. It went viral on TikTok in 2021 and boosted your career, you know? [The song] gave your work so much attention. Overnight, your song was a hit – it went viral. How did you respond to this quick, overnight fame? What was it like for you?

EMMY: You know what, I’m going to be completely transparent and say I didn’t respond super well. It was – It’s an interesting juxtaposition to get what you have been working towards and not know how to handle it and to not have anybody help you, necessarily, be able to handle it. Cause it’s such a singular and individual, unique experience to have something like that happen to you that the only people who actually understand what you’re going through are other people who it’s happened to – which is far too between, you know. At least in my world. So, it was a struggle at first just because I went from, you know, working two normal jobs everyday to walking the red carpet at Jingle Ball in like a matter of a month. And I think the one thing that bothered me, or – The one thing I had to learn, accept, and come to terms with, and learn how to deal with was the fact that everyone was going to have an opinion about you, regardless. And, you know, it could be hard for artists cause we attach so much of ourselves to our art and it’s our baby. Like this is my special thing that I’ve put out into the world and you don’t even know me as a person. Like how can you say all these things when you don’t even know me? But, I had to learn that the only person that will ever truly know you is yourself and the only person who’s opinion about you – the only one that truly matters – is your own. And that was definitely a “come to Jesus” moment for me. It’s learning that, for sure. It was a tumultuous experience to say the least. I think that if I didn’t have tough skin before, – cause you have to have a certain amount of toughness to pursue music as a career, – but in that moment I realized, I’m quite sensitive and maybe I need to toughen up a little bit because I was worried what “User1234579” thinks about me when they don’t know how hard I’ve worked. They don’t know who I am, they don’t know what music I have in store. Then I’ve got another thing coming cause the better your music does, the worse it gets. So, it was – There’s a reality to it because I got what I’ve always wanted in a way and it catapulted me to where I’ve always wanted to be, and it’s the reason I’m here talking to you. So it’s a beautiful, amazing, really lucky thing that I’m really grateful for and I wouldn’t change it for the world, because again, you know, it’s a one in a million thing. I definitely think it came with a lot of like hard learning lessons, and at the end of the day I’m grateful for them because I think they’ve catapulted me to like an even better space. But, I didn’t at first handle it well, I had to really like come to terms with it and learn that like, you know, there’s a learning curve and it’s okay, you know? Just waking up with gratitude is the most important thing

ROBERTA: Right! I really love that. I didn’t know that actually, that was very touching.

EMMY: Aw, thanks!

ROBERTA: How has the success – from releasing I AM WOMAN – how do you think that influenced your music career and approach to creating more music projects like the ones that are about to come out?

EMMY: You know what? I think it actually taught me to take my time because I think when you have such a quick and intense, viral moment like that, – I know that I definitely rushed because like you don’t really have a choice like you got to get the song out. Because the longer you wait after an explosion like that, unfortunately people’s attention spans are, you know, that of a gnat’s. So, you really have to like – if you’re having a moment, you have to capitalize on it. So, I do feel I was made to kind of rush a little bit just because of the circumstances and it all happened so quickly that I think it taught me to be patient with art and take my time with my art and to not allow anything to come out or be rushed if it’s done in a way I didn’t want to be or if it’s not done to the best of its abilities or have done according to my vision. So, it’s made me even more of a perfectionist, which can be a really great thing, I think. It’s taught me to really take my time and be meticulous and to approach things, or my music like a song, with a perspective. Like, it’s okay to want to start your session early and end your session early. You don’t have to be in the studio till three in the morning, you could do it your way, you know? I think it’s definitely taught me to be patient and to do things my way.

ROBERTA: That’s amazing. So, moving on to your upcoming EP, Hello Stranger, that’s coming out this Friday, on the tenth!

EMMY: It’s only in a week, I think?

ROBERTA: Yeah!

EMMY: Oh yeah it’s the second, oh yeah in a week! Ah!

ROBERTA: I know! Tell us about the process of writing this and the inspiration behind it and everything!

EMMY: So Hello Stranger is sort of like my reintroduction to the world, if you will, because I’ve been known for one song. I feel like people don’t necessarily get to know you as a person and you as an artist because you can say to a lot of people, “Hey! Do you know that one song “I am woman?,”” and they're going to be like, “Oh, yeah I remember that song.” But if you say, “Hey, do you know who Emmy Meli is?,” they're going to be like, “Mmmm… No.” So I feel like this is my way of introducing myself as a person to people, and even to the people who’re like, “Oh I do know who that is!” You know, I’m getting to be like, “This is really me,” and it’s nice to meet you finally. And each song essentially represents the year of my life – young adult life – or like a year slash phase. It’s kind of like a coming-of-age story, it’s me. It’s like a documentation of me starting as like a teenager up to now – where I’m at now with my life. It’s just a documentation of my self growth and how I’ve gotten to where I am today, which I think my younger self would be very proud of – and that’s a hint to one of the songs! But, yeah I would definitely say it’s a reintroduction to the world.

ROBERTA: Yeah, and what I found very interesting about the EP is that the album name is the first track which is Hello Stranger, which you shared online [that it was] was an interpolation of Barbara Lewis’ song. Can you tell us the importance of this song to you and why you chose to put it as the first track and the title of the album?

EMMY: So my dad – I actually, interestingly enough, my parents are both boomers. Like, I have really – I have older parents. So like they're from a completely different generation. My dad was born in 1952 so when he was growing up in the ‘60s, his pop music and the stuff that they were playing back then, was so different to our pop music now. And he, when I was really little, I would say I was six – I think six – he burned me a CD and he wrote on it, “M&M’s classic ‘60s music.” I actually have it in like a little tattoo over here. But he burned me a CD and it was full of his favorite hits from when he was growing up so it was all just hits from the ‘60s that he loved. And I swear that CD has been the soundtrack to my life. When he first burned it for me, it was during the time period where like it was before the iPod, so like I was still using like a portable CD player with like the little, over-the-head headphones attached to it which I had like bedazzled. I had a little flipbook of all my CDs and like half of them were Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers and Adele and Amy Winehouse, and then there was “M&M’s classic ‘60s music.” There were some other random ones because my dad was such a music fanatic and collector of so many different R&B singers and soul singers. He would just give me random CDs to listen to. But, that CD has stuck with me my entire life. It came with me when I moved out, I played it in the car when I finally started driving and got my license. I still have it, I think it’s put away in the closet over there because my car no longer has a CD player. But that’s the first song on the CD, is “Hello Stranger” and it was my favorite song on the entire tracklist that he had burnt for me. I was singing it in the living room one day, I think I must have been like ten or eleven or something like that, and my dad came home from work and walked in and heard me singing it and was like, “I can’t believe how good you sound like singing music like that, that’s insane like it gives me chills. It makes me feel like I’m a teemager again, maybe you’ll bring that kind of music back.” As a ten year old I was like [shocked], “You’re right dad! I will!” But I swore to myself that like – I made it a goal of mine that like my first project out, that it would be the first song on my CD– my first CD, which obviously CDs aren’t that really big anymore but it’s a record now which is crazy and fitting because it’s a song from the ‘60s. I just told myself that it’d be the intro track, or at least my cover of it would be the intro track – and we have made it to that day which is really nuts because I promised and kept it to myself for like over a decade. So the day it comes out, I think I’m going to be like, “Is this real? Are we living in–? Okay it’s out! Wow.” It means a lot.

ROBERTA: That’s so beautiful, and it’s funny that you mention that CDs are going out because I actually have a CD collection – It’s over there.

EMMY: Really? Aw, that makes me so happy. Me and my dad have like the craziest CD collection and never hear about like people buying CDs or having CDs anymore because no one like… Like everyone wants a record player, you know, but no one cares about a CD player. But I love them! I think they shouldn’t go out of style.

ROBERTA: Me neither. I like real, [physical] media.

EMMY: The tangible, like physical – yeah. I hope it never, regardless of streaming services and stuff, I hope it never goes out of style because it helps the artists so much too. So much.

ROBERTA: I know! So let’s talk about Breakthrough, the first single off the EP. It just got released a couple months ago in February. Tell me how exciting it was for you to release this song after, I believe you shared online, two years of working on this EP, and how exciting it was to start your new era with this.

EMMY: I, honestly, I didn’t feel excitement till like I would say a month after it came out because it was so surreal. It got to the point where like – There were so many times that we were going to put it out but then couldn’t, like we were going to put it out but then something stopped the process and so on and so forth. I literally have been like sitting alone on this music for like multiple years, like you said. So like when it finally came out, I remember I had told one of my managers and my best friend, “It feels like the day I’d put music out will not actually come. Like it’s been so long that there’s like– Is the day actually going to come?” And when the day did arrive, I didn’t even know what to say or do to myself. I was like, “Woah. It happened and it’s out? It’s going to keep coming out… and the whole project is going to come out… and then I’m going to put more music out. That’s crazy.” I think it didn’t quite to get like, after waiting for so long, it didn’t truly get to like sink into my brain that I can finally be excited now until a few weeks after the song was out. I actually sat back and was like, “Oh! I did that! I did that and I can kind of pat myself on the back!” So, it felt surreal and very exciting. I’m glad we chose that song cause I just wanted to have fun because this whole process is supposed to be fun and I just wanted to throw a different side of me that kind of easter eggs the new music that I’m going to put out. So, surreal, I would definitely say is the word, and I think exciting, once I finally let myself be excited, is almost an understatement because I was truly elated to finally have the music out. I know that a lot of people who have been begging me for Silence and stuff like that were like, “Girl… two years is like way too long to put music out,” and I’m like, “Girl… you’re telling me! It’s not my fault, I promise!” I wanted to put it out when I wrote it so I’m just elated that it’s in the world.

ROBERTA: And the music video for Breakthrough – It’s such a fun video! I mean there’s so much going on: the choreography, the outfits – Literally everything about it is so good I loved it so much!

EMMY: Thank you!

ROBERTA: It’s very Y2K and I love like the aesthetics of it.

EMMY: I was born in ‘99 so it was like a tribute to the stuff that I grew up watching, like all the Y2K pop girls and like – I was so obsessed with Hannah Montana. I was the biggest Hannah Montana stan and I would beg beg beg my parents to please get cable on our TV so I could watch Hannah Montana cause we didn’t have cable and it was always on Disney Channel. Then every once in a while they’d play Hannah Montana reruns on like channel two or channel four or something random like that, and that’s why we caught them because we didn’t have cable. It was like a rarity to me, everything! It was kind of like a Sharpay Evans tribute because I was such a Sharpay Evans girl. I was like, “You’re right, she is fabulous. Look at her! I don’t blame her. She’s fabulous.” It was very fun.

ROBERTA: Hannah Montana was, and like Sharpay, was like exactly what I was getting from the music video! What was your favorite part of filming it? I mean it had so much going on. There was golfing and choreography… What was your favorite part?

EMMY: I would definitely say the dancers! Having backup dancers for the first time in my life. I mean I’ve been dancing since I was a little kid but I never had a routine choreographed for my own music, let alone had backup dancers. That’s something that has been like one of my biggest dreams for so long, you know, I’ve always wanted to be the center of a little girl formation, you know? So that was definitely my favorite part as well as just the fact that we got to do it on the golf course. I was working at a golf course when I wrote I AM WOMAN, so it was kind of like paying homage to that version of myself that, you know, worked really hard. So it was only fitting that my big budget music video was kind of like a little nod to her because she wrote I AM WOMAN at the snack shack of the golf course. So it just felt, you know, like a little something, a little hidden special meaning, I guess if you will.

ROBERTA: Yeah, I love that! I didn’t know that you worked on a golf course that was interesting. And the single Breakthrough and another one of your singles, Silence, they’re getting your fans, you know, so hyped up for the actual album that’s to come. I mean, they’re such good songs! And one of your other songs on the EP is actually a duet with Baby Tate that you just announced!

EMMY: Yes!

ROBERTA: Tell me how it was getting to work with her on this song, I mean it’s so amazing!

EMMY: She’s incredible! She is such a trooper, I mean she was telling me that she had the busiest week and she was at Coachella and she’d done multiple features and she really showed up, even through all of that. She showed up and was so kind and so hardworking, and we shared laughs and had a great time. I just really appreciated the fact that she didn't come just to, you know, get it over with, she came to like really show up and like do a good job, which means a lot. It truly means a lot. So, it was such a pleasure working with her and it was the first time that I ever had a feature on one of my songs and so the fact that it was an actual positive experience was really special to me. I really really appreciated it. Working with her was great, and the day was so fun, we went and got like our aura pictures taken, which is – we have a little visualizer coming out with a project where you’ll kind of get to see the whole day essentially – but we had a good time, we drove around in the car with the top down. So I’m really excited and it was a really awesome first feature experience. I’m really grateful because, I know it definitely could go the complete opposite, you know, but she was really great.

ROBERTA: Yeah, I’m so excited to hear “Aura” when the album comes out! And actually the album’s live performance vinyl cover art was just released from you a couple weeks ago.

EMMY: Yeah!

ROBERTA: The cover is so pretty and I saw how some of your paintings were actually incorporated into the cover art too. Did you like– just create these paintings specifically, like, with the album cover in mind or were these just like, you know, pre-existing art pieces that you just decided to [add].

EMMY: That’s actually such an incredible question! No one’s asked me that! I painted those in like 2021, I think, just like on a whim. It was just a random painting I did one day, and we were getting together to figure out what I wanted my, you know, front cover, back cover, A side, B side type thing– What I wanted it to look like or whether I wanted the back to just be like plain pink. And I just got into a really deep conversation with my creative director and I was just showing her, you know, some of my paintings. We were kind of just like hanging out and I was showing her my stuff and she was like, “Wait… That’s– That painting is incredible! Like it goes so well!,” she was like, “It’s kind of super similar to the cover art” and I was like, “Holy shit it is.” And thus, the idea was formed to use it as the back cover and it meant a lot because I actually haven’t used my artwork as cover art technically since Matrix, which was I think in like 2020 now. So it felt nice to like, you know, incorporate my visual art – my like personal, actual, physical visual art – into my music stuff again. But yeah it was a pre-existing piece– I honestly had forgotten about it. I was kinda just like digging up my paintings and was like, “Yeah this one!,” and she was like, “Wait a minute…” So…

ROBERTA: Yeah, I thought that the paintings really went well with the aesthetic of the album so that was very beautiful and very cool to see.

EMMY: Thank you!

ROBERTA: You’re welcome! So, kind of wrapping up the interview. You just announced that you’re going on tour with Alexander Stewart! It starts in less than a week– In five days! That’s really close! How exciting is this for you to perform Hello Stranger live for everyone, and how has the tour prep been for you?

EMMY: I, you know what, I’m actually really really excited. I love being on the road. I really enjoy it, I find it to be really meditative and I just love the fact that I get to wake up and my own job that day is to come on stage and perform. And that’s what I love to do the most, besides the making – I adore the “making” part of things, that’s my favorite part – But I, it’s equal with performing. You know, that’s – Those two things are the reason why I do what I do, like why I find like the business side of things that are not as fun and like the TikTok-ing. But I would put up with it until the end of the earth just because I’m so grateful to go on stage and sing everyday. I feel like the luckiest person on earth, truly. So, being on tour is so fun because my only job is to get up there and sing essentially. The tour prep has been going great! I’ve been like in my dance rehearsals, dancing and prepping, and like building my stamina cause singing and dancing, you know, you got to like build a muscle for it. It’s been a year since my last tour so it’s kind of like, You know I probably shouldn't have stopped… I probably should’ve kept up with this. – But we’re good now! So it’s been really fun, it’s honestly been my favorite part so it’s really really fun. I’m actually going to Wyoming technically tonight because I’m playing a show tomorrow. It’s 3am tomorrow but technically tonight I leave for Wyoming and I come back Saturday, then I leave for tour on Monday. So it’s been a back to back to back like performing, performing, performing, era and I’m here for it, I really love it.

ROBERTA: I’m so excited to see you go on tour, and see the footage and everything and yeah! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, sit with us, –

EMMY: Thank you for having me!

ROBERTA: It's been so amazing to get to know you right now and get to know more about you, and your music!

Be sure to check out Emmy’s new EP, Hello Stranger now on any streaming service!

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