Q. I like to begin with an introduction into your creative life. So, if you were to write a bio about what makes up your creative life both past and present, what would you write?

My creative life pretty much started with dance – I’ve been dancing since I could walk. Around age seven, I started doing musical theatre. My first show was The Wizard of Oz, and I played a munchkin in the Lollypop League, even doing off-stage harmonies as one of the younger kids. I really grew up on stage, always finding ways to perform. That meant choirs, talent shows, musicals and Show Quest at school, plus dance classes at studios like AAD, Neverland, and DANZA, where I was heavily involved in competitive dance teams. I even got to be in a couple of commercials and TV shows.

A big highlight from my musical theatre days was playing Annie at Aotea Centre with National Youth Theatre Company. I was eleven and there were 300 kids in the company. I worked incredibly hard to land the role of Annie, and it was the first time I really started focusing on my voice. To be honest, singing was actually the "triple threat" skill I liked the least and dreaded the most. So many other girls were properly trained singers, so to get Annie, I knew I had to lock in. I started taking voice lessons (first with Emma Bishop and later Cherie Moore) and eventually learned how to belt. That was a huge turning point for me.

In terms of instruments other than my voice, I tried learning cello first, but that didn't last long, and piano lessons were a bit tough because my hands were too small. But then, I started singing in bands at Intermediate. In Year 8, I filled in at the last minute for a singer at Band Quest, and we ended up winning the Musicianship Award. That’s when I decided to learn guitar and to form my own band. In Year 9, I put together my first band, “No Smoking After 3:15” - which later became “Fan Club”. And then, in Year 10 (2022), I also picked up bass to play for another band. I performed with them at my first RockQuest. I had to step up and sing lead in the final when our lead singer got sick, which got me another Musicianship award. 

Around that same time, I wrote my first song with “Fan Club”, Never Ever, and we got to record after it was a finalist in the Play it Strange Youthtown Competition. That started a long series of original song releases that eventually led to releasing our debut EP Towards the Sun. I also got invited to play bass and sing backing vocals for another band who went on to win Rockquest. From the winnings, I got my first acoustic guitar.

The next year, “Fan Club” took off. A highlight was winning the Auckland Central RQ final (2023), which was definitely a big moment. It really helped me see that I was good at something other than theatre and dance – I was still competing at a national level in dance - but this felt different; it was much more nerve-wracking singing my own songs in front of 30 people at a gig than singing someone else’s song in front of 2000! That’s because it was more my/our own creativity, not someone else’s. And getting that acknowledgement for something that was partly mine was great. Later that year, “Fan Club” received an NZOA New Music Single Grant, and then producer Jesse Sheehan successfully put me forward for an NZOA Artist Development Grant. It was really starting to feel like I was on the right track.

In January of 2024, Jesse organised the production of three demos that I co-wrote with Bella Rafflyn, Rodney Fisher, and Tom Chamberlain - as well as another one with Jesse. It was really cool to work with people with different influences and genres and actually write for myself. I started writing a lot more after that and was encouraged to enter the solo-duo category of RQ. I worked with Eli LeFevre who helped me produce a number of demos including Bored, Residue, Carry Me Home From the Car and Only Girl. By the time I made it to the final, I had released my first Emerson song, Bored, the same year as my first EP with “Fan Club”. Winning that final was the highlight of the year, though!

Q. I’ve heard/thought a whole bunch of things about songwriting. Some may be true. Some may be inflated. For example (and this may be true, or may not be) that songwriting can be at times excruciating, with a line not being formed for days. And then I’ve heard how lyrics can suddenly appear and a song can be written in minutes. What is the experience of songwriting for you? And do you have a process? What environment does it require to thrive?

My songwriting process always differs. Sometimes I start with a lyric, or a chord progression, sometimes I’ll write all the lyrics with no chords and melody, just a poem, and then add chords to them. I can write anywhere, I just need it to be a focused environment where my energy is just on the song. 

In terms of how long it takes to write a song, that relies on my emotions and focus level that day. For example, for the first writing session I had with Harry Charles, I came into his home studio with the first verse already written by me improvising in the car on the way there. We finished the song and demo within two hours. That song is my biggest track so far, “You Really Must Hate Me!”. 

But on the other hand, for my song “Carry Me Home From The Car”, I started writing it in January 2024 and couldn’t finish it till late April 2024. I sometimes like to imagine a song is already there in the air, I just have to reach up and grab it. Sometimes it takes more strength and force for a song to form, just have patience. 

(Note from interviewer: You should watch Emerson’s Music Video You Really Must Hate Me when you’ve finished here, or right now, whatever works for you).