With Emily Burns’ latest single ‘Give and Take’ thoroughly blowing us away at DARKUS, we thought it was only right to catch up with her to see what makes her tick, her journey in the industry so far, and her exciting future plans.
In this DARKUS exclusive, Emily reveals that her latest album ‘Die Happy’ will be released on November 8th, as well as the title track single on August 29th.
First of all, congratulations on releasing your latest single ‘Give and Take’! It must be such a proud feeling to finally release something that you’ve been working so hard on. For anyone who’s not heard the song yet, can you talk us through the songwriting process or the song’s general themes?
Thank you, yeah, it really feels like an achievement every time I put a song out, and it was definitely a really special one to release. I actually wrote it around 18 months ago with Tom Martin and Hannah Wilson. They’re both amazingly talented and I've done quite a few bits with them - I also wrote Balcony Floor with Tom Martin.
I start a lot of sessions by just talking about how I'm feeling that day or what I've experienced recently. And I think on the day we wrote ‘Give And Take’ and to be honest most days, I was just feeling very in love. I wanted to put that feeling into words for my girlfriend, Grace, and really have this song be for her, not necessarily for other people.
We’ve been together for 4 years, and it's a song about how things in life are always going to happen, and you have to face them together. I wanted to write a song that was just me sort of saying “no matter what is thrown our way, it's going to be okay, because I know you're my person and I know I'm yours”. When I played it to Grace, we just loved it so much that it felt right to put it out. It’s really special because I never intended to release it, it was more just a private love song.
I really like that. I really like that it took on a life of its own. Is that why it was the right time to release it? Or was there like something else that was kind of the driving force?
Well, there's an album coming! I've already released a few songs from this project. The last single was really sad, more of a breakup-themed song. And so there's often something in my head that's saying “if I've put out a song that's that sad, I've got to follow it up with something that's a little bit more happy, just to balance things out a bit”. And I just felt like, of the songs on the album, ‘Give And Take’ is probably one of the happiest, at least sonically in terms of the production and the instrumentation, everything is quite uplifting and feel good. So it was important to me to put that out, especially in between ‘Eight Hours Behind’ and my next release, which is also deeply, deeply sad.
I think it's good to keep things fresh in that way - you can move between themes, and I think for you and fans alike, it's probably good to have that sort of mixed bag.
I think in my mind, I've never wanted to be pigeonholed as a sad singer-songwriter. It's important to me that I put out songs that vary in their feeling and their emotion. And I can always really tell that when I play live, it's nice because the audience really jump on board with both of those feelings.
And these tracks will be part of a larger album?
Yeah! The album is called ‘Die Happy’ and will be released on November 8th! I've never put an album out before so it’s very exciting - the biggest project I've put out is a 7-track long EP. So it just felt like with the upcoming album, there's these 12 songs that feel like they’re emotionally connected in some way. There's not a storyline that runs through the album or anything, it’s more of a feeling that takes you on a bit of an emotional roller coaster.
The title track ‘Die Happy’, is also going to be released on August 29th as the lead single. That is simultaneously the happiest and saddest song I've ever written, so it kind of made sense for it to be the album name too.
. As a music listener, I’ve always loved listening to albums that just make you feel such a wide variety of feelings over that hour of listening. Each of the 12 tracks on ‘Die Happy’ are different to each other, and I’m proud of them in different ways.
Absolutely. Those albums are definitely the most special. From your description of ‘Die Happy’ it feels like you've really dug deep within yourself and given a lot, emotionally. Is that ever exhausting or scary to be so open and honest?
Sometimes, yeah, I’ll come back from a writing day, and I'll sit down and I'll just be so drained. And I know that sounds silly, because it's not like I'm doing anything stressful. I'm not a doctor, I'm not changing the world. But it can be a draining experience to pour your heart out and really dig to find the root cause of why you're feeling certain ways. And it's so important for me to let all of that come out in the music, because again, as a music listener and lover, I love stuff that just feels real. And I feel like you can tell when someone's written a song that's not about their own personal experience - it’s just not authentic, and that’s really important to me.
That must be so worthwhile in the long term though, even if coming face-to-face with yourself is very emotionally intense. Some people won’t ever do that, regardless of their job or if they’re changing the world, so you shouldn't downplay it at all!
Yeah, I've gone through therapy, as have a lot of people, and writing music is definitely a form of therapy because you’re just splurging every emotion and every feeling you have out onto a page. You're actually just singing them to anyone who will listen.
You feel so many different emotions within the album - moments of pure love, but also real moments of absolute devastation
I was wondering if you could take us back to the start of your career as you've been doing this for nearly 15 years. What made you want to get into the whole scene to begin with? Was there something like that sparked it for you, or was it something that was always in you?
Firstly, that number is terrifying! Without sounding cliche, I've always just been obsessed with music and I know that I wanted to perform and create music in some way. My earliest memory of really thinking “God, I'd love to do this” was when I was nine maybe? My dad was always in pub bands and I watched him play covers. One night, my mum took me down to watch him and he stopped the set and got me up on stage and started playing ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ on guitar, which was our song that we always performed together. The whole pub just went quiet, I sang the song, and there was this feeling of being appreciated by an audience. That's the first time I felt that “I could do this forever if I get the chance”.
That really kickstarted my passion. Then I picked up a guitar myself and started copying my dad and my brother, who’s also a musician. I also just totally fell in love with music in my house, like my mum always had music playing in the car. We were a very musical family, and any chance to enjoy and share music together was important to us.
It probably wasn't until I was maybe 15 or 16, that I thought I could really try and do this as a career. I was spending half my time at school and half my time in London meeting producers and starting to find my feet and creating my own little network. I was fortunate because I was uploading my stuff to BBC Introducing, and they started to play it, and then they invited me to this masterclass session that they were hosting at Abbey Road Studios. Walking in there for the first time felt very real and so crazy, which just lit a fire under me. I was being such a pest, going around everyone, handing out little CDs. I created a bit of a team around me and then moved to London as soon as I possibly could at 18.
It sounds like you did so many incredible things at such a young age. Is there something from those years that particularly stands out to you as a highlight or maybe had the most impact on you?
This was only a couple of years ago, but I had been through a label that wasn't the right fit for me. It was like a major deal, which was really exciting at the time, but it didn't go to plan. I was devastated, heartbroken, and found it really, really hard to pick myself up. That summer, I was playing at Latitude Festival, and I remember turning up and hardly anyone was there and feeling like it was going to be awful. It was probably one of my lowest points because I just felt so useless. But by the time I went back out on stage, the tent was full, people were fully singing along to everything I played, and that was actually the first time Grace saw me perform live as well. Seeing everyone sing and be so supportive was a huge moment and gave me this massive lift back to be like “I can do this. If I want it, I can do it. And I do”. I think that's probably one of my happiest career moments for sure.
It sounds like it was exactly what you needed at the time, and it really spurred you on.
Yeah. I think if I had gone out and there was no one there, that would have been the nail in the coffin. It's so crazy how those moments can just impact the rest of your next steps almost.
The industry has obviously put you through the ringer, but then you’ve also had some really high highs. Do you have any advice to those who are trying to navigate the industry and make it within the artist space?
One piece of advice that I heard from a producer when I was just starting out was basically “stop trying to be other people, stop trying to recreate what other artists are already doing. Just be the most authentic version of yourself possible because no one else can be that. And that's what people will eventually find interesting and want to want to listen to and be part of”.
Speaking of other artists and inspiration, you've previously cited Tove Lo and Sigrid as influencing your work. Have any of those taken shape in the new album? Or is there anyone else who's really influenced ‘Die Happy’?
When I think about my writing style, I've always loved storytellers and English literature and writing, reading, and hearing stories. So I love artists like Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, and Elton John, like real storytellers, you know, that takes you somewhere and you feel a certain thing. I think that's definitely me with the ‘Die Happy’ album. It's just 12 little stories really that have come together as a book almost.
So the new album is dropping in November. Is there anything else in the pipeline to support this?
So ‘Die Happy’ the single will be released August 29th, and ‘Die Happy’ the album will be out November 8th.
I've just done my first London show in forever, which was really fun. We wanted to do this style of gig that wasn't ticketed. It was like a house party where we rented this really cool space in Camden that really looked like it could have been a flat and invited probably 80 people and just played through like a tonne of the new music. I also had a little suggestion box for anything I hadn’t played yet, so at the end of the night I got back up and I played a few other songs acoustically.
My idea is to do a run of those house parties across the UK, trying to cover Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, probably Brighton, and maybe Bristol.
I've never heard of that concept before, but it seems super cool and exciting!
It was, I got up and I played, there was beer pong and games out on the tables. I just wanted it to be a space where everyone could come and just kind of hang out and get to know each other, come and make friends and have a good time, like that's so special.
For anyone who's not heard of your stuff before, how would you describe your music in 3 words?
Honest, storytelling and emotional (I think the album makes you feel just about every emotion there is at some point haha).
Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Emily’s new single ‘Die Happy’ on August 29th and her album dropping on November 8th. In the meantime, you can stream her previous singles here.
Connect with Emily Burns
Article by Rachel Feehan , Photography By Livy Dukes
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