Emory is more than prepared for the success she’s bound to find with her mesmerizing blend of acoustic songwriting and electronic production. The twenty-two-year-old possesses a deep wealth of technical production knowledge and hands-on experience. Whether it’s her Nashville roots or her studies at NYU Tisch, Emory shines as someone who lives and breathes music. Her latest single, “double dog,” is an addictively catchy pop track that scratches your brain just right with its clinking, glitchy electronic production. Along with her breakout first single, “tooth,” Emory has been carefully building a left-of-center rollout for her four-song project, TITLE. After speaking with Emory via Zoom, I can confidently say she’s determined to make a name for herself on her terms and her terms alone. Prioritizing originality and community-building, Emory is here to stay as a unique and thoughtful voice in the crowded music landscape. 

SHEESH: Did the rapid success of “Tooth” affect your life? It’s already over a hundred thousand streams. 

EMORY: It definitely blew up more than I expected. It’s still crazy to me that anyone who’s not one of my friends is listening. I don’t think it affected my life that much since I’ve been studying and working in music for some years now. But, it was very validating to see this weird thing that I’m proud of was successful and resonated with people. I also was very preoccupied when it was released. I was graduating college, on tour playing drums, and about to move across the country. I don’t think I had any time to process the fact that I’m now able to make my artist project my full-time priority, rather than doing freelance work for others. I never thought that would actually happen. 

When did you first begin making music? How did you get into electronic production?

I grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. Our big claim to fame is that Paramore is from there. I grew up playing drums in Church, although I’m not a part of it anymore. I learned so much from playing with live musicians in Nashville, most of whom probably have played in Church as well. In high school, I got really into production. I started by playing around on Garage Band on my iPad. I ended up deciding to pursue it in college, and I was lucky enough to get into NYU [Tisch]. I went to Clive [Davis Insitute of Recorded Music]. I got enough financial aid, and it was such an insane privilege to study music there. I majored in music production and technology there. I produced and wrote for a lot of artists during college. I got to explore all different genres and run down every rabbit hole of what I was interested in. 

Your manager mentioned that you got to study electronic production in Berlin. What did you learn through that experience?

I studied analog and modular synthesis there, basically a whole lot of nerdy shit that I geek out on. I learned so much while I was there. I really got to experiment with my production. It was such a turning point for me. My time in Berlin made me feel like I can be curious about music forever, that there will always be another ceiling to hit. That period enabled me to break all the technical rules that I learned earlier in college in ways that feel genuine and authentic. I got to do a lot of field recording in Berlin and implement environmental sounds into my music. It expanded my creative process to be much more organic. 

Also, the community aspect of the electronic scene there had a big impact on me. It was very anti-capitalist. It was much more financially sustainable and accessible to be an artist there. There was no ego involved. It felt so welcoming. People went to the techno clubs to express themselves, expand their community, and engage with the music. That ethos was so transformative for me because I thought I had to be very commercial to make it in music in America, but when I decided to step outside of that, it actually worked out. The biggest lesson I learned from my mentor, who was a mix engineer and writer, was that if you’re enjoying what you’re making, that’s all that matters!

Tell me more about the backstory of your upcoming single, “double dog.”

The first song that I made in Berlin was “double dog.” It’s a part of a four-track project that I’ll be rolling out in a very untraditional way, which I’m excited about. The track started as a slower, 40 BPM, guitar-heavy track that I wrote in the dorm with one of my best friends, Lucas. It was a cute, silly indiegirl song. Meanwhile, I was making a ton of weird, experimental electronic music. Anyway, one of my professors worked at a cool local radio station in Kreuzberg and organized for a few students to come play an original set. So, in order to fill that hour, I opened up “double dog” again and transformed it into a crazy twelve-minute dance track. I framed the whole set around it. It was the first time I played my original songs publicly, so the fact that people loved it was a huge confidence boost. I made “double dog” two years ago when I was twenty, so since then I’ve reformed and condensed it down to the version it is now with the help of my friends, Lucas, Ben, and Jason. I’ve gone down so many rabbit holes of different versions in the process of finalizing it. 

What are your thoughts on the hyperpop label? Do you think it’s more reductive than helpful?

I think hyperpop is an incredible genre that has an in-depth and important history that a lot of people don’t acknowledge. The community I was adjacent to in Brooklyn was a lot of the incredibly talented hyperpop originators. There’s so much cultural value to that history that we should acknowledge.

A lot of queer history as well.

Yes, so much. It was a space for queer people to build community online that wasn’t necessarily around them in person. As a female, queer artist and producer myself, I’m honored that people associate me with artists in that space, but I feel weird about people labeling my music as hyperpop. It carries so much history and cultural value that I haven’t even scratched the surface of. Also, the hyperpop label has been pushed by Spotify to categorize and box in artists who were just expressing themselves. 

Yeah, it’s pretty oxymoronic that hyperpop, which at its core is genre-defying and anti-commercial, was given this commerical genre label by a capitalist streaming giant when Spotify made that playlist in 2019.

Exactly, genre labels often feel very capitalistic and restrictive. 

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?

God, it changes every week. I’m a massive Porches fan. Long Day Gentle Hold! is one of my favorite albums ever. The mess of distortion and digital rock is so cool to me. I loved Björk growing up, as an experimental female artist and producer doing it all herself. Daniella Heim too. I am a big fan of Water From Your Eyes and Nate Amos’s solo project, This Is Lorelai. It’s very on the nose of the music I’m trying to make—acoustic music translated electronically. Dijon’s live music work too. I also love radio pop music so much, like Tate McCrae and Sabrina Carpenter. I think mainstream pop is so impressive. It’s popular for a reason! It takes so much skill. I’m obsessed with it. I want to get better at pop melody and arrangement. 

Okay, last question, how would you describe your sound to a middle-aged mom from the Midwest who has never listened to electronic music?

That’s a really good question, woah. I’m kinda scared of that question. I would say it’s folk-pop songwriting presented in an experimental way. But, I do think that “double dog” is a pop song at the end of the day. The way it’s arranged and how the melody works is standard verse-chorus pop music. It’s interpreted in a crazy way, but I think it’s still very accessible to the middle-aged Midwestern moms. There’s a throughline there in my music, I’m sure. Like I listened to Shania Twain and Dolly Parton growing up and she probably did too. We’re not that different.

Listen to “double dog” by Emory, available now on all streaming platforms