New Music
EMMMA: “There’s no amount of studying in school that will help you know how to sleep in a tour bus!”
Taking centre stage in an expanding theatrical universe, the alt-pop musician on opening her wings and embracing change
It’s been a year since EMMMA released her debut EP Secondary Character, an honest if slightly warped self-portrait taken at a turbulent moment in time. But as the alt-pop singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer puts her brave emotional choices and creative vision front and centre, she exudes a newfound confidence and genuine exchitement about what lies ahead.
We meet over Zoom a little over a month after her second EP, Wednesday’s Child,dropped in October 2025, following a series of captivating audiovisual vignettes that redefine EMMMA as an unapologetic, theatrical music warrior in butterfly wings. Her deep, warm vocals recount tales of heartache and growth as she cries and dances, plays a flaming piano or swaps to electric guitar – a “destructive by design”, battle-scarred survivor ready to turn the page of a painful romantic fable and take new risks.
Growing up in a musical family in Connecticut before moving to LA and, more recently, to London, she’s back on the East Coast for the holidays as she takes us through past inspirations and future plans, including a string of new tracks and a much-awaited headline UK tour in spring 2026.
Do you remember the first time you felt a deeper connection to music?
Yes! I always have had a really deep connection to it. I was probably three when I picked up the violin and five when I started playing the piano. So, it’s kind of a whole life thing that has never really been a choice that I’ve had. Ιt’s been something that I’ve had to do.
You’ve talked about studying at Berklee College of Music, which helped shape your songwriting and gave you a better idea of how to present yourself as an artist. How does having a formal music education compare with the real-world experience of being a musician?
That’s a great question. I feel like I’ve learned an infinite amount more post-college. I’m really glad that I went to school for music, but I think you just don’t know what you don’t know until you do it for real. I think you can do a lot of textbook studying and learning from your teachers, and that’s hopeful and good. But until you put yourself in the real world and start touring, start playing shows like everyone else, then you don’t really know what’s going on. I don’t think, at least. There’s no amount of studying in school that will help you know how to sleep in a tour bus, haha! And that’s what the job is.
I’m glad that I have had jazz harmony, theory classes and ear training and conducting classes. I think it made me a better musician, but I don’t really use a lot of it, practically.
I guess you got the best of both sides.
Yeah, it just took me a little bit longer to adjust in the real world. Versus sometimes, when you’re young and you’re thrown into the industry, I think you learn a lot faster what it actually is, versus studying it for four years and then being thrown into the industry post-21-22.
Wednesday’s Child is such an enigmatic, evocative title. How does it resonate with you personally, and your music?
I was in a pub in East London a year and a half ago and I saw a sticker on a pub stall that said Wednesday’s Child, I was really intrigued by it and googled it. I was like, “Oh, if you’re born on a Wednesday, it means you’re sad, or you’re gonna be sad forever”. And I looked up what day of the week my ex was born on: he was born on a Wednesday. That was quite fateful. So, I wrote it down in my Notes app and I brought it to my session with two people I hadn’t met before, but I figured, might as well bring in the song and the concept and do it. Wednesday’s Child was born that week.
And a whole new world with it! You’ve spoken about making the EP during a period of great change, the bridges that had to burn. Could you tell us more about the emotional backstory?
It was a really big shift for me. It came post an eight-year break-up, so my entire adult life with this person, and I didn’t know how to function as a human being without him. I probably wrote the first song one month after the break-up. Every song I wrote was in real time, detailing exactly how I felt the year after. Every song that was released, I wrote it in that order. So, the first song was ‘Cut the Brakes’, I wrote that in February and then, two weeks later, ‘Wednesday’s Child’. ‘Burning Bridges’ I wrote in the spring/summer – that was the third, then ‘Whiplash’.
I was re-learning how to talk to people again and learning about rejection and all that fun stuff. Really, the stages of recovery in chronological order was the EP. It was lots of learning about myself, and the world – and I’m still learning, still writing about it.
It must be difficult singing these songs – or maybe it feels more exhilarating, moving on and creating something beautiful out of it?
I don’t get sad anymore when I listen to them. I’m more proud that I wrote them and they’re like a journal entry. Each song is a bit of my diary, and once I write it, I’m good! That’s my thought, it’s done. I love singing them like that.
You’ve said that there’s an odd kind of peace in letting go and finding freedom in the unknown, not controlling things. Can you give an example of a time you decided to dive into something, take a risk, and it paid off?
Yeah, absolutely. I decided to move full-time to London this past year. I totally took a crazy leap, kind of like a gut feeling… I’d spent two months in London in 2024 and fell in love with the city. I was very happy – or unhappy living in Los Angeles for six years. I felt like I was watching other people have their lives happening and I was just sitting back and nothing was happening for me.
And I was like, “Right, you need to make a really big change. It’s time to start fresh.” So I packed up my bags and moved myself to London. That was the best thing I’ve ever done. Sometimes, I think you have to just trust your gut and move forward with a decision that might be terrifying in the moment, but ultimately it could be the best thing for you. It was a big year. And I did it! And I’m so glad.
On the technical side of things, you’re a multi-instrumentalist, you write, you produce. Is making music more of a solitary process or you’re actually happy to open it up to more people, collaborations, new ideas?
I do my best work in a collaboration. When I was younger, I only wrote solo and I think I stunted myself for many years with that kind of stubborn mentality. I was like, “I don’t need anyone, I can do it myself!”.
I write so much better, I feed off the energy, and I think the whole thing that I enjoy about a session is just that I love working with people that I like. I love having a good time making music with people I enjoy, and that’s the whole reason I do it. I have a handful of producers that I really trust that I’ll work consistently with, and I’ll bring in writers with me to better realise my thoughts, cause sometimes I can get really jumbled in my own head. Now, I have a wonderful selection of people that I really enjoy working with in London, that I super-trust and I’m working on my album with them.
I will always come into a session prepared with an idea, and a concept, and a feeling. Maybe I’ll start writing it at home, and then bring the idea in. So, things have to come from me first and I always have to feel prepared going into it. Otherwise, I can’t write. But I love writing with other people! It’s the best part of my week. I think they make me better and I will always credit them for their wonderful brains.
You’ve created a whole visual world as well — it gives me fairy tales, Dune, Game of Thrones, grungy Mad Max. It must be quite the challenge too, as a young musician. How do you make it all happen?
With a lot of hard work and an amazing creative director. Her name is Holly Wood, and she has allowed me to come out of my shell visually. I was really afraid to do things that push the limit. I think that’s what we’re doing now, we’re really pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Being an unsigned artist and doing this on my own, it’s horrifying, and terrifying, and amazing all at the same time. But she really understands why I’m making music and the world that I wanna live in. So, she’ll come to me and we’ll talk about the meanings of all my songs and why they’re important to me. And she’ll be like, “Okay, I have a good idea. What’s the budget? Let’s go make it happen”. We put the birds on in ‘Morning’ and I cemented myself into a wall with my lyrics on my face on ‘Wednesday’s Child’. A lot of these visuals are directly from my emotions, but I have a creative director to help me visualise them and make them happen.
There are a lot of limitations to being unsigned and very creative with a budget and flying to Brazil to make these videos happen.
No shortcuts, Brazil it is!
The production value is absolutely amazing and the creatives in Brazil are top tier. It costs less than it would if I did it in London or LA! I love going to Brazil, my creative director is in Brazil. We have a great time and we make some crazy stuff happen. That’s the only way I can really do it right now. But having a visual identity is important to me, and storytelling with that as well. I feel like you need to be in a whole world. The whole EMMMA world is really important to the story, I think.
Are there some artists that inspire you, that you feel create that world beyond the music?
The immediate one that comes to mind is Chappell Roan — and I’m not saying that I’m visually inspired directly by what she’s doing. But I am inspired by the fact that she takes risks in her world-building. I love that she created the whole world for herself, that she’s going full drag and doing all these things that are just so beautiful, and so important, and loud, and she’s not apologising for it. I’m very inspired by how she created that whole visual identity. I think she’s the one who’s doing it best right now.
Charli xcx, as well, does the whole party world. The women at the top of their games, doing these worlds!
Charli xcx has also always collaborated with a lot of people. It’s about being creative, it’s not a crutch.
It’s a creative choice. It’s also joy, I think. And I always will credit the people I work with. I wouldn’t be anywhere without any of them. If she feels the same way, then then we’re in good company.
Where did you get your flair for the dramatic?
I grew up doing theatre, so I was very comfortable with putting on a show and putting on costumes and going on stage and performing. So, I think the comfortability level came from many-many years in the theatre. For a while I was kind of pushing that aspect of myself down
to be more palatable. I think I was playing things a lot smaller for a very long time and now I feel like I don’t even care. I’m gonna do what I wanna do, at the level I wanna do it, and I’m not gonna apologise for any work. I think I did for a long time, so it feels good to be okay with being theatrical and dramatic. It’s fun!
You also write handwritten letters to fans. What do you write in them and do you think, with everything turning digital, there’s a hunger for something more tangible, for human connection?
I do write a lot of letters and postcards to people who sign up. We have our fan website that you can sign up individually. So I’ll post a lot of handwritten letters to people who sign up to my website, and I’ll just talk about my life and what I’m doing. I think it’s a lot more personal than a text. I think it connects with people, and they can see a bit of me through my handwriting, which is also interesting.
At least for me, when I see someone’s handwriting, that makes sense, I see that’s how they write, that’s just more personal.
Your first headline tour in the UK is coming up — headline shows have been a dream of yours. I think you’re writing more songs as well. What’s in the works?
I can’t wait! I am gonna be playing a fair amount of unreleased music. I think that will be exciting and I’m pretty sure one or two songs from my new album will be out by the time the tour is happening. So hopefully people will have heard the new stuff, we’re gonna be in the beginning of a release cycle.
I’m gonna bring my drummer Olly with me. He goes everywhere I go now, he’s the best. I have done tours on my own a lot, but I think adding someone else on stage with me completes the performance and makes it more interesting to look at.
I’m just so excited to reconnect with the people that I met on this tour, that I just went on. I’m getting a lot of responses from them saying they’re so excited to see me again.
Will you be bringing more instruments on stage?
I’m planning on playing guitar and piano and that’s probably it for my end. One day I’d like to have a bassist and a second guitarist and a whole band. But until I have a budget, it’s gonna be me and my drummer!
