Emylee Herring Visits Section 36 Music!

We have another visitor to Section 36 Music! Emylee Herring is a wonderful artist, whose recent single "Pretend You Died" is one you need to listen to again and again. I was so excited she was willing to visit with us to discuss her single, her musical influences, and more!

So, let's see what happens when Emylee Herring visits Section 36 Music!

Your recent single, “Pretend You Died”, is just outstanding. What can you tell me about it?

I wrote “Pretend You Died" from a place of pain and confusion. Sometimes finding the right words to express how I feel is impossible, but music makes it easy. I sat down at my piano in the midst of the hurt and as the words flowed out, I suddenly understood exactly how I felt. 

Back in July, I posted the bridge on my instagram and it was well perceived so I decided to reach out to my friend, Christian Clark, who produced the track and helped me reconfigure lyrics and melodic choices. We spent the past few months working on the song and I truly believe releasing it was the best choice. Writing stuff that is so raw and vulnerable and making the choice to share it can be scary, but it’s the honesty that makes it beautiful. I hope anyone who relates to this song can find solace and peace in knowing moving on is okay even if you have unanswered questions.

There is also a music video for this song. What was it like putting that together?

I love this question because it’s something I could talk about for hours if I had the chance. 

Putting together the “Pretend You Died” Music video took a lot of planning. I have made two music videos for other singles in the past, but shot them inside my apartment so planning for that was a lot easier. For this video, I knew I wanted to find a church so I started the hunt two months ago. I looked at a ton of places and ultimately picked one that was right down the street from me. I rented the church for filming back on September 28th and found friends who weren’t busy to be extras. 

I created a storyboard that I took with me to the shoot and from there we shot scenes in the order that made the most sense. It’s always funny creating a storyboard because most of the time you find a groove when filming and come up with different shots to try that you end up loving more. The last 30 minutes at the church was where the best shots were taken. After editing the church scenes, I decided to do another shoot day at a cemetery across the street from me and the process was quick because by that point, I knew exactly what I wanted to fill the missing pieces of the video.

After all the shooting, I spent days putting the video together which is the most time consuming process. Music videos are my favorite thing about releasing a new song. As an indie artist, it can be overwhelming to put one together, especially because everything I know about filming and editing videos has been self taught, but it is so fulfilling. Music videos give me the control to tell the story I want to tell and I am always so grateful to be able to do that. I am very proud of this video and I can’t wait to continue to make more in the future.

You graduated from Berklee College of Music. What’s the biggest thing Berklee did for your music career?

I think the biggest thing Berklee did for my music career was help me find confidence in my craft. I have always been anxious about my writing and spent many hours overthinking each song, questioning if it’s good enough. Anytime I brought an original song into a class, I would sit at my seat internally panicking on how it would be perceived, but every time I always ended up walking out of the room with a smile on my face. I learned that yes sharing your art can be scary, but the fear should never hold you back. As a songwriting major, I spent those four years learning all the nitty gritty tricks for creating a song and got so much feedback on everything I wrote that I take with me still. I am forever grateful to Berklee for shaping me into the musician I am now and helping me find the strength in my art. 

Who or what would you say are your biggest musical influences?

This is a tough question because I feel like my influences are always changing. Every song I write has always incorporated influence from female singer-songwriters. When writing “Pretend You Died,” I was also listening to “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams so when Christian asked the overall vibe I was looking for with production, I listed those. I also grew up on classic and punk rock and during my teenage years was obsessed with alternative rock and there are times where I find influences from those genres in the music I write. As a music lover, I think I subconsciously take elements from everything I hear and find ways to fit it into my own artistry and make it sound like me. 

What is the biggest challenge you face when it comes to your music?

My biggest challenge is the fear of not being perfect. Society has always pushed the unrealistic standard of perfectionism and while I avidly remind myself that, it still creeps in my mind when I’m working on something new. This past year has been a big journey of relearning to make art from a place of creativity and passion only. There will always be critiques and doubt, but as long as I am happy with what’s made, that's all that matters. 

What are your immediate music goals?

My next goal and plan with my music is to work on writing songs for an EP. I want the EP to tell a story and each song to feel cohesive with one another. I’m not entirely sure what story I want to tell, but my first step is figuring it out. With every song I release, I find out more and more about who I am as an artist and I want to continue that journey by being the creative I was born to be. 

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I definitely want there to be an EP!

As always, I want to thank Emylee for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to accompany the interview.

I'm sure you’ll all want to follow her and see what she has going on. I would follow her on Instagram, and Spotify to make sure you don't miss a thing. 

Thanks again Emylee, and good luck reaching your goals!