Q: Welcome back, Gemma! It’s fantastic to have you with us again. Since our last conversation, a lot has happened in your musical journey. To kick things off, could you share some highlights or pivotal moments that have shaped your artistic path since our last interview??
A: Heya, thank you so much for having me back! I think firstly, getting both of my latest singles played on BBC Introducing, with Chaotic opening the show, was definitely a huge highlight of this year for me. Also, organising and performing at my Headline Show at The Troubadour in October, and having so many people show up to watch me, felt so amazing. Both those things have really pushed me to be even more motivated. I think also, have recently realised that I love making emotional music – it just feels very therapeutic for me, and it also feels authentic to me, so I think that is something I have realised I want to explore more.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: I had classical singing lessons from around the age of 11 up until age 20. When I turned 20 I stopped singing lessons because I was depressed, and I stopped being interested in doing anything I had previously enjoyed. I then soon after that got really unwell, and I had to spend a lot of time in and out of the hospital. I decided to take up singing again when I was 23, and I went to do a Masters Degree in Music Performance and Songwriting, so I started singing lessons again at my uni, but this time it was for pop singing. I haven’t had any singing lessons since I was around 24, and I am now 28.
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: I always try to reply to people’s messages and comments as much as I can, and honestly they are so lovely, and supportive, and I appreciate them so so much. It’s so nice to hear my music makes a difference to other people – that is so special to me. It’s also beyond amazing to sing for people at my gigs and get such an amazing response. I think just knowing that people are actually interested and affected by my music existing, brings me so much joy, and it really motivates me. It’s a really special feeling to know that people listen and care.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘CHAOTIC’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Yes, absolutely. I wrote Chaotic about a time when I was dating a guy who was a bit older than me – I was 26 at the time, and he was 31. He worked in finance, he was very organised, and he had just bought himself a house, and it was always so tidy and perfect. In comparison, I was still figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, I was always running late, and always partying, and I would go over to his and leave a huge mess of my clothes everywhere. I kept sabotaging what we had because I felt really scared that I wasn’t good enough for him, and I felt terrified of commitment and of settling down. I just felt like such a mess, and I remember thinking maybe I needed to change myself, because maybe I was a hard person to love. In general, I’m quite a chaotic person and I always have been. I wrote this song about that particular experience with that guy, but also this is a theme in my life that has shown up a lot: often I feel like because I can be a bit chaotic, this makes me a hard person to love, and I fear settling down a lot. I think more recently I am realising that hopefully, the right person will find my chaotic-ness endearing, and also will be able to calm my fear of settling down a bit too.
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: So, I have written a 5 track EP called Baggage, but I decided to release it as 5 separate singles. Chaotic is the second single to be released on this EP, and there are still 3 more singles to be released. I would love love love to eventually release an Album, but I am not quite sure when that will be yet – I think probably quite a bit further in the future, when I grown my following, and am completely set on the kind of music I want to be creating.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the single, “CHAOTIC”?
A: So I started writing this actually in bed one day when I was ill and isolated with Coronavirus. I found a beat on YouTube and I started writing down some ideas and recording it on my phone. The recordings are actually really bad, because I had corona, so my voice was all croaky, but I could definitely still hear that it had potential. A few months later, my guitarist Alex Rossiter, asked me if I wanted to develop any of my original songs together, so I took the recordings I had on my phone, to him, and we spent some time working on it together, and developing the song, while we were sat in the park. We then later made a demo of Chaotic at his house, using his equipment. He then put me in touch with my producer Louis Takooree, and eventually I went and recorded it properly with Louis, who helped make it into the song it is today. It was a gradual process, but each step of its creation feels very special, and I am proud of how the song eventually turned out.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: Honestly, I get fulfillment just simply from making music that means something to me. I don’t think I would get too much fulfillment from making music, just because I know it will be successful and liked by other people. Saying that, I would love to build up my following and to one day get a bit more recognition, as it would mean a lot to me to know my music was making a difference in other people’s lives. Hopefully, I will get there one day.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: So I usually write and record little ideas that come into my mind when I am out and about, onto my phone – I might think of something and realise I want to write about it, or something I see or hear will inspire me, and I will jot it down or record it. Then I’ll take those ideas, and use them as my inspiration the next time I am writing – I’ll get up a beat I like the sound of on YouTube, play around with different ideas, and record the best ones. I then take it to another songwriter or to my guitarist, and we will develop it into a proper song, and create and record a demo. Finally, I took it to my producer to create the final version together, in around 3 sessions, in his studio.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I think probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to go through is a lot of health problems I’ve struggled with for many years. I have had health issues since I was born, which got more serious around the age of 20, and I have been in and out of hospital a lot and it’s been very very challenging and exhausting to deal with mentally and physically. It has made a lot of aspects of my life more challenging, and this has definitely without a doubt affected my confidence. It has also, unfortunately, impacted my career because I tend to doubt myself a lot and compare myself and what I do to healthy people. It can be hard to keep up because I have to spend a lot of my time trying to keep my health stable. However, these challenging experiences have also motivated me and probably made me care more about my music, because music has been the one confidant that I have always been able to rely on, and it is what has kept me going through all the challenges that I have faced.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: I think probably the thing I am most proud of is completing my Master’s Degree at Leeds College of Music and getting through it, because at the time I was really really unwell, and absolutely I used all of my mental and physical energy to get through that degree, and I just did not give up. I pushed through because I cared so much about getting that degree. I would literally wake up in the morning feeling so ill, and I would still go to uni and then hang out with my classmates and go party with them afterward, I don’t think anyone around me ever realised how bad I actually felt because I kept it so hidden. I would go home at the end and be utterly exhausted, but I just wanted to get that degree so badly, and I would not allow my health to stop that. I am really proud of myself for that because I got so many friendships and so many rewards from doing that course.
