At the mere age of 17, Australian-born Evie Irie is making waves with her alternative soul-pop music. Her voice has a rich, infectious tone and when it’s paired with huge piano parts and electronic sensibilities, it becomes the perfect combination for fans of Lorde, Sia, and Carlie Hanson. Irie’s newest musical offering, “Worst Enemy,” which dropped earlier this month was produced by legendary producer Greg Kurstin has already amassed over 200,000 streams on Spotify. We had the chance to talk to Irie about “Worst Enemy,” her song-writing process, and her love of jumping into the unknown.
BTS: Can you tell us how you got started with making music?
EVIE IRIE: I got started making music when I was around 12 years old. I just picked up my guitar and hummed a little melody while my sister was telling me a story about some random high school party, and I just started to put the story to the melody and that was the beginning for me.
BTS: Who are some of your influences, musically and non-musically?
EI: I would say musically my influences aren’t really other people/artists for me. I’m very much influenced by cultures, different eras, feelings and emotions, and the need for self-expression and creativity. And for my nonmusical influences, I love a lot of female artist like Gwen Stefani, Debbie Harry, Alanis Morissette, Cher, Janis Joplin and Madonna – not necessarily for their sounds and their music, but for their strength, the way they impacted culture, the way they so unapologetically expressed themselves, and the way they were able to break society’s norms.
BTS: Tell us about your new single “Worst Enemy”! What was writing and recording the song like?
EI: When I went in to write “Worst Enemy”, the idea was for it to be a fusion song. Elton John meets Queen, meets Urban, meets me. The idea came very quickly and was written in an hour, but took around 3 hours to record the harmonies in the chorus to make the ‘Queen’ sound more genuine and raw.
BTS: You worked on “Worst Enemy” with Greg Kurstin – what was that like?
EI: I actually didn’t know who [Kurstin] was before working with him, so when I went in I was amazed at his talent and experience. He is so humble and pushed my creativity so much. He understands my music theory so well, and ties that into his production and the way he helps direct melody – it was so interesting to learn.
BTS: How did the process for working on this song differ from projects you’ve released in the past?
EI: Usually when I go into write a song I never have a formal concept or I’m not necessarily going in inspired by another artist, but this song I was very much intending to pay homage and take a lot of inspiration from Queen and Elton John.
BTS: You recently released the music video for “Worst Enemy” – what was filming that like?
EI: I’m just excited for people to watch it. I’d been coming up with the concept for months and months prior to even knowing I was going to be shooting a video for this song, and then the time came around and with an amazing team and directors we were able to pull together the wild ideas I had and we shaped and created something so beautiful.
BTS: What’s been the most important lesson you’ve learned as an artist so far?
EI: This is hard to answer because I don’t have a particular thing in mind that I can necessarily think of. There have been a lot of lessons I have learned about myself, but for myself as an artist there haven’t been many lessons. It’s been more of a figure it out as you go sort of situation. I still have a lot of lessons to learn as an artist and I don’t think I have been an artist long enough or have had to face enough adversity in my music career to have an answer for this question.
BTS: What’s one fun fact about yourself for our readers?
EI: Fun fact about myself is that almost every trip or holiday I’ve ever been on has been booked the day of, or less than 24 hours before the flight. I love the unknown and I love an adventure.
BTS: What can fans expect from you this year?
EI: Fans can expect more music, and since most of the events have been cancelled this year, I still want to get the opportunity to meet everyone, so they can expect more online events!
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