Premiere • Emily Blue: #BubbleGumAcidPop

Chicago’s Emily Blue first stepped out as a solo artist in late 2016, but her new release is sure to have you making room on your next playlist. Prior to the release of the Another Angry Woman EP in November of last year, Emily spent her time as the front woman of indie bands Tara Terra and BOYCUT, both acts creating a progressive sound that we’ve come to enjoy over the past year or so. Still active in each band, Emily has currently been making time to continue working on her own sound.

Following up Another Angry Woman, today Emily turns to These Days to premiere a double single called #BubbleGumAcidPop. With a sound just like the title describes, the double single takes on a similar persona as Emily’s work with BOYCUT, but is also distinctly its own. The two singles are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum, balancing each other out perfectly. “Blackberries” serves up something vibrant and jovial, whereas “Rico Acid” delivers a drum heavy, more sinister tone. Both are worlds apart from Emily’s emotional debut, embracing the psychedelic backdrop to her soothing pop vocals.

Having called Champaign, Illinois home for some time, we’ve unfortunately been limited in the amount of real world exposure we’ve had to Emily Blue and her bands, but that changes today! If you love the EP, make sure to make some time tonight to check out Emily live and in person at Emporium in Wicker Park as she celebrates the release of #BubbleGumAcidPop with support from Yomi, Mother Nature and Elton Aura. Get over there, there’s no cover and the lineup is filled with acts we’ve been fond of and hearing a lot about recently.

Listen to the new double single above and read on to learn a little more about Emily in our short interview with the singer below.

How did this idea for a double single come about?

"Blackberries // Rico Acid" is a result of many 4 A.M. recording sessions in a Logan Square basement. My friend Max Perenchio (AKA producer Pelican Boy, singer in Gold Web) has so many wild ideas, so we took my two quirky pop songs and turned them into what I call bubblegum acid pop. The tunes are psychedelic, sweet, and catchy, and I really enjoyed getting weirder with production.

What has it been like experiencing the evolution of your own music?

It's been a pretty intense journey for me. My newest record "Another Angry Woman" (released in November 2016) is all about womanhood, rape culture, and some pretty complex themes. So writing that was a huge milestone and I personally learned a lot from the experience. Now, I'm headed more into the guilty pleasure of pop music, which I view more as an opportunity to explore new textures and sounds.

I also write/front two bands (Tara Terra, BOYCUT), and those are two completely different beasts. Tara Terra is more mathy, indie rock/pop and I often push myself into fantasy or fiction when writing lyrics. BOYCUT is industrial synthpop so that gets even stranger. I love changing it up depending on the project and am lucky to work with some awesome musicians.

Did you have any examples or influences you were looking at while creating this?

We were inspired by some of my favorite new records-- Solange's "A Seat at the Table" production is minimal yet very distinctive, and it influenced the drum sounds especially in the two songs. I personally always gain influence from Erykah Badu, Caroline Smith, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor.

What's 2017 have in store for us?

I'm collaborating with some really cool Chicago musicians-- I'm probably most excited for working with Yomí. We have a project called Yomí & Blue which combines her harp and smooth vocals with anything I can bring to the table. We'll have an EP soon and a single, and we're playing all that live at Emporium 3/2 (free show)! It'll be a very fun night (w/ Elton Aura, Mother Nature). I love the energy of Chicago's music scene-- it's electric.

Also, my band Tara Terra is also dropping a record very soon-- we've been working on it for a whole year!

How would you characterize the kind of music you're making now?

The music I'm making now is eccentric pop music. I'd describe it as colorful and dynamic. Really looking forward to recording a lot more of it this year.