INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY INTERVIEW: Emmy Meli on her breakthrough hit 'I Am Woman': "I'm going to continue to say what I want to say and stand up for what I believe in."
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Claire Schmitt
America’s Emmy Meli is fast becoming one of the hottest new talents in music. After initially going viral on social media, her sixth single ‘I Am Woman’ has since exploded into mainstream success, peaking in the top 30 in Australia late last year and attracting well over 133 million global streams. Its unique soul-jazz-pop soundscape that moves from calm and dreamy to passionate and urgent is enough to make you fall in love with it, but it’s empowering feminist lyrics seal the deal, making it an anthem for this generation of women and young girls: “I am a woman…I am feminine / I am masculine / I am anything I want” she sings.
Growing up in Long Beach, California, Meli always knew music was her destiny and was writing her own music at 9 years old. With an inherent love of music that continued into adulthood; even while working in hospitality she would continually write lyrics on her notepad in between serving tables. She released her first single ‘Wanting More’ in 2020 and when ‘I Am Woman’ was released in 2021 - having been born from on-the-job scribbles in her notepad - it went viral on TikTok, inspiring over 750k videos before crossing over onto the US, UK and Australian singles charts.
With a remarkable talent for songwriting (all her singles to date have been entirely self-penned), a one-of-a-kind voice and music that is both left of centre yet completely accessible and relatable, you can expect major things from Meli in the coming years. To celebrate International Women’s Day we sat down with Emmy to find out more about her career and the creation of ‘I Am Women’.
Hi Emmy! How are you doing?
I am actually wonderful!
I want to talk to you about this gorgeous thing that's been everywhere and your voice that is behind it. That is of course ‘I Am Woman’, talk to me about this song.
This song is probably the piece of work that I'm most proud of because of the message. It was almost a happy accident how it happened. It originally didn't even start as a song, it started as little mantras I was saying to myself, and it just became a piece of music. I really never would have imagined that it would reach such astronomical heights, not just in America, but globally. It's like changing people's lives across the globe and it's a huge honour. It really, really, really is.
That's a gorgeous way of seeing it. You said that it just started out of these little mantras to yourself. Can you explain that to me and what were those affirmations that you were repeating to yourself?
I was quite literally just saying the exact lyrics, I was repeating ‘I'm fearless’. I picked personal qualities that I resonated with that I wanted to pay a little bit more attention to and touch upon: ‘I'm creative, I'm feminine, I'm masculine, I'm anything that I want to be’. They originally just began as a way for me to stay in touch with myself and remind myself that I have the power to do what I want to do. I was in band rehearsal one day, we were just jamming out, me my bandmates, and I just started singing it. It really was just a happy accident that flowed out of me.
You said you were repeating these mantras of worth to yourself. And I just wanted to know, you’ve been releasing music and putting it out there for a while, but did that come from? Is it from a place of possibly not fitting into the mould of what a pop star looks like or what they achieve and having to keep reminding yourself that no, this still counts, I still count?
Yeah, my voice obviously tends to lean more in the R&B field. My voice is a very soulful and powerful thing that I have very carefully crafted and trained and practised since I was a kid. I don't come from money or connections, I just came from a dream. I was just a passionate person who really thought that they could make a difference. I feel like if you believe enough in your intention, and if your actions are coming from a place of goodness, then you can really, really achieve absolutely anything that you want to.
That's so gorgeous. Everyone globally has been hearing ‘I Am Woman’, they've really resonated with it and I'm sure you're getting so many messages, and so much beautiful traction, I can even see it in the YouTube comments. What has been some of your favourite moments that have actually come out of that song or some of the greatest stories that you've heard?
A story that really resonated with me was when a friend of a friend who runs a support group for trans women messaged me to tell me, ‘you will never understand what your song has been doing for these women during this time in their lives, we play it in the support group and it's really, really, helping them and I had to reach out and say thank you for your art’. That message really, really struck a chord with me because I got to sit in my living room in the silence of that, and really fathom the fact that something I created from a passion has now become a safe space for people, which is what I went into music to do in the first place. Nobody tells you how you're going to feel when your dreams actually come true, but for your dreams to not only come true, and simultaneously help others feel that their dream is coming true is something really, really special. I'm super grateful. I'm really, really grateful.
That's absolutely beautiful. I was watching recently the accompanying kick ass video where you have this incredible collection of women just rocking out and dancing and living their best lives to your song. Can you talk to me a little bit about the desire of creating that, and really what that experience was like, because it's something incredible to watch?
We purposely picked a treatment that was so beautifully inclusive, and very carefully crafted aesthetically. The cast was absolutely amazing, and not only were the people that we picked, and reached out to be a part of the video, so diverse, and so amazing, the crew that worked on the set was just a badass team of females that were helping make this vision come to life. I've done music videos before, but having this be my first professional music video with a treatment that I got to choose, a whole cast of people who I got to invite to come be a part of, including other musicians, and models, and influencers and Miss Nevada. Like, how insane is that? I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful experience and everybody that I met on set was so incredible, and so kind, and so open, it was a really, really perfect experience.
Gorgeous. You've been creating music for a while, can you tell me a little bit about your trajectory into making it your own? I'm assuming you've always sung, but when did you start piecing it together?
I would say high school, I had a friend who had gotten into producing in high school, and we would kind of just go to his garage and mess around and record random stuff. I was good at it, I was really good at it and he would just play random little beats that he made and I would sing over them and write stuff. It just came to me so naturally. It was one of those things where I sat there, after having spent like six hours in this garage, feeling like no time had passed, I was like, ‘I could do this every day for the rest of my life’. It was times like those that really reinforced that that was where my true passion lay, and I was going to make it happen one way or another.
Because it's just where you went to feel ‘this is me, this is what I do’. I think that's wonderful. The difference or the confidence that comes in singing something that you wrote yourself, is just next level because for so many years, women in particular have been singing songs written by old men.
I'm pretty sure I'm the only artist on the charts and on the radio right now besides maybe Ed Sheeran, I don't know the exact metrics, but I'm pretty sure that I'm the only song on there that is a sole songwriter. It's just me. I'm the only person who wrote that song. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on the charts that has that right now. I’ve written everything that I've ever released all by myself, including this project that I have coming up. It's all been me.
When you said this song really was touching people and uplifting people, is that something that you were like, this is the music I want to do, this is me giving back into the world or is it more this was a moment at the time and wherever my emotions take me they'll take me, is this now going to be something you're going to lean into?
I'm definitely going to lean into it because that was my goal in the first place. I said If I was going to do music, and if I was going to be in the platform and given the voice, that I was going to use it for a reason. I was going to speak on things that really nobody else is speaking on right now, or at least not a lot of people are speaking on. I almost felt like this was a gift, this platform is a gift and for this to happen to me is a gift and now it's my turn karmically to just give it back in my own way, and to continue putting high vibrational music with a good message into the world that makes people feel less alone. I really think that's what music is supposed to be about, music is supposed to inspire people.
I've seen your social media platforms, and very much from the get go you have used it as your platform to talk politically and supportively on quite big issues that are going on. You spoke about the Black Lives Matter movement and then of course female empowerment, particularly within the music industry. It's only very recently that artists have had this direct voice, and they've been able to connect that with their audience. I think it's amazing that they do because they've become more than role models. It's not just how they look, it's how they sound. Was there ever any hesitancy in wielding that power? Was there any concern? Because obviously, the internet can be a savage place.
Yeah, oh my God, savage is a great way to put it. For lack of a better way to put it, with great power comes great responsibility. When you go into this with the intent of speaking on something, whether it be political issues, racial injustice, feminist topics, you already know that no matter what it is that you have to say, you're going to receive backlash. You go into it knowing that's going to happen. So then you make the choice - Is the internet people's opinion more important than spreading this message? Hell no. I'm going to continue to say what I want to say and stand up for what I believe in. That's the benefit of having a platform. I went into this knowing that I had a lot to say, and knowing that I wanted to do that and I wanted to use my voice to be a voice for people who may not have one, or can't speak on this stuff. I grew up feeling like nobody listened to me and maybe that's why I've made it such a point to make myself heard, and to help others feel heard. I said to myself, if I could do with my music or with my platform, what Amy Winehouse or Lauryn Hill's music did for me, or what Lady Gaga did for the LGBTQI+ community, I'm doing something right. It's just always been a part of me, as a person, to want to do huge things. Maybe it's the Sagittarius in me, I'm very, very passionate and fiery! At the end of the day, I had to learn that the trolls are just people sitting in their room hating their lives and I'm going to continue standing up for what I believe in, for sure.
Absolutely. And hell yes, I feel you and I hear you, but it's one thing to say I'm going to ignore it, but I've seen some of the comments people write to artists, and it's just next level, particularly when they are standing up for something, it is next level dark. So well done and keep going!
I mean, come on, people are cruel. People are really, really, really cruel. At first, it felt like I was back in middle school with people bullying me for no apparent reason. You have to realise that it's born from self hatred, or jealousy or just being bored. Or they just don't like you. And you know what? You can't make everybody like you. You really can't, especially if you're going to speak on things that other people aren't speaking on.
Absolutely. You lightly mentioned earlier on you have a little project in the works, are you able to talk to me a little bit about that or just give some clues?
I have been working really hard on this project for a while now and some of the songs I've written really recently, some of them I've sat on for over a year that I'm finally putting into action and getting done. Right place, right time kind of thing. This project is really intimate and it's going to give people a look into who I am as a person and really speak for who I want to be as an artist. It for sure tells my story a little bit more and conveys my message and it's gonna let people get to know me. As cliché as it is, I'm going to title it Hello, Stranger, for several reasons, you'll see why when the project comes up. It's going to be me saying, hey world, thank you for putting me on the map. I'm here to stay. And this is me.
‘I Am Woman’ is out now. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things Emmy Meli you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook , TikTok and Twitter.
