INTERVIEW: Molly Millington on her debut album 'Frank Morgan': "I want to be in the places that really need me, not just the ones where it's fun and brings me praise."

Words: Jett Tattersall
Interview: Shalane Connors
Image: Nikola Jokanovic

When it comes to navigating accountability and pairing it with a satisfying serving of self-love and good humour, Molly Millington could give a musical masterclass. “Be good,” she sings on ‘The End’, her debut album’s closer, “and don’t let them bitches bring you down.”

It’s a fitting end to a stellar collection — a rhinestone-crusted grin — ironically named after the actor behind literature's ultimate puppet master, Frank Morgan who played The Wizard in the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz. Inspired by fictional Frank’s “Superman effect”, Millington uses his name and his crimes to expose the raw nerve and smoke and mirrors of her life and relationships. A deliciously sonic inventory of the multiple perspectives people hold of her and the myriad roles she cast herself — heroine, villain, and wisecracking comrade — and how she has learned to inhabit (and outgrow) each role.

Millington builds the stage for this identity-play within a sort of pearlescent Australiana landscape — a vibrant intersection of psychedelic-country gloss and tongue-in-cheek pop. It is a beautiful nook where acoustic warmth is filtered through a wry smile, woven with synth-pop textures that leap from slick production to witching-hour confessionals recorded into a phone. The propulsion of the record is immediate; on ‘Death By A Thousand What Ifs’, the opening guitar loop rolls behind the intro verse like a getaway drive. When the drums finally kick in, they offer a nod of approval — rhythmic proof that even endings can drive you forward with a smile — before the chorus erupts into a confident, fuzzed-out cacophony of sound.

This tenacity carries into the lead single, ‘Your Villain’, where Millington leans into her inner Oz, playfully adopting the role of the antagonist in another's narrative. The many masks reflect her increasingly impressive artistic evolution. Having kissed off years of romanticising the "lone ranger" lifestyle, Millington describes this stellar record as the moment she finally let go of her ego and embraced the power of community, artistically and personally.

Dolly-nod comedy gold is thoroughly mined in ‘Girl Next Door’, a faux-radio call-in, where Millington harmoniously chatters over the song’s simple beat. Calling to an army of babes to hold tight to their solidarity and self-worth, she quips: “If you want the girl next door, you should go next door instead.” However, as the track ends, the laughter dies and the green velvet drapes clear to reveal another of the album’s internal bruises. Standout ballad, ‘Empty Handed’, a spacious track made for both bedroom floors and stadiums, is anchored by the brutal realisation: “I pulled you apart holding myself together.”

Notably, this delicious collection is punctuated by precious interludes of startling intimacy, such as raw confessional, ‘Cooper, I’m Sorry’. A spell that acts as a grounding wire for  the album’s more big-top trapeze heights.

Having already cut her teeth on festival stages from Laneway to Groovin’ The Moo, Millington is no stranger to the stage - but Frank Morgan finds her finally slowing down to "be in the moment."  It is the sound of an artist who has survived the industry trenches and emerged with a mission: to stay kind, stay present, and—above all else - not let “them bitches bring you down.” 

Shalane Connors recently met with Millington to chat about the album’s creation.

It’s lovely to meet you Molly! Congratulations on the creation of your debut album Frank Morgan. This is a defining milestone for you. How are you feeling?
I'm ready. I'm excited, I'm ready. Let's go!

The album is brilliant, I'm loving it. Let's start with the title, Frank Morgan. It comes from the actor who plays The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, and he also plays many other characters, so it's about the many faces or the many versions of oneself. The album itself reflects you as an artist in the same way it goes on an incredible journey through very different musical styles, from self reflective, minimalist, acoustic numbers to big country pop bangers. So I'm interested to know which which were the easiest songs for you to write, and which was perhaps the most vulnerable and hardest track for you to write on the album?
Usually I write my music, and then I go into the studio and record my music, but I tried something a bit different with this album where I went in and wrote it as we were recording it. Most of it was quite free flowing and easy, which I think means a good project is happening.

There is one song in the album called ‘Empty Handed’, which has a lot of verses, and I definitely went back and tweaked things a lot with that song. I wrote the opening verse of it three years ago, so that one took a long time. But I'd go in with the ideas, or a verse, a chorus and a bridge or something. And then myself and Xavier [producer and co-writer Xavier Dunn] would workshop the songs.

I think this is the first time you've really collaborated with another writer. Up until this point, you've written mostly in a solitary fashion.
Yeah. I used to have quite a big ego with my writing, where it was like, if I don't need someone else to help me, why am I asking? I also used to be very much like that in my actual life, like, I don't need the help. I've been working with Xavier since I was 18 or 19 and it just came natural for him to be one of the first people for me to let my guard down, kill my ego a bit and let him into my little world. And that was very fun, so I’ve started doing a lot more collaborations.

How has that changed the process for you?
It's fun. Music or writing was very much work, or proving myself for a big chunk of time, and it's really nice to remember that it is the thing that has been my joy since I was 11. It's okay to enjoy your job, you know. I think it just put the spark back in my eyes.

The album also has a really fun, interesting structure. It’s almost like a theatre experience, it's got two interludes and a song at the end called ‘The End’, which announces the end of the album. Was that a conscious choice or just something that came in the writing process?
The finished album was sent to me, and I went, it's not finished. I'm a bit weird, I like when an album is clearly ending and I like it when the song is almost ‘we're finishing, here we go, we're finishing’! So I thought I might as well play on that joke and actually have a song that was like ‘I’m finishing’. It was just recorded my room, so that was fun.

Incidentally, that's one of my favourite tracks. I just love the sentiment - ‘be good to each other, bitches’. Amazing! This is your debut album, and because it is such a joyous and bold album, you're probably going to be one of those artists that people say ‘she was an overnight success’. I know that's not the case, so can you tell me a little bit about your process of getting here, how hard you've worked, how many knock backs you've had to face as a woman in the industry?
If I ever do start getting the overnight success thing, I'm gonna be so proud of myself! All of the good girlies and boys, get the overnight success thing. Chapell Roan, she worked for 10 years and she got that. Sabrina Carpenter got that, and if I was to be in that company, call me an overnight success please! It’s not true, but I personally think that's a great thing to be called.

I started writing when I was 11, and my mum was a music teacher, but she never nurtured that side of me. I don't mean that in the mean way, it just wasn't something she was pushing on me. It just naturally came out. I thought I was actually a poet aged 11, but it turns out I was a songwriter, which I think is very similar. My parents were like, ‘okay, we'll fan that flame’, I'm very lucky to have very supportive parents. I did a few competitions, I did so many fun festivals, and it's worked up to here.

It's been tough, sometimes you're crying, putting on your wig saying ‘you’ve got this girl’ but I'm happy to be here, and if any major success were to come I'm ready for it. I've done my time in the trenches!

You grew up on the Central Coast, so you're kind of a country girl at heart. And this album is kind of a return to some country vibes.
Maybe, I definitely grew up writing country music, and I think the Central Coast does have a pretty solid country scene, so that's probably where that came from - and Johnny Cash was always around me growing up. It does feel like coming home, because I moved into pop and now I’m moving back into country. So it's very nice to be coming back.

Which song on the album is most reflective of who you are in the many faces of Molly Millington?
I think they all have a little place in my heart, that are true to me. But where I'm at now, it would probably be ‘Empty Handed’. When I was writing it, it was ‘I'm sorry I'm coming back to you empty handed, but that's makes me the best me when I'm not providing stuff for other people’. Now, it's kind of a bit of an f-you song, I'm not sorry that my life isn't for you, you know?, And it took me 25 years to realise that nobody cares issn't that so freeing? So that song has a little place in my heart now, and it's really good to run to.

One of my favourite parts of listening to the album is you really get the impression that you're quite a funny girl. It's very witty, especially ‘Girl Next Door’, that track is just phenomenal.
People are sleeping on that! I'm like, guys, this song is funny!

I think that's my favourite track. It's very funny, old timey. How did that one come into creation? Because it's quite unique, it's very conversational.
Yeah, it is. Bunnie Xo, she’s Jelly Roll’s wife, has a podcast Dumb Blonde which is so unapologetically her. I just love her, she's so hilarious. She's very open about her relationship, and she was talking about, like, when she first met him she was like ‘if you want the girl next door you should just go get her’ - but with a lot more swearing! I was working as a house cleaner when the idea for the song came into my head, I was actually vacuuming a church and I dropped everything and wrote most of the song in that church! Romantically a lot of people come to me being ‘I love you, but be this’. And I was like, well, you don't love me, go find someone who's already there, you know? This song is just a fun way of saying ‘don't darken my door’!

What's the one thing that you hope people feel or take away from this album?
Probably feeling a little bit more understood, or just a bit of joy. I have a big issue with feeling joy, especially with where the world's at at the moment. If someone can get a bit of escapism or just a bit of a giggle, that's enough. And I want to reach like people. I love my girly pops, but I want to reach the guys out in the mines, the girls in the mines, a single mom,, I just like it to help.

With some of my old music, I would have people going through divorces messaging me saying ‘this is saving me from some really hard times’, and ‘my family love you, and you're playing all the time’. I want to be in the places that really need me, not just the ones where it's fun and brings me praise.

Is that the place music holds in your life as well, escapism and joy?
100%. I have such a brilliant life, and I have the funnest time, but I am quite a sad person. And in those moments where I am by myself, music is the only thing that keeps me here. I’m not being morbid, but there are so many artists that are like my God. So I would like to be that for people who need it, even if they don't give me any praise, even if I'm a guilty pleasure, I will happily be your guilty pleasure, and you don't have to tell anyone, as long as I'm helping!

I love that you're like a therapist!
Yeah, that's a fun title!

What's a question that nobody's asked you that you want to talk about?
I have always romanticised about being a lone ranger, ‘No, I don't need anything!’, yeah. But lately I've really been befriending and supporting women in pop music in Australia, and it's so much funner with the girls. I romanticised being an outcast so much that I was so lonely and I didn't realise what the source of the problem was. Being able to sit down with girls in the same industry and really vent and talk is just so freeing, and I feel like it's given me a whole new love for the music. I’ve never spoken about that. Heaps of the pop girlies have been really lovely to me, and it's very nice to give that back. Australian music is really sick, and I've only just felt the love back. I love my pop girlies in Australia, and I am so glad I finally slaughtered my ego because it's fun.

Do you think that comes from having to prove your independence?
I think so. Also, this is an odd one, but I grew up idolising my brother, and growing up. I was always needing something. I was always sick, so I was like, I need to have my mum by me all the time. When I did leave home and got my career rolling, I was holding on to the independence. I was like I don't need anything, I'm like my brother, see, I'm cool. But now it's like, but I'm not, I need help, and I need community - and that's okay. So that's the root of it. And that wasn't therapy, that was just a lot of long nights journaling!

What's happening next for you? With the release of the album, are you going on tour?
I don't know what I'm allowed to say, but I was on a Zoom call this morning with my team, and we were planning some pretty fun things that will be announced very soon. So you all will probably know minutes after I know! There are things happening, and it's cute and it’s exciting!

Frank Morgan is out now via Network Music Group. You can buy and stream here
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