CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 129: AMALIA ON LIFE, LOVE AND ADRENALINE
Interview by Brooke Gibbs.
Having built an impressive following through a mix of cover songs and original snippets, Electric Rush is the first taste of nearly two album’s worth of music that Amalia and producer Julian Schweitzer have created over the last twelve months.
Futuremag Music caught up with the Melbourne based indie-pop singer to celebrate her debut release.
FMM: Congratulations on the release of your debit single, Electric Rush. How does it feel to have it out there?
Amalia: It feels like a relief, basically. We've been working really, really hard over the years, and it's finally out, and it feels like a celebration, really, because Electric Rush has a celebration of life, love and adrenaline. That's how we've been describing it. So, it's a relief, truly, but I'm really, really happy.
FMM: You mentioned it's been a work over the last few years, so how did you know when you were ready to put it out there?
Amalia: I think after Covid. Well, I'm 22, so I really graduated high school, and I went straight into Covid. I like to think that my age group sort of missed out on their really formative adulthood years, basically, in terms of growing up. I feel like I had to go through that to be able to produce music that really sounds like me and feels like I can express myself in a way that is my own voice, really.
FMM: You touched on the song being about love and relationships. Can you tell me more about what inspired this song and what this song means to you?
Amalia: Yeah, as I said before, I like to describe it as a song about love, life, adrenaline. It's about that process of finding who you are. It started out really as, like, a forbidden love song where all these people have all these different ideas about our love, and I don't care, I'm just gonna love away, and we're gonna continue blossoming. After the song was written, I actually thought about it, and I said, oh, my gosh, it's actually really written from a point of view of going, I'm gonna choose my own journey for myself in life. I think we all have, whether it's inner demons or outside voices of society, going, this is what you should do. It's all about sort of breaking the mold and sort of testing the limits and taking a risk.
FMM: I think that's such a strong and powerful message, especially for your first release.
Amalia: Thank you. I definitely wanted that high-paced, adrenaline celebration to it.
FMM: You worked with Julian, who helped produce this track. Tell me more about that process and how that collab came about.
Amalia: So basically, Julian and I met around a year and a half ago, and it just so happens that we work at the same recording studio at Red Door Studios up in Fitzroy in Melbourne. We sort of bumped into each other one day and said, hey, we should do a co-write session, let's test this out. I kid you not, from day one, we got into the studio and we wrote a full song in five hours, like, fully produced, fully everything. I suppose it was just sort of divine timing in a way, and it just had a feeling of going, oh, my gosh, we understand each other and we understand our creative voices, and we really just work together. I know in an industry like this, you don't come across that sort of creative marriage very often, so I’m very, very lucky. He's one of my best friends now, so it's great.
FMM: It sounds impressive that you got it out in five hours, but it sounds like it was a very natural, creative flow, which would have helped the process.
Amalia: Oh, definitely. I think it's like, how about this? How about that? It's electrifying.
FMM: Before you released this song, you already had a huge social media following because you were releasing covers. With that following, did you feel you had to be up to standard to put that song out there, or what was it like, knowing that people were waiting for this release?
Amalia: Yeah, definitely. It's something that definitely crossed my mind, but at the end of the day, Australia has such a beautiful way of approaching music in terms of, it's just really, really homey. The feeling, and I suppose the followers that I had, they have been waiting a while, and I have been going, it's coming, it's coming. So finally, when I released Electric Rush, I had so many beautiful messages and people saying, it's different to what they thought I would be coming out with as my debut single, but it was a very good surprise for a lot of people. It was very exciting.
FMM: And when you say different, what did you perceive that people might expect you to do as your first single?
Amalia: Yeah, basically, as a high school student and growing up, through my teens, I definitely explored a more classical sound with playing piano and singing at the same time. So, it was a more ethereal, floaty voice that I had. It was only when I truly entered adulthood and went through the yuckiness of COVID where I had this sort of anger come out, when I sort of found that I had a rockiness in my voice that had a belt to it and had a strength that I never really knew possible. I definitely sort of waited for this debut release to showcase it as I wanted to keep it a surprise. People were definitely surprised.
FMM: Yeah, well, sounds like such a good surprise, and as I said before, this track is great. You mentioned the rockier sound, but also having the classical roots. People have described your sound as similar to the likes of Lana Del Rey and Meg Mac. Who are some artists that you get inspiration from?
Amalia: Oh, definitely Lana Del Rey, Meg Mac, Stevie Nicks. Just the whole vibe of the seventies and that chasing freedom. I think that's so powerful in this day and age where we are pretty closed off as a society, but we have so many opportunities as well. I love a nostalgic hit of a vibe, so Stevie Nicks, Adele, just, her voice just really, really cuts in deep. Basically, songwriters who share their voices from the heart and be really, really authentic.
FMM: Yeah, that's what's going to make people connect with you and your music as well. It's authentic, it's real and relatable.
Amalia: Thank you. I appreciate it.
FMM: I know this is only your first release, but do you perform live or how can people come out and support what you're doing?
Amalia: Yeah, 100%. I feel like the songs are even more heightened when they come alive on stage. I've actually got a sold-out launch party show happening on the 1st of June, but I've added a second show on the 2nd June, on the Sunday, and that's nearly sold out as well. That's happening at Nighthawks in Fitzroy. So very, very pumped for that. We've got a full band happening. Then, we've got a couple of support shows coming up, but I love having the opportunity to showcase because we've basically written enough songs to cover two albums. Having the opportunity to share these songs in a live scene, it's really, really, really beautiful to see people responding to the songs in the way that it was not only intended, but a new way of sort of getting that electric feeling. I know that's cringey to say, but it's awesome. The vibe in the room from the people who listen to the songs that we've created. I couldn't imagine it. It's amazing, so trying to get as many live experiences as possible.
FMM: Amazing that it's almost sold out as well. It's great that people are loving what you put out there and they're coming out to support you.
Amalia: Yeah, thank you. It's important to support live music, so I'm feeling very blessed. Very blessed. Yeah.
FMM: And we're really excited to see where you go from here because you mentioned that you've been working on many songs. So, what's next from here? Are you working on an EP, an album, just more single releases?
Amalia: Definitely. I definitely think a few more single releases before hopefully dropping an EP maybe next year, but really just seeing how it goes with sort of the whole songwriting process and the production process has been a really beautiful experimentation. I'm really, really keen to keep that vibe flowing throughout this whole start of the artistic journey.
FMM: Obviously, your goal is putting out more music, but is there anything else you want people to know about you or your songs that we haven't touched based on?
Amalia: No, I think just support Australian music. I've had so many people reach out from within the music industry and through other creative industries who really, really resonate with the song and the message that we're spreading, but just keep supporting artists. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful creative industry that we're in, but it's also hard. It's a supporting live gigs and listening to Australian music, I would say spreading that message is really, really important. Then, just loving what you do, having an authentic voice, not caring about all these other factors of going, oh, I wonder if people like this. People will like it if you were spreading a voice that is authentic to you, so be yourself. That's what I stand for, and it has worked for me.
FMM: Well, we're glad to hear it's working for you, and we're really excited to see where you go from here. Thank you so much for joining me. All the best with the new music and the live shows.
Amalia: Oh, thank you, Brooke. Thank you for this morning. I've really enjoyed it all.