Etta Marcus is Not Your Sad-Girl

I’m feeling better about it coming out now that two singles have come out beforehand. I get really anxious about songs coming out, especially this time around, because it’s taken a different direction sonically. On the night of the release, I’m gonna be super nervous, and probably won’t sleep. I was like that with the other two singles.

The main one is probably loss, and also a lot of acceptance. I think there is an arc throughout the EP, it starts off at this angrier place, and then you hit the midway point of personal growth. It’s about a relationship, but I think the relationship is actually secondary in the EP. Towards the tail-end, it’s about accepting the loss and becoming okay with it. ‘Heart-Shaped Bruise’ started out as a song then just came to encapsulate everything the song is.

It naturally went to a different sonic place, rather than it being an intention in that way. I think I intentionally wanted to feel like I wasn’t boxed in. As soon as I put out the first EP, I was getting lovely comparisons, to Fiona Apple, Mazzy Star Lana Del Rey, which I was loving, but I’m also more comfortable not being pigeonholed into ‘sad-girl-music’, or that kind of thing. I think you write music for yourself, and that’s the way it should be. I never think you should write for other people, or your audience.

I write a lot at home, and I write when we’re at the studio. It was very similar to the first EP, I didn’t want to change anything because it worked so well the first time around. I was working with all the same people, like Josh [Scarbrow], and we were closer than ever, because we knew each other and how it worked.

The first EP was fun, but I’ve had a bit more budget to be able to, like record strings, and actual live drums. It was fun fleshing songs out, especially with strings. We had an eight-piece strings. The first EP I also had as much time as I wanted, but with this project so far, I’ve had such a positive experience feeling supported.

I spent a year studying jazz, it felt like forever! I knew where I wanted to be, and I think I thought that taking a particular path would help me get there, and getting a degree would be a good plan B. It was an unknown world. I definitely learnt about discipline, but the music I was writing just wasn’t jazz. When I did get kicked out, I realised it was a blessing in disguise because I was forced to put stuff out myself on SoundCloud.

I was mostly scared to tell my parents, but they were super supportive. They were the ones who forced me to post stuff on SoundCloud, because I’m such a perfectionist I would never put myself out there.

I agree. I think it’s important in that it shows you don’t need glitzy production behind your music, as long as it’s good, it’s good. I think it’s an interesting conversation, acknowledging that TikTok is dominating the music industry, not putting other people down like other artists who’ve come up from TikTok who are amazing, it’s trying to retaliate from that a bit. I always love having that bit more mystery, so SoundCloud for me is perfect.

At the moment, I’ve got an idea as to what we’re working towards album-wise. I am a big album listener, I love albums. If I could, I would have actually just released an album first. But I know that for some people, they just need to grow, grow themselves as an artist and like their writing. Album-wise, I’m thinking 2024 is my goal, but I’ll be writing for that before then.

Obviously, the EP is coming out, then I’ve got my first headline UK tour next year, which is going to be really fun in March.

I think some of the first EP stuff that I’ve never been able to play with a band, because it’s always just been me and a guitar. Also to have other people involved in the band,  I’m actually starting rehearsals today, so I’ll be finding and putting the band together. I feel like a bit like Jack Black. I’m also excited to write new stuff, this time around, I’m wanting to take a bit more control and be more purposeful with my writing time.