Interview with Emilia Quinn: ‘The real beauty of songs is their ability to tell stories’

Leeds-based blues-country singer Emilia Quinn will release two new tracks on 4 December, ‘This World’, about living life in the shadow of a pandemic, and ‘Mila’, which is about grief.

Quinn got the inspiration for ‘This World’ when she was driving: ‘It was written while I was driving in my car thinking about the state of the world and how crazy it is there are babies who have never lived in a world without a pandemic,’ she said.

‘At the time, two of my band members were due to have babies and it got me thinking about how we don’t just change the world for ourselves but for our babies and babies’ babies and so on. It’s a message to remind people to make time in a world where no one ever seems to have much time for each other and consciously spread some good karma around. It’s easy to get caught up in your own show but reaching out to someone else could make their day or save them from some really dark places.’

As the song goes: ‘Make time to share a little good karma and to care for one another in this world.’

‘It’s a song about missing someone dearly and dealing with that grief’

‘Mila’, for its part, has a sadder, more wistful feel to it: ‘It is about something someone very, very close to me went through and came from putting myself in their shoes and trying to imagine how they felt,’ Quinn explained. ‘It’s fairly open to interpretation, whether someone relates to it because someone they love has passed away, or they left to live somewhere far, maybe they just grew apart and stopped talking or broke up or maybe it’s the one that got away. No matter which of these make it relatable, it’s a song about missing someone dearly and dealing with that grief.’

The lyrics really encapsulate that: ‘Where are you hiding, this isn’t fun, I’m not playing games, that’s it I’m done but I can’t give up on you.’

Quinn brought out her second EP, Firecracker, over the summer. The opening track on Firecracker, ‘Outlaw’, grabs you from the off: ‘It started with the hook, it was the centrepiece, an anthem of independence but with the idea that it’s also nice to have someone along for the ride. Technically, it’s a love song but the typical love song is hard to write without it sounding cheesy. Everyone’s already said all the good things you can say in a cheesy song.’

The chorus is full of glorious swagger: ‘Outlaw, outlaw, take me by the hand, show me who’s the baddest bitch in the land, outlaw, outlaw, show me what you got, I want some of your fiery love.’

Another track on the EP, ‘Drunk’, is about handling someone with self-destructive tendencies, according to Quinn: ‘It’s about saying I’m there for you but pull your shit together, it comes from a place of tough love and care. When I ask her if the person it’s about is aware of the song’s existence she says that they are: ‘The person ‘Drunk’ is about, they were in the room next to me when I was writing it.’

As the song goes: ‘You can run yourself into the ground, you can dig your own grave, I’ll be the one left mourning come your judgement day.’

Ultimately, Quinn is a storyteller and her knack for it weaves through all her songs, linking them in subtle ways: ‘The majority of my songs are based on my experiences or those of people close to me. The real beauty of songs is their ability to tell stories. If someone sees themself in a song, it might make them reflect about themself and their actions. I do that sometimes with famous people’s songs, they can make you think. It’s something music can do really well and isn’t aggressive about it.’

One of her most popular songs is ‘Woman Like Me’ from her debut EP last year, Wrote Off. She says that the track actually resonated with her more by the time she came to release it: ‘I started to live by those words.’ She is conscious of the imbalance in the music industry, with women often given less of a platform. ‘The industry is gradually shifting, one day we’ll get there, but it will take a long time to happen. Some women deny there’s an imbalance but the statistics are consistent, so how can you deny numbers? It’s something we need to do something about but it needs to be a conversation, not an argument.’

According to a study carried out by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative last year, gender equality in the music industry is dismal, with women accounting for just 21.7% of artists, 12.3% of songwriters and a paltry 2.1% of producers.

‘You need girls to believe they can do anything’

Quinn studied audio production at university and says she was one of just five women on her course of 150 students. ‘You can go into a room and be the only woman, you have to have balls to do that. I’m very lucky to have been brought up to do that. You need girls to believe they can do anything.’

She is putting together an online course in home recording designed for beginners after several friends asked her how to do it. She is also gearing up to release ‘Girl Talk’ on International Women’s Day on 8 March next year. She recorded her last EP at home, with just the drums laid down in the studio.

One of her favourites out of her own songs is ‘Sorry Momma’, which she penned after she got a tattoo and which is a tribute to her mum. Another track that means a lot to her from her latest EP is ‘Nothing to Lose’: ‘It’s a bit different to the others, it’s about eating disorders and having a bad body image. I was stuggling with that at the time. Family members have had body dysmorphia, it’s always been around. My partner Tammy has helped me a lot and gets it. It’s good to have someone who can recognise you’re not doing great, maybe even before you do, and who can help.’

Quinn is a big fan of fellow Leeds country singer Jade Helliwell and Blackpool country singer Emma Moore. ‘She’s so much soul!’ She’s also a big fan of American country duo Brothers Osborne and Aubrie Sellers and Samantha Fish: ‘These women who play their instruments with love, they’re badass, it’s perfectly acceptable, it’s so inspiring.’

Her fan club is called Quinn’s Bitches as part of her bid to reclaim the word ‘bitch’ and turn it into something positive: ‘Women are so often called bitches but ‘bitch’ can be about asserting their power, making it a positive thing.’

If she could have toured with anyone, she picks Freddie Mercury and American blues-rock singer Beth Hart. ‘Can you imagine the two doing a duet? There wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house!’