A Chat With The Iconic Drama Queen, Emma Yue
You just released your single ‘Letters To My Exes’ - can you tell me about the single and what it is about?
The song was written in the early days of lockdown, and it began as a song to teach myself how to write a song based on a guitar riff, which is the riff you hear in the intro. It took me an embarrassingly long time to play it well enough to record it in the original demo.
Lyrically the song is about being single, confident, and being an active part in the dating scene, however, it turned into a slightly satirical song in a similar way that Taylor Swift’s Blank Space is. There is a certain image that society paints women who like to date a lot, and I wanted to lean into it with a bit of tongue-in-cheek spice.
There’s nothing wrong with being someone who wants to date a lot of people, whether it be for adventure or excitement, or to simply not be wondering about what else the world has to offer when you meet ‘the one’. I’m also polyamorous, and while I love the idea of finding my ‘one true love’, I also think the world is wide and I don’t want to close myself off from anything. This song is sort of a manifestation of that, but it’s hidden behind the satirical take on the image society likes to label young women in that scene.
The song mentions that you like to convey your journey in self-discovery through your music, tell me more about this.
As someone in her early 20s, self-discovery plays a part in almost everything I do. I feel more aware than ever that I don’t really know a lot about anything, and sometimes writing music is my way of making sense of it all. My next single in particular touches on this, which is about learning to find a home within yourself.
I also have been through a lot of identity crises so far, for example being mixed race, being a person of colour in a predominantly white society, the years it took me to accept that I was bisexual, and also not knowing what my Hogwarts house is. That being said JK Rowling can get fucked (excuse my language).
While I have a strong sense of self because I grew up in such a way that forced me to be so aware, humans change so much over time and everyone is on a constant path of self-discovery, and that can become overwhelming. I hope that the songs I write and share about it all make someone feel less alone, or see themselves in my music because that would be the highest form of success.
What is your background in music? Do you have key influences? Is there a moment you remember that led you to where you are today?
Music and I had a very rocky start, due to the nature in which I first began learning it. I started playing piano when I was around 6-7 years old, and then switched to guitar when I was 15.
During those years, I was only allowed to do those damn AMEB exams, which have a classical focus and I hated it. What I wanted to do was play the music I liked, and like many a teenage girl, the music I liked was Taylor Swift. She’s a queen, I love her music, and is instrumental in my dream of being a touring artist.
During particularly tough times in my teenage years, after lights out I would get out my laptop, put in my headphones, and watch one of her big tour videos from either 1989, Speak Now or Fearless, and use a deodorant bottle as a microphone. I would sit on my bed and lip-sync my way through the whole tour until I exhausted myself and fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. Looking forward to doing that after a hard day kept me going sometimes, and it showed how impactful music can be when you find an audience who connects with it.
You like to call yourself a “psycho-drama-queen” - did this come from a friend or someone you know or just how you like to describe yourself?
To be honest, I have never once been called psycho or a drama queen. I’ve been called names before, but never those. I chose to describe myself that way because sometimes after a breakup or falling out, men like to do a U-turn completely discredit women who have “wronged” them by calling them names like that. I just wanted to own it, then no one could have power over me by pulling that card. Maybe that makes me a psycho-drama-queen. Who knows. Not me.
Do you have any plans for the future in your music?
My biggest dream is to be able to play music and travel, so if I ever got to the point of playing a tour outside of Australia I would be so stoked. It’s a long way away though, and it's going to be a lot of hard work. Right now In the works is my next single, and I’m currently beginning to plan an EP. I’m doing a 2.5-month solo backpacking trip to Europe this year (I’m a eurosummer girlie), but when I come back it’s going to be hard yakka. Writing, recording, and playing as many shows as I can. It’s gonna be the best.
