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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned singer Emily Faye to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I am from a little country village just outside of Northamptonshire, a town in the middle of the UK.
My Dad is a huge music fan – he has around 3000 CD’s from back when he was studying at Uni. My Mum’s side of the family are musical and she encouraged me to learn piano from a young age. So really music has always been present in our house. I also remember sitting on my Grandfather’s knee at a very young age and singing songs with him.
I have always been that annoying person who sings all the time around the house, and it has always been the thing I am most passionate about, so it just felt natural to pursue it.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
S Club 7 was the first CD I ever bought myself. But really, I’ve grown up with all different types of music because of my Dad, everything from the Dire Straits to Elton John to Pink Floyd. The first ever actual gig I went to was to see Meat Loaf!
Now I would say my influences are definitely more Country music based, I love the classics such as Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, etc but also the new strong independent women who are breaking the traditional country stereotypes such as Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves who are all bringing something new to the table within the genre.

How would you describe your sound?
At the moment I am still playing with my sound a little.
The music I have released this year, each song has had a different element to it, and it’s actually through writing the next lot of music which I hope to record in early 2020 that I feel like I’m getting closer to what is truly ‘me’. If you want a true description then I would say it’s positive, fun but yet also vulnerable in some aspects. Working with producer Sue Mc Millan has been amazing because we have developed a very close friendship and she knows me very well and has guided me with my sound a lot because of that.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My latest release is called ‘Looking For A Real Thing’.
Some songs you write are planned, others just come out. This was the latter of the two. I was in a writing room with two of my good friends and writers Sue Mc Millan and Jake Morrell, it was coming towards the end of our session and then Jake started playing something on the guitar and I sang along to it and Sue said ‘Write that down!’ and then a song was born.
Sue and I went back over the lyrics and actually had two versions one about personal growth, and one about love lost story. We were really quite torn with which version to go with lyrically, in the end the love lost story felt the most right and the most easy to relate to at this point. The story is based on my perspective of a friend’s relationship with her partner.

What’s your local music scene like?
I mostly play in London, so I don’t get to experience my local music scene very much – I am not sure there is a huge network of original artists – I know of a few, but as I’ve lived in London the majority of my career so far I am yet to experience the local music scene at home! It’s something that’s on my list to check out.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months? Any albums or festivals?
I have plans in the pipeline to record a 3rd EP with my producer Sue Mc Millan. I’ve been writing a lot over the past few months and trying to harness myself and my honesty in the new lot of songs – I found that I slipped into a habit of only writing about other people and their stories for a while, so the next lot of music is going to change that!
I hope to play some full band shows in the new year and I work with a movement called ‘Write Like A Girl’ which champions women in music, and we are planning some really exciting things with that too!

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Gosh, there are so many! Taylor Swift I feel is a songwriting genius and I could learn so much from her and these Nashville songwriting geniuses such as Nicolle Galyon, Shay Mooney and Rhett Akins. I just really want to learn and work on always bettering my craft.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
The past year I’ve really been trying to focus on improving my guitar skills. To do this I’ve put myself out of my comfort zone and have gone from not playing at all with a band, to playing guitar on most of the songs we play live – however once I have forgotten to PLUG IN MY GUITAR. Which, is so embarrassing but I sure won’t forget to do it again in the future!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I truly believe that working hard creates the opportunities where luck can find you, and that no matter what you need to always remember the original ‘Why’ why you started in the first place.

You can find out more about Emily on her website or via Apple Music, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitter or YouTube.