[Interview] – Meet Up-and-Coming Artist, Autrey

Since up-and-coming artist, Autrey’s debut EP, Chemical Lonely, will premier right here at The Daily Listening on June 29, we thought we would give you a taste of what to expect, straight from the artist herself! The EPs opening song, “Young and Bored,” along with Autrey’s charming and genuine personality, will leave you wanting more.

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Introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! My name is Emily Autrey, I am 19 years old from Midland, Texas, and am currently studying songwriting and music business at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.

As a musician, what artists have influenced your sound?

As for music influences, this is where Nashville comes in handy. Every show I attend offers amazing music and new ideas to take away from. That is what is so fun about going to school for music. It is literally homework to go to concerts and events so you can get ideas! I feel like the biggest influences I have taken away from, however, are Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Hozier, Marian Hill, Chet Faker, Alt-J, and ZZ Ward.

With youth and struggling to find oneself being large themes in your music, what is the biggest lesson you have learned since making this EP regarding those two themes?

The biggest thing I have taken away from this is with comes youth also comes this brick wall of voices saying you have to look, be, and act a certain way. You have to have it all figured out. I have grown so much from making this, and I’ve learned that before anything else you have to figure out who you are, and learn to accept yourself and work with yourself. I think that life truly is this giant work-in-progress, and that’s what youth is about. Embracing our imperfections and learning to work with them. Uncertainty is certainly okay.

What do you hope to accomplish with this first release? What is the overall message you want your listeners to take away from this EP?

I hope to establish a relationship with listeners. After all, I feel like that is what music is for: releasing your thoughts into the world and bringing together those who relate. I hope that people can take away that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from; nobody knows what is going on at this age, and that’s okay.

Which song on the EP means the most to you and why?

“Chemical Lonely,” the song that I named the EP after, is the song that means the most to me. I really sat down and opened up about my struggles with depression, which was something I had never done before, and it’s the most personal I’ve ever gotten with a song. I took these pictures I had in my head and painted them into words, and it became a key to learning how to recognize and battle with depression. In a world where this is becoming more and more common, it’s something that I really wish I could take away, because nobody deserves to be in a constant fight with their own mind. I realize that I can’t take it away, but the least I could do is let people know they aren’t alone.

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