Emily Weisband has made a name for herself by penning songs for artists such as Keith Urban, Lady A, Camila Cabello, BTS, and even Hillary Scott.
But the Coronavirus pandemic has now pushed her to write for herself and lose the pressure of having to write from someone else’s perspective.
“I wrote for a couple of hours on Zoom and then what? I couldn’t go out and build my reputation somewhere cool with people I considered cool. I had to face what and who I’m about without music,” Weisband shares, “which is actually great for my creativity because I can create out of pure love again, not pressure.”
Though Weisband has written for other artists, she believes that the process is different than when writing for herself. She shares that while we as humans are all basically the same when it comes to what we desire (love, acceptance, purpose, etc.), each writer and singer has their own way of personalizing those feelings.
Weisband’s last project was her EP — Not Afraid to Say Goodbye — and she’s ready to start her next chapter with the release of her new single, “New Salt.” Now available on all streaming platforms, Emily hopes the song will get listeners to feel seen and heard when it comes to being upset and hurt over a relationship because “feelings are all normal.”
“I was in New York for a work trip, laying in my hotel bed at 2 in the morning and I got a FaceTime call from my ex,” Weisband shares regarding the inspiration behind her new song.
“He was saying everything I wished he had said back when we broke up. It was so validating and at the same time so infuriating to me that he was trying to get me all wrapped up again.”
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“New Salt” is part of a to-be-announced upcoming project the singer/songwriter is working on. While she’s not spilling the tea just yet, we certainly know that we’ll enjoy it when it drops.
Continue reading Celeb Secrets’ conversation with Emily as she talks more about her writing process and inspiration, whose songs have impacted her the most, and what it was like to work with BTS on their song “Boy with Luv.”
Let us know what you think of “New Salt” by leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
Celeb Secrets: How has quarantine been treating you? What have you been up to?
Emily Weisband: “Quarantine has had its ups and downs, but I have to say overall I’m really thankful for what it’s done in my heart. I moved to Nashville because I had a dream that I wanted to come true… so every day since I moved here in 2011 has been about how to actively make that happen. It didn’t take long for this thing called music that I love to go from what I do to who I am. I was only as good as the song I wrote that day… only as valuable to the world as the producer who texted my publisher after our write said I was. Slight success only makes that worse because then there’s the pressure to live up to it… prove it wasn’t a fluke. ANYWAYS! All that to say, quarantine stopped me in my tracks. I wrote for a couple of hours on zoom and then what? I couldn’t go out and build my reputation somewhere cool with people I considered cool. I had to face what and who I’m about without music. Music is what I DO again! Which is actually great for my creativity because I can create out of pure love again, not pressure. Which brings me to where I’m at now: back at it putting out my own music with new freedom and perspective while simultaneously helping my friends I’ve made along the way write for their projects!”
CS: Has it been difficult to write and produce new music during these weird times as far as any collaborations go or recording sessions?
E: “It’s definitely not the most inspiring process to write through a computer. There’s no sitting around talking about life for an hour with a beer or a glass of wine and then physically taking that energy in the room and channeling it into a new song. It’s a lot more sterile on Zoom. I love making my own music with my friends though, so the last few months we’ve been doing as much in-person work as we can while still being safe. I’d say the hardest part about writing new music in quarantine is the fact that it’s harder to do the “living” we all write about. How can you write about falling in love when you can’t really go out and meet someone to fall in love with? How can you write about running into an ex at a party when you’re not going to parties? So the hard part for me has been adapting in regard to what I’m writing about. Leaning into that uncomfortable process has actually made me a better writer I think… I’m having to dig a little deeper than what happened to me last Friday.”
CS: You just released your new single, “New Salt,” can you tell us the backstory on how that song came to be? What inspired it?
E: “I sure can! I was in a relationship for almost two years that had been over for two years. I was in New York for a work trip, laying in my hotel bed at 2 in the morning and I got a FaceTime call from my ex. He was a little drunk, I was mischievous and curious… and he was saying everything I wished he had said back when we broke up. It was so validating and at the same time so infuriating to me that he was trying to get me all wrapped up again. It’s truly a classic story, no special case haha. And I know for a fact there’s a guy out there reading this thinking “what a hypocrite, she did that to me!” BUT for the sake of this song, I went home to Nashville a few days later with this phone call stuck in my crawl and I told my cowriters about it. My friend Jimmy said “man it’s like he was putting new salt in an old wound,” and all of our eyes lit up… we knew we had to write it and a couple hours later the song was born!”
CS: What message do you hope listeners take from “New Salt?”
E: “I mean… I’ve never put out an angry song. Because I’ve always been a “personal responsibility” girl. Being angry in a song made me feel dramatic or weak. Being apathetic made me feel strong. So all my songs up to this point have been just that: “if you don’t want me, your loss,” “you’re an asshole and that’s fine, but I gotta go.” It’s never “that was really hurtful and I’m upset and I’m going to admit that I’m angry about it.” So my message to people listening to this song is that it’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to be hurt and upset. It doesn’t make you dramatic or crazy, it makes you a human being. Feelings are all normal, it’s what we do with them that really matters and we tend to do negative things out of our feelings when we don’t acknowledge them for fear of coming off a certain way.”
CS: The cover art for the single is a photo of you taped back together. Is that symbolic of what the song could mean? Trying to put yourself back together after being in a toxic relationship? Or was it more just for aesthetically pleasing purposes?
E: “Yes! I really wanted to be more purposeful visually this go round. To me, the picture taped back together could mean putting yourself back together… it could also mean trying to tape back together something that was torn apart for a reason, like the relationship itself. I think my music is so point-blank that I wanted my visuals to be a little more up for interpretation so that people could insert their own stories into hearing and seeing my music. I’m glad you noticed and asked! It means my evil little plan is working.”
CS: Is “New Salt” part of a new project? Can we expect to hear a new album from you this year?
E: “It IS! I’m not ready to spill THAT secret yet, but just know there is a lot more coming and this song is just one piece of the next pie I’ve got in the oven!”
CS: You’ve written for artists such as Keith Urban, Camila Cabello, BTS, and the likes. Is there a distinction at all when it comes to writing for someone else versus yourself?
E: “Absolutely. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about writing with so many different kinds of people from so many different genres and parts of the world, it’s that at the end of the day human beings are generally wired the same way. Our deepest longings and desires… for love, to belong, to feel purpose… we all share that. My job as a writer is to take those universal truths and then help other artists personalize them. I help artists tell those truths through their experiences in their voice while also satisfying the rules of their genre and fanbases. When I’m writing for me, all of those rules go out the window. I get to tell those truths in my voice. If I like the melody, cool that’s the melody. If that’s how I would say it, cool that’s the lyric. I get to be the boss!”
CS: When it comes to your writing process, is one part of a song easier to write than the other? For example, do verses come easier than let’s say a bridge or chorus?
E: “It really just depends on the idea I think! I always love to start with that. My publisher used to say, ‘okay ideas make good songs, great ideas make amazing songs.’ Some ideas are easy to sum up in the chorus and then I have to do a little more work explaining that grandiose statement from the chorus in the verses. Sometimes it’s so easy to explain the idea in the verses and a lot harder to sum it all up in a chorus. And I hate bridges that don’t progress a story. I believe a bridge should only be written if it makes the song better… if there’s something that’s still been left unsaid. I’ve fallen in love with the process though, so I’m definitely down to grind when I believe in an idea enough!”
CS: Other than your own personal experiences, do any other songwriters’ work inspire you when it comes to writing?
E: “Sara Groves is a singer/songwriter who was a huge inspiration for me growing up. She was technically a Christian artist I guess, but she wrote about real life in such conversational, confessional ways that made me feel connected to her. She’s still to do this day a listening go-to when I’m having a hard week. Melodically I listened to a lot of pop-punk and alt music like Snow Patrol or Five For Fighting, The Fray, The Script, Maroon 5, their Songs About Jane album. So emo.”
CS: You’ve said before that you hope your songs can be everybody’s songs, that they’ll be impactful years down the line. Other than your own, which songs feel that way for you?
E: “Yes! I feel so weird making music just for myself. Feels like music is more powerful and purposeful than that. A lot of songs have been that for me. I dated a boy named Stephen in high school and Taylor Swift’s ‘Hey Stephen’ was mine. On the other end of the heaviness spectrum, I’m a really imperfect, weary person doing the best she can and my boyfriend is an imperfect, weary guy doing the same. Sometimes I don’t know how to comfort him and he doesn’t know how to comfort me… but ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay says it all so we don’t have to. We just drive around and listen to that, it’s ours.”
CS: As mentioned before, you helped write “Boy with Luv” by BTS featuring Halsey. How was that process like? Do you present a song to their label in English and then they work out the Korean lyrics to go with it?
E: “That whole thing was crazy. I have no idea how they found me but their team sent an email to mine and asked if I would be willing to topline a track for them. Topline basically means writing melodies and lyrics over top of a beat. So l went into the studio, sang some melodies, and put some random filler lyrics into the melody just for demo purposes because I had a feeling they would change my lyrics to Korean. I sent what I came up with back and I never heard from them again until I got a text on a trip to New York (actually the same one I wrote ‘New Salt’ about!!) congratulating me on my BTS single! I found out Halsey was on the song when someone tagged me in an Instagram the night before it came out and I heard the finished song for the first time when I downloaded it on the morning it released. Wild! So thankful to BTS and all of the other writers on the song for letting me crash the ‘Boy With Luv’ party.”
CS: What do you hope to accomplish in 2021, both career and personal-wise?
E: “In 2021 I’m celebrating GROWTH. I hate goals… they’re not bad for some people, but I feel like they limit me. Like they create this ceiling I’d like to touch, but leave no room for me to burst through the ceiling and touch the sky beyond it ya know? Anyways, when I get social media reports every month and my numbers are in the green? Celebration. When my monthly listeners go up? Celebration. I’d say I’d love to hop on a tour but COVID is keeping all of that stuff up in the air, but I WILL say I want to write the best song I’ve ever written this year. Personally, I’m trying to practice good money habits and keep growing in my relationships! Empathy is required to truly love someone and damn it’s HARD to learn, especially when you’re as hard-headed as I am.”
