Australian pop singer-songwriter Emily Coupe teams up with Kara Connolly to give listeners a song they can pour their hearts into with her latest release, “Love Bomber.” We had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Coupe, and here’s what she had to say:
Q: I think “Love Bomber” has a beautiful melody! What’s the story behind this song?
COUPE: Thank you so much! Pretty much the story behind this song is that people at various times of their lives have been ‘Love Bombed’, and we wanted to explore and talk about this song in a positive yet informative way. This new term is defined as “an attempt to influence a person by demonstrations of attention and affection”, and Kara and I (who I co-wrote this song with), have both definitely been Love-Bombed over the past few years in various aspects of our lives – whether that is work, romance, and friendships. We wanted to tell the song in a playful and fun way, as well as really explore the melody to reflect the intentions and meaning behind the song. For example on the word ‘bomb’, we got the melody to go down to really emulate the feeling of a bomb hitting. It was also really fun re-writing the bridge with producer Drew Alexander, as we got to experiment with wordplay, by rhyming the numbers of a countdown with various warlike aspects – like battleships, winning a war, etc all of which represent the more violent side of ‘love bombing’.
Q: Did you have a clear direction/idea of how you wanted it to sound before you started creating it or did it come to you in bits and pieces?
COUPE: Honestly Kara and I wrote this song over a few weeks, during a couple of sessions spaced pretty far apart (we both have crazy schedules). We knew when we started writing it that we were on to something special, and the message of this song really hit close to home for both of us – so we thought it was important to finish and record it! We wrote the song just sitting on a couch, with Kara on her guitar, and it all came together pretty organically. Kara is an amazing songwriter, and it was awesome bouncing ideas off of her. We actually originally wrote the chorus to be a little different, with the chorus line ‘Love Bomber’, don’t want her’ having a triplet/syncopated rhythm rather than the 4/4 time we have now. When we brought the song to the producer, Drew, he was like, you do realize you’ve written the song in two different time signatures! It was pretty funny, but we managed to make it all work and massage it to fit into the 4/4 time, which we have now. And then Drew brought it all to life with his production!
Q: What was your favorite aspect of the creative and production process?
COUPE: My favorite aspect of the production process, is honestly just handing the song over to a producer and seeing what he/she does with it! When Drew sent us his original idea, we were blown away, and it was better than we could have imagined. He just gave it a flavor and life of its own, and it was so cool working with two very talented and creative artists such as Kara and Drew, which made the process fun and easy. They had no shortage of ideas and were both very generous with their time and energy. The song would not be what it is without them, I just went along for the ride. And my other favorite aspect is probably recording vocals too, and experimenting with emotions, tones, riffs, adlibs, etc.
Q: At what point did you realize or decide that you want to be a musician?
COUPE: I figured out that I wanted to be a musician when I was a teenager I think, and before that mostly dabbled and practised for fun. I’m originally from Australia, and so back home didn’t really think that I could make a living as a musician back then. However, coming to the U.S. I not only realized that was untrue back in Australia but also that there are soooo many opportunities here in the U.S. too! Whether it’s performing live, sync licensing, session singing, teaching, songwriting, touring, etc. there are so many ways to earn money and create a living doing it. And so honestly the more I leaned more onto it, and the more positive feedback I got about my own music, the more I learned about these different ways of making a living – which made me believe that this could be a reality.
Q: Apart from making music, what do you enjoy doing?
COUPE: Aside from music, I also really enjoy acting too! When I’m not doing music I’m pretty much doing acting stuff, and vice versa. I was just part of a play called ‘Phoenix’ which was an awesome experience, as well as frequently feature my music in the film projects I am part of too. When people ask me which one I prefer more, I always say both, because I love them both equally in different ways. And both have a different type of creative and spiritual high! If that makes sense!
Q: What are a few key aspects of your musical roadmap for 2023?
COUPE: Well, mostly I’d say planting a new footprint out in the world sonically and visually. A lot of music I have released previously I wasn’t really happy with it. I think this is because I didn’t know what the producing process involved, and also how to articulate what I liked and didn’t like. Not to mention, I didn’t even know what I did like, and I think my songwriting abilities have gotten a lot stronger too! Sounds a lot like dating huh?!
This year is set to have new single releases every 1-3 months, with some cool content along the way, more gigs, and showing the world finally what I’ve been working on the last couple of years! I’m so excited for this year to keep on chugging along, and to release all the projects I have been working on, both in music and acting, over the last few years!
Interviewed by Zoey King
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