Elliphant: Some Thoughts On “Emily”
Photo Credit: Florian Dezfoulian
When I wrote “Emily,” I was in Sidney, Australia. I was there for vacation but I also took the chance to make a couple of studio sessions. This song was worked on with the amazing guys from a band called The Delta Riggs! Over a drink, I talked to them about my childhood and eventually brought up my friend Emily. They told me: “This is the song! This is what we should write about.”
It was one of those amazing tracks that just came so quickly. I felt that this song changed my artistry in the sense that this is the kind of music I would love to make from here on out. It’s a bridge to what I hope Elliphant will sound like on my next album; I call it “folk-punk”! It’s a statement piece, like that weird fashion jacket that no one gonna wear but still shows up on the catwalk.
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The song is a jam straight from the story of my childhood bestie. She came up to me in a local swimming pool one day and said, “Your daddy knows my daddy, let’s play!” From that day on, we were best friends. And then, everything changed. We went from innocent kids to messy teenagers overnight. Both of us came from broken homes and didn’t really have anyone looking out for us. Soon, we started smoking, shoplifting, and later started experimenting with drugs. “Emily” touches me real deep because it talks about addiction and how I lost my friend because of it.
I knew early that Emily was extreme, and I sing about many of the moments when it stood clear to me that she was a special kid. There was one time when I had tried to save a baby bird that I found and unfortunately is passed away. I soon had a funeral for it but when I came back to the grave the next day someone had dug up the bird and cut it open. When I told Emily about this, she just said “Oh it was me.” When I asked her why she did it, she responded: “Because I wanted to see how it looked inside. Emily was the most exciting relationship I ever had and I had a lot of patience with her being who she. When she finally passed my boundaries in a way I couldn’t accept, I had to let her go. But I always love her. From a distance. It’s such a playful song but sad at the same time.
When the song I felt amazing! The boys I made this track with, Elliot and Alex from The Delta Riggs are my forever brothers! We even started a band, BOT (Blaze Orange Tip)! Bottom line is that we made some blisseh music and soon as the world opens up again, my hope is to get together to finish up that project. All love to them!