BIOGRAPHY
“I want my music to be the music that my listeners put on to help them get through something, to help them believe that they are not alone.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, 25-year-old Emma Taylor has been singing for as long as she can remember. Her first performance was at six-years-old, singing “Maybe” from the musical Annie for her entire family on her karaoke machine. “You could tell I was nervous but I remember that performance being the first one that sparked my addiction to the stage.”
That spark for performing has only continued to grow; she considers guitar to be her main instrument other than her voice, but also plays piano and ukulele. When writing songs, Emma’s process usually consists of coming up with a melody first on her guitar. Once she has a solid melodic chorus or verse, she writes her lyrics to go along with it. “I usually find my inspiration from my surroundings or from personal experience. Usually I write about typical 20 something-year-old stuff: love, confusion, finding yourself... universality is so important when I write my songs because I want everyone listening to be able to relate to it. It’s also so important to have my melodies and lyrics really fit together and play off one another. I like to give my songs movement, meaning each section has its own feel and nothing sounds predictable.”
Emma’s biggest inspirations are some of the greats including singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Carole King. Her goal is to pay homage to them while creating her own lane in the industry. She strives to bring back the vulnerability that these greats had in their songs. “I want my music to be the music that my listeners put on to help them get through something, to help them believe that they are not alone.” She credits Joni Mitchell as the reason she takes songwriting so seriously.
Releasing her debut EP “Hazy” in 2017 was a pivotal turning point for Emma. Putting her heart and soul into the project, Emma took a year to perfect how she wanted the world to see her as an artist – and the hard work shows. “I started writing for the EP when I moved to New York from LA for college. The transition was much more challenging than I had expected and it was very overwhelming. In order to cope with all the change I wrote as many songs as I could. The title ‘Hazy’ seemed like a perfect fit -- the haze symbolized my life; not being fully clear but you can see between the fog.“ The song “New Found Sound” off the EP made an absolute splash, going from 8,000 streams to 55,000 overnight. Since, then it has amassed over 800,000 streams on Spotify.
Emma’s goal as an artist is simple. “I really just want my music to move people. I want to capture a unique audience that understands me and wants to take a ride with me on my musical journey. I hope to tour the world and get to know who listens to my music.”