Emily Nicole Green On the Making Of “Thief”
What was the creative process like for this particular track "Thief?"
I remember walking around my living room, we were in West Hollywood at the time, and I was just thinking about various things that had happened in my life and the song poured out of me. Sometimes it's like that whereas other times, I will have a verse for a while and then I get the chorus and then I go back and work on it years later and add a new perspective, but this one came all at once.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Thief?"
Most of the challenges for me come after the songwriting process. My big challenge has been getting from songs on a voice memo on my phone or on the back of a paper plate to a fully produced song that people can put out in the world. I hear how the songs should sound in my head, but it took me years and years to find the people who could help me bring it to life in a way that felt right to me. The engineer and mixer on all of these tracks, Ryan Wilson from HeyHey Studios in Griffin, Georgia, put me in touch with Mike Williamson, who is the arranger on "Thief" and he was able to help me translate what I was hearing into a blueprint that we could then show the musicians. Mike is a musician, arranger, producer, and a music encyclopedia and he helped me in many ways, but the main way was with the pre-production phase in particular which ended up being what allowed me to get where I needed to go with "Thief" and each one of the five songs that are on my forthcoming debut EP, Outrunning The Animal. Mike and I sat together and worked it out until we got the tempos that felt best and the sounds and the space, it was a very detailed but worthwhile process. I learned from Mike that you can waste a lot of time and a whole lot of money if you don't get the pre-production right. I learned that the hard way on this EP, but I hope that advice can help someone else.
What has been one of your favorite memories along the path to making "Thief?"
Hearing people's reactions to "Thief" throughout the whole process really meant a lot to me. I recorded "Thief" with many different groups of musicians and collaborators before getting to the final version and along the way, people would tell me "Wow, this song hit home" and things like that and I could feel that this song could really translate emotionally. To me, that's the whole point. When I can write something and pour emotion into it -- whether that's pain or grief or hope or joy or somewhere in between -- and have other people feel that emotion, it's a kind of magic that we can do that with and for each other.
How has your music evolved since you started as a singer-songwriter? What have been some key milestones in your artistic journey?
I've been writing songs since I was 14 years old, so as I've gotten older I've just had more experiences which makes the stories you tell less black and white, at least in most cases. You can see more nuances and perspectives and you've seen patterns. That all goes into the songs. That said, I still like songs I wrote at 16-17. I still work on them sometimes. I don't know if I would put them out in the world necessarily, but they still bring up emotion in me and they still feel like a complete idea.
I started taking piano lessons around 3 years old and then as a kid and teenager I was in a lot of musicals and theatre productions both at school and at summer camps I went to, so that was very formative. I grew up about an hour north of NYC, so we would go in to see Broadway shows for special occasions which was great exposure to musical storytelling. I was also really into Disney movies as a kid and I still love them to this day. Maybe not some of the messages, but the music is great. There was also a lot of music from all different kinds of artists playing in my house. Jazz, singer-songwriter, rock, country, folk, funk, etc. I don't know why, but I really never categorized music into genres when I listened to it, I would just hear things I like and notice sounds and timbres and rhythms and whatever else that resonated with me and that's kind of how I am when I'm writing and producing my music. I just try to feel what the song is asking for in order to amplify and support the emotion and the story.
In terms of my own milestones, I would say one big thing happened in high school where the a cappella group asked me to write their graduation song and I did and I taught it to them along with the harmonies. Then after a variety one time, Fran Weissler, a well-known Broadway producer invited me down to Creative Artists for a meeting. I sat at this long table and someone from her team listened to my tape or CD. Nothing came of it, but it was exciting. I just kept writing songs for years and years and put a few on YouTube and things like that. I also put up cover songs for about 2 years on Patreon, which was also a milestone for me because it required commitment and practicing piano, and putting myself out there. Then a few years ago I had the opportunity to do a cover song of "Greasy Frybread" from FX's Reservation Dogs and it ended up playing over the credits of Season 1 Episode 4, so that was a big milestone to hear my song on TV. And, of course, releasing original music into the world is the milestone I've been waiting for and here we are! I released my first single, "It's Gonna Be Okay," on June 8 of this year. I have three singles out now on all streaming services and I'm about to hit 100,000 streams in a few days, which is exciting.
Are there any upcoming projects or releases that you are particularly excited about?
My debut EP, ‘Outrunning The Animal,’ will be coming out on October 30th, which is my 40th birthday. It's currently available for pre-order on vinyl and the digital EP should be available on iTunes as well. If anyone wants to get a feel for the music, I have three singles up on all the streaming platforms. It's grounded in Americana but leans into different genres on each track. I'll be performing the songs live for the first time at my EP release party/birthday party in October in Brooklyn!