If we had ‘9 LIVES,’ you know we’d spend all of them jamming out to Emei’s new RABBITHOLE EP! It’s a five-track epic that perfectly captures the highs and lows of being a young adult in an ever-complicated world, exploring topics like anxiety and relationships with a sense of relatable doom and thrilling whimsy. You’ll be hooked through every moment, from the cinematic ‘RABBITHOLE’ to the exhilarating closer, ‘THE PART.’
And to make things even more exciting, we at THP have another rabbithole for you to explore: an exclusive Q&A with Emei about the project! We got to chat about the new songs, her creative process, and so much more, so keep reading to learn all about it.
Hi Emei, congrats on your amazing new RABBITHOLE EP! How does it feel to share the project with the world?
I am so excited that it’s finally out. I’m so pumped for my fans to hear the stuff that I’ve been working on, and I’m so excited to share this entire world that we’ve built.
Which new song on RABBITHOLE are you most excited for fans to hear?
That’s a very hard question. I feel like it’s like choosing between my babies, but right now, I’m most excited about ‘9 LIVES’ because it’s a very vulnerable and honest song. It’s probably the scariest one I’ve had to put out. So yeah, I think whenever I’m nervous, it probably means I’m most excited as well.
‘RABBITHOLE’ has been one of our favorite songs of yours since you released it this summer! What made you choose to make it the EP’s title track?
I felt like ‘RABBITHOLE’ was just the perfect introduction to this world, and then each song that comes after it just feels chronological and explains the entire world. It just felt right, and it felt like it’s the intro into falling deeper into the rabbithole.
On a similar note, ‘RABBITHOLE’ and ‘ALL THESE KIDS’ have been on fans’ playlists for a while as the pre-release singles for this EP. How did you choose which songs to release as early singles?
When I picked out the five songs that I wanted to have on this EP, I realized very quickly that I had this chronological order to them. ‘RABBITHOLE’ starts off the world, and ‘ALL THESE KIDS’ is your kind of first interaction with this fictional world. Then you go deeper and deeper into the hole, and eventually, you come out the other side. The chronological order was a big part of choosing the singles, but ‘RABBITHOLE’ and ‘ALL THESE KIDS’ also happened to be some of the most energetic songs as well. So yeah, it just made sense. It worked out.
One of our favorite songs on the EP is the powerful ‘9 LIVES,’ which touches on your insecurity in a relationship in such a beautiful way with softer production. What was the creative process behind that track like?
That session was a tough one. I knew from the beginning that we were going to make something quite emotional, me and the lovely writer LIIV. The two of us just started talking, and we talked about a lot of things that didn’t make it into the song, and we were already quite emotional. Then, when Matt started playing the guitar riff that’s in ‘9 LIVES,’ the first few words that came out of our mouths were, “How many times can I say I’m sorry? How many times will you take me back?” And then, yeah, the rest just kind of flowed out. So it was an easy song to write, but it was just sad. It was a sad day.
You’ve said that you prefer writing your lyrics like journal entries, and we can definitely hear how personal they are to you. Is it hard for you to be that vulnerable in your music, or does the catharsis of it outweigh the scary parts?
I would say that I am an oversharer. So very naturally, I will tell you my life story—like any stranger on a bus or a subway or anything like that will be able to hear my life story. So I would say the catharsis definitely outweighs the scary parts. Songs that are vulnerable, they feel good. And most of the time, I actually want to be sharing a lot of that with my fans too. So yeah, it’s definitely easy for me to write about those things.
A standout lyric on the RABBITHOLE EP is, “superstars are made before they’re 20,” on the title track, which really captures the rush we all feel in our early 20s, and even earlier, to figure out who we are. If you could give a piece of advice to your 20-year-old self, what would you say?
I would probably tell myself that I just need to follow my intuition and keep doing the things that I love, and it’ll all work out. And also, just keep surrounding myself with positive people, supportive people, and yeah, it’ll work out, and you just have to let it go, let it flow.
How do you feel you’ve grown as an artist since releasing your last EP, Scatterbrain, in 2023?
I’ve definitely grown quite a bit. I think the biggest thing with this EP that was different from my last EP, Scatterbrain, was that in RABBITHOLE, I really got to build out a whole world that’s in my brain. It feels like this whole fictional world is the first time that I’ve gotten to really grow the visual side of this project. And that’s been really, really fun and something that I’m excited to grow even more as I keep putting out music.
You’ll be heading out on your Europe and U.S. RABBITHOLE Tour next year, which is so exciting! What’s it like preparing to go on tour, from choosing the set list to picking what you’ll wear?
Oh, I am so, so excited. I’m pumped to build this world that I’ve already started building online into real life as well. This tour is going to be awesome. It’s kind of like my first long tour — we’re going to be on the road for two months straight. And I’m really, really excited to get into the rhythm of that. We’re starting rehearsals really soon, just building out the set list, and yeah, everything about it is very exciting. I’m just excited to see my fans, hang out with them, and have the best time ever.
What can fans look forward to in the rest of 2024?
Obviously, this EP is coming out right before Thanksgiving, and with that, the visualizers will be out as well. And then I’m just going to be sharing, like, continuously on socials, even more behind-the-scenes content, even more footage from the shows that I’ve played this year. I’ve done a lot of firsts this year—I went to Australia for the first time, I played ACL, my first festival. And yeah, I’m just excited to show you guys even more with the rest of the year, and maybe even some new music. We’ll see. But yeah, get excited. I definitely will not be slowing down anytime soon.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention or say to fans that the questions didn’t touch on?
I would say that I’m just so excited about the visualizers. We have five songs with this EP, and every single song got its own little slice of a world. I would strongly recommend everybody watch that world in chronological order — starting from ‘RABBITHOLE,’ then ‘ALL THESE KIDS,’ ‘9 LIVES,’ ‘SUGARCOAT,’ and finally ‘THE PART’ — and see that unfold. It was so much fun to make, and I can’t wait to share that with you guys online and also take it on the road with me. So yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much to Emei for answering all our questions! We’ve loved heading down the RABBITHOLE with you and can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next!
Now, honeybees, we have some questions for you! What do you think of Emei’s RABBITHOLE EP? Have you grabbed your tickets to her 2025 tour yet? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
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