Six months after a life-changing breakup, singer-songwriter EMMMA found herself facing a landscape she hadn’t navigated in nearly a decade; the dating world. What emerged from that disorienting experience wasn’t just a new perspective on love and connection, but a deeply emotional body of work that forms the backbone of her new EP.
Musically and lyrically, Whiplash captures the tumultuous emotional space of re-entering the world post-breakup, a time when everything feels raw and uncertain. “When I wrote it, I was pretty fresh out of it and still trying to figure out what it even meant to like someone again,” EMMMA reflected. Now, with a bit more distance, she sees the journey more clearly even though the emotional residue remained powerful.
That rawness carries into her live performances, where Whiplash takes on an even more intimate energy. Positioned mid-set, it serves as a moment of emotional pause between bigger, bolder tracks. “It becomes more intimate live,” she says, noting how the song lands differently in larger venues compared to the stripped-back versions she performed while supporting JC Stewart earlier in the year. A recent performance in Glasgow stood out to her team, with one crew member calling it a “really special moment” in the show. “People were really excited to hear the more intimate songs,” EMMMA added.
The visual storytelling of Whiplash is just as intentional. The music video features a striking image: a delicate butterfly encased in armor. Shot in Brazil on the same whirlwind day as four other videos, the imagery speaks to a deeper theme of resilience. “We wanted to create something that showed strength in something unique,” EMMMA explained to me. “Putting something so delicate in something so hardcore like chainmail allows you to find that strength.”
Of the five videos filmed that day, EMMMA expressed to me that Whiplash remains her favourite; though upcoming visuals for the EP might rival it. One standout, she teased, is Mourning, featuring a range of vivid visual metaphors. Another, Wednesday’s Child, takes a darker turn, with lyrics literally written across her face. Each video extends the emotional world of the EP, offering different facets of the same narrative arc.
As EMMMA steps into this next chapter with her second EP, the evolution from her debut is unmistakable. “I’ve allowed myself to be more bold in my choices,” she says, diving headfirst into this EP as it explores themes she hadn’t previously dared. One example that she described to me was guitar-led tracks with rock influences and lyrics that lean into shadow and discomfort. “There’s huge growth, artistically and personally,” she reflected.
At its core, the EP is about more than just romantic heartbreak. It touches on self-discovery, loss, and the confusing aftermath of any deep emotional rupture, be it a breakup or the fading of a close friendship. “It’s about what happens when someone who was a huge part of your life disappears, and you're left wondering what to do next.” Live performance, she believes, is the truest expression of these songs. “The energy in the room is different to listening to something recorded,” she says. Though, she also envisions people listening alone; crying in their cars, screaming along at full volume. The emotional range is wide, and that’s exactly the point.
“The energy in the room is different to listening to something recorded..."
There’s a gentle contradiction in EMMMA’s work that she’s learning to embrace: light, ethereal music underscoring deeply pained lyrics. In rehearsals, that duality was called out. She was told, “EMMMA, stop smiling through the whole thing,’”. One message was clear: “The music might be airy and nice, but the themes are really sad.” Bridging that gap between joy and lyrical sadness has been an artistic challenge, but one EMMMA feels she’s finally mastering. “It’s hard to find the middle ground,” she admits, “but it’s been fun. And I think it works.