Emma G is no stranger to stepping into her power. This DC-based singer/songwriter is not scared to make an impact. Emma uses her experiences as a muse and is not shy to get into the nitty-gritty of her life, especially when it can greatly benefit another. Her latest album “Born in Crisis” explores trauma, but also newfound healing. Her genre-bending sounds are best described as “Goddess-Pop/Rock”. Specifically, Emma’s lead single “Faith In You” encourages an important conversation centered around breaking out of toxic and unhealthy relationship habits. This song is without a doubt a catalyst for change, but most importantly proof that it is possible to let go of things that no longer serve you. Not only is Emma a talented singer, but she is also an activist. This harmonizes perfectly with her active position as a Youth Empowerment Coach. She dedicates her time to aiding teens with tools to turn misunderstood behavior into strength. Jejune is thrilled to talk with such a talented and compassionate human like Emma G. In this feature we discuss her raw authentic musical concepts, her venture as an author, and her participation with The Capital Groove Collective. Emma G will make a change in this world, and if you’d like to know how, continue reading below.

Where are you based?
Washington, DC – however I’m originally from Raglan, New Zealand.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue music?
I was born singing, dancing, and making up songs, however I was five years old when I decided I wanted to be rockstar, a counsellor, a teacher, a mother and a fashion designer. I’m now at a place in my career where I’ve found a way to combine several of these aspects: using my own music, performances and recordings to impact people’s lives, but also by coaching and mentoring youth to channel their trauma, struggles and stress through their own songwriting journeys. I’m also about to launch a fit-wear partnership with Atlanta-based clothing company: OHAP5. So, guess the only thing I’m missing now is having babies!

You are also a vocal activist, how do you incorporate activism and music to spread awareness?
In the words of Nina Simone: it is an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live. She is one of OG activists. How I choose to incorporate activism into my music is simply by writing and singing my truth: my reflections, my learnings and what I see on a day to day basis. As someone who was raised with many privileges, I’ve also had to contend with many difficulties, hardships and struggles: brain surgery, abuse, severe depression, assault… and for the last few years: I’m also abruptly learning about racism in a way that I was never confronted with growing up in New Zealand. So, simply put: I write music of hope, resilience and overcoming while absolutely refusing to ignore the traumas, stigmas and abuses of the world.

What is the day in the life of Emma G?
Ha! I feel like so many people think the life of a musician as something glamorous and hectic. Quite honestly, it depends on the day: Without fail, however, you’ll see me first thing in the morning cuddling my cat and my boyfriend. Then, I’m usually working out: running, walking, doing HIIT training or yoga. I used to do crossfit and bodybuilding, but the pandemic put a damper on my weight training, and – you know what? – my voice is surprisingly better for it. Anyway, before 12pm is my me-time. I’ll drink coffee after my workout and either plan the day ahead with my partner, or catch up with one of my best friends: Solia or Renee on the phone. As soon as 12pm hits though, I’m on my computer: answering emails, virtually meeting with my Empowerment through Music and Songwriting clients, or one of the many people that I contract out to in order for my business to grow. Evenings: I’m either performing somewhere, listening to an audiobook, in the studio, writing music, or meditating.

What is the Capital Groove Collective?
The Capitol Groove Collective is a glorious array of diverse musicians that have joined forces to empower, elevate and educate one another. There is a huge misconception in the music industry that we must all make it alone in this business. The Collective serves as a reminder that together we rise – not just by actively supporting and promoting one another, but educating each other, and recognizing that diversity is a superpower. So we have members of every race, genre and gender/sexual identity. It’s beautiful.

How have you seen the Capital Groove Collective positively impact music-preneurs (Musician entrepreneurs) in D.C. areas?
A lot of the feedback I’ve personally received has been how much people appreciate seeing musicians supporting and growing from one another. The music industry is a daunting industry by yourself. When you have a team around you, a family around you, everything is so much easier to manage – mentally, emotionally, economically and physically.

How does your identity influence your music and what you share with your audience?
I put my everything into my music. Simply put: what you see is what you get with my music - especially with my latest album BORN IN CRISIS. The entire album represents the most raw, vulnerable, authentic and scary parts of myself – including the makeup-free visuals that accompany the album. The music video for Faith in You has me wearing only lipstick. Rise from the Ashes shows me 100% naked faced the entire time – you even see parts of my body that I’ve always hidden from the public. I’ve chosen to do this now – at this point of my career – because I’m realizing more and more how much of an impact music has on my audience. I want to encourage women to be comfortable in their bodies and in their skin. I want to empower men to recognize women as beautiful and strong: not simply as sex symbols. But mostly: I want my lyrics to hit home and save someone’s life. Help them recognize their strength, their beauty and their power. These are all parts myself that I wish I’d realized earlier.

Your “Faith In You” is the lead single off of your recently released album “Born In Crisis:
Stripped Soundtrack”, can you tell us what the song is about?
Faith in You was the sixth song I wrote in my write-a-song-a-day challenge that I set for myself in February, 2021. I’m not gonna lie: I never knew what I was going to write when I sat down at my piano or guitar, but I distinctly remember the lyrics pouring out of me that day so easily that I didn’t even realize what I was writing. As soon as I finished, however, I sat and cried. Faith in You was written specifically for my partner – but it wasn’t intended as a love song. It was a realization song where I recognized that – for the first time in my life – I was/am in a healthy relationship. And, more importantly, I’m deserving of that healthy relationship. That I’m worthy of love, and respect, and support… but in order for me to really allow myself to be in this relationship, and receive that love, respect and support, I need to heal myself from the wounds of previous relationships that weren’t healthy. Faith in You is a reminder that in order for me to receive love: I needed to embody self love, and have faith that this new teammate wasn’t going to harm me as I’ve been harmed in the past.

What musical influences come to play in your song “Faith In You”? How would you describe your genre of music?
I’ve always struggled to define my genre. My first ever song I wrote, recorded and released was an RnB/hip hop number called Look Around. Then I released a classical-pop piece called Soon before establishing a hard rock band called Static Era, where we released nine singles, two EP’s and an album. Moving to DC in 2015, my sound has always been more “pop”, but I’ve created a sub-genre for myself that I affectionately refer to as “Goddess-Pop/Rock”. This album, in particular, is a combination of Pink, Adele and Alicia Keys… with Alanis Morrissette as the fairy Godmother.

What story is being told in “Born In Crisis: Stripped Soundtrack”? Is this album based on personal experience or a collective experience?
Born in Crisis consists of 13 of the 30 songs I wrote over my February write-a-song-a-day challenge. Most of the tracks are written on personal experiences, but I found myself often asking my inner-circle fan community [Emma G Nation] for title requests and song suggestions. I’ll be honest, though, while some of the song suggestions were clearly based on their personal experiences and struggles: I very much brought each song back to my own experiences. The first track “Behind Her Eyes”, for example, describes a physically and sexually violent relationship that I ended in 2019. “Miss Me with That” describes people’s judgments of my neurological condition: hydrocephalus – for which I’ve had ten brain surgeries, and 24 surgeries in total. “If I’m Too Much” and “Step into Your Power” both allude to racism and sexism. “If I Could” was written for one of my best friends when her father passed away – but also brought back a bunch of memories and sentiments from when my own father passed away in 2018. I consider Born in Crisis to be like my personal journal – a glimpse at my innermost private thoughts.

What is the importance of connecting with others through music?
Music has saved my life countless times. Whether it was listening to Pink, Toni Braxton, Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, Enigma, Korn, Rob D, The Spice Girls, or Eminem – music has always been my voice, and the voice of my friends. When one of my best friends died when I was 14… when my ex took his own life at the age of 19… and then when my rocknroll drummer surrogate brother passed away at the age of 20… I vowed to myself that I would never let a day pass without acknowledging my blessings, and without helping other people recognize their value. Nothing is ever guaranteed. Even me with my hydrocephalus – I’m so blessed to be alive and functioning the way that I am. I want people to recognize their value. Recognize their magick. Recognize their love.

You are known as a resilient hydrocephalus survivor, what is that condition and how did you keep fighting? What kept you motivated?
Hydrocephalus simply translates to water on the brain. I have a cyst approximately the size of my fist in the center of my brain that blocks off the aqueduct going down my spinal column. So while everyone’s brain floats in water [cerebral spinal fluid – or CSF]: that CSF changes everyday by about 400-600mls, and drains down your spinal column. For me, however, that water goes into my head, but has nowhere to go because of my cyst. So I have a tube going from my cranium to my peritoneal cavity to drain out the water. If the tube [shunt] gets blocked: pressure builds up… and so it goes.

What is something you wish you could tell your past self?
Save yourself first. You can’t give from an empty cup. Remember to pour love, respect, gratitude and power into your own heart first.

What is the role of a youth empowerment coach, and why do you feel it is significant to the youth’s growth and development?
While I’ve been teaching vocals privately from the age of 17, I actually officially began my career in youth work back in 2013 at YMCA in Auckland, New Zealand. I was the youth empowerment coordinator for a project called “Raise Up”: working with young people between 13 and 18 to guide them through teenage-hood, and use their perceived weaknesses as actual strengths. Keep in mind: our education system is still based on 18th century principles. So, with a generation so heavily influenced by the internet, technology and social media, it’s easy to misunderstand a person’s behavior and respond harshly, accusatorially or negatively. Instead, it was my job to turn these perceived “misbehaviors” into strengths. I transferred this concept over to when I taught music at a tertiary level as well. Our students were incredibly intelligent, yet hated the idea of essay writing or giving presentations. Solution? Use their perceived shortcomings as their strengths – encourage students to write rhymes about their research as opposed to writing a 10,000 word essay. This was my same philosophy working for Nature’s Classroom in Connecticut, and Chimney Corner’s Camp for Girls in Massachusetts: we live in a world that has drastically changed over the last 10, 20, 30 years. We can no longer teach the way we used to teach. So my role as a youth empowerment coach is to work with young people from a place of power — knowing full well that they have the solutions inside of them. They simply need help decluttering their overwhelm, and support as they figure out how they want to show up in the world. Using music to facilitate this process helps the process to be fun, interactive, client- driven, and effective.

Congrats on being named “favorite people” on the Washington Post and “Best of D.C” by Washingtonian Magazine, how did you feel when you made these great accomplishments? Did this further reinforce your agenda to be a powerful leader and role model?
I’m not gonna lie: I still don’t quite understand that! I think, when you’re a creative entrepreneur: it’s really difficult to revel in our accomplishments. I distinctly remember seeing that article and thinking “well, that’s weird. But I’m glad they like my music!”. It was the same thing when I first played the Kennedy Center. I didn’t for a second understand the magnitude of the event until well after the event was over, when my friend texted me saying “you know that Pink Floyd was honored in that same building, right?”. That’s when I realized that what I was doing here in DC was different to when I was still living in New Zealand. I might actually be able to make an impact.

When it comes to your past…surviving bullying, abuse, depression, and health complications, what has been an ongoing lesson for you? How does it feel to be in a better place?
Bullying is such a weird thing. My mum is a counsellor, and I remember for years she would talk with me about ways I could respond when I was being bullied. So much of my bullying came from people misunderstanding my brain surgery — I was a freak, Frankenstein, and a weirdo. I was also too thick, too brown, too loud, too big for my boots. Much of the time, I took it on the chin, and lost myself in writing music… but I think a lot of that trauma translated into really unhealthy and abusive relationships, which – of course – led to depression. I was first abused by a babysitters son when I just 5 years old, and things kind of spiraled from there. It’s taken me a long time to recognize the lessons and the blessings from each of these negative experiences… and I’m still working through it to this day. It’s an ongoing journey. I think the biggest lesson, however, has been in learning to forgive and love myself. Recognizing that I am not my scars – my scars are simply a part of who I am. And loving myself means never allowing anyone to make you feel less.

Do you have any advice for others who are going through what you have been through?
You are loved. You are love. And everything you could possibly need lives within you.

You are a woman of many talents! Can you tell us a bit about your work as an author? And how did you figure out writing was something you are passionate about?
Isn’t every songwriter an author? My writing is rather self-indulgent, but my first book is both a memoir and a self-help book. It’s a journey through my career as a singer/songwriter, yes, but it’s also about the lessons I’ve learned and the traumas I’ve overcome by writing each song I’ve written and released. Each single I’m recorded has stood as a chapter for my life at the time, and comes with it a hurdle and a resolution. “My Life, My Songs, My Healing” explores those hurdles and learnings, and then gives readers an opportunity to apply my techniques themselves.

Do you have any hopes or dreams for humankind?
My immediate [and obvious] hope at the moment is for us all to overcome the COVID pandemic, but, especially since 2020, I would really like to see communities caring for one another again. There’s so much fear and hurt in the world, that was exacerbated by the killing of George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, the 2020 US election, and – of course – the situation in Afghanistan, to name but a few. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we finally learned that what affects one affects the collective? So wouldn’t it be more constructive to move away from the harmful and towards empathy and community?

What would an ideal political or social climate look like?
I may be biased, but I really like the MMP [Mixed Member Proportional Representation] model that we have in New Zealand. I feel like it has a fairer outcome for all when there are a larger and more diverse number of voices at the table. I recognize that politics is complex – especially in a country like the United States – however my ideal social climate would be one led with equity, justice, respect and integrity.

Any upcoming projects we should keep an eye out for?
I’m excited to start rolling out the audiobook version for My Life, My Songs, My Healing soon!

How have you been staying positive during shelter in place? Are things back to normal?
It’s interesting, because I live in the DC/MD/VA area; and VA runs rather differently to DC and MD, so – technically – I’ve been semi back-to-normal since April, when I received my first vaccination. But things certainly aren’t back to normal, and to be honest: I don’t think they should ever go back to normal. Pre-COVID; this country was broken in a lot of ways. We have a lot of opportunity to recreate what our “normal” looks like now, and I really hope we take the time to do that work. I certainly know that I have been. And it hasn’t all been positive – but I think in order to get to the positive; we need to break down a little bit. So, honestly, I haven’t always been able to stay positive. I’ve definitely had my fair share of breakdowns. But I break it down to five things:
- The people I surround myself: especially my partner and my housemate
- Daily exercise
- Meditation
- Laughter – as much as possible
- Writing songs

What is your motto in life?
I have many. When I was ten, it was “love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe”. At the beginning of 2020, it was “if it’s not a funk yes, it’s a funk no”. Now, in 2021, it’s hard to pinpoint just one motto. I feel like my entire BORN IN CRISIS album is my motto, but perhaps it’s simply: “Step into Your Power”.

If you want more on Emma G, please follow her on the platforms below:
Website: www.EmmaGmusic.com
Instagram: @EmmaGmusic
FaceBook: @EmmaGmusic
Twitter: @EmmaGmusic
Youtube: Emma G
Spotify: Emma G

Recognizing Your Magick With Emma G