There are hundreds of pop singers who toil mightily to make it big in their 20s – and then along comes a prodigy who’s astonishing at age 17. Emma Wagner, aka emerson, is a New Zealand artist whose music already feels masterful when most of her peers are thinking about prom. One spin of her song “You Really Must Hate Me!” and you’ll discover that emerson’s debut is the most impressive since fellow New Zealander Lorde released “Royals” over a decade ago.
Discussing the song’s evolution, emerson says: “Harry Charles and I were put together by his agent in LA who heard my song ‘Bored’ on Spotify and emailed to see if I’d like to write with him. She sent his demo reel over and it had a lot of fantastic local artists as well as one of my very favourite artists Devon Again.
“We worked in his home studio (we both live in Auckland, so it was easy) and on our first day we wrote two tracks, including ‘You Really Must Hate Me!’ and ‘Tip of My Tongue’ which I’ll release soon. We bashed them out in about six hours. Working with Harry is an absolute whirlwind. We work fast and just kind of catch what’s in the air and lay it down quickly. Lyrically, ‘You Really Must Hate Me!’ is a song for people who tend to overthink things, but I wanted a sort of Joni Mitchell ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ vibe instead of anything sad – and a sprinkle of Sabrina Carpenter’s edge. Sabrina’s ‘Coincidence’ was the inspiration for the track.”
I had the pleasure of hearing Taylor Swift perform in Nashville when she was just 17 – and I see no reason why emerson can’t follow in her footsteps for the next two decades.
Watch the lyric video for “You Really Must Hate Me!” below, or find the song on the streaming services.
