King
may be just 21 years old, but this girl is a throwback to another era. The
music on her J Records debut, East Side Story, reveals roots that are
deep and ambitions that are grand. King's words are packed with references to
the wide range of great artists that inspired her - the Beatles and Nas, Sarah
Vaughan and Radiohead, Michael Jackson and Neil Young.Unable to be contained by any one category, Emily King represents the best of what our musical future might look like. Rather than concentrate on the differences between hip-hop and rock, party music and protest music, black and white, she's committing herself to finding common ground. "I'm just finding my own culture within myself," she says. "We have a lot of division in our society, but I was never raised like that. I feel like what I'm doing right now is going to bring a lot of people together.
What have you been up to lately?
I’ve been doing a lot of promotion; I was recently in DC performing which was dope. I like performing because for me it’s the most raw connection you can have with people and you can really feel people’s reactions to the music and reach them. It’s up close and personal.
When did you realise you wanted to make singing a career?
I always kinda knew. My parents were singers so I would always imitate what they were doing while I was around them since I was a little girl.
Is your music influenced by your parents who are also musical?
Very heavily influenced. Their main gig was singing, they didn’t just do it on the side. I learned to sing from them and also the types of songs they would sing have an influence on how I write.
Why is your album called East Side Story?
It’s a play on West Side Story and it sums up where I grew up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and my experiences there. It’s what has made me who I am today.
There’s a cute picture on the East Side Story album sampler, tell me the story behind that.
It’s a picture of me at the playground when I was a kid showing a bit of attitude, it might not be the actual album cover because we’re working on getting some hot pictures right now!
What kind of genres can we hear on the album?
It’s a mixture of a lot of different types of music like Jazz and Hip hop, a bit of Pop too. I’m a singer-songwriter and that shows through, it’s very autobiographical.
What do you want this album to say about you as a person and artist?
I would love for it to give a piece of who I am from the things that I’ve lived through and want to accomplish. It’s a conversation between me and the listener.
Have you recorded any collaborations on this record?
Raphael Saadiq, Salaam Remi, Sean Garrett, Ne-Yo…I was fortunate to get with these people on a personal level. When it came down to finding the tracks for the album it was down to Chucky and I, our collaboration was really strong. A lot of feeling has been put into this album and I’m proud of it. I would say it’s really honest; anything other than honest is corny to me.
How did you get signed to J Records?
It originally happened through a friend of my mother’s, he knew Chucky Thompson who was writing for Sony. He was played my demo and wanted to meet me. I eventually got with Chucky and we hit it off right off the bat. I then went up to J and other record companies to sing for their executives and then I was offered a deal.
What have you found difficult entering the music industry?
It’s a challenge to remain focus on your original intentions and getting into this whole music business, basically just staying true to who you are. It’s fun too though; you gotta find the fun in everything.
www.jrecords.com/ecard/emilyking
www.myspace.com/emilykingmusic
By Rashmi Shastri - Sep 2006