THE BIGGER THE BETTER — EMILY BURNS INVITES YOU TO HER TOWN (2019)
Have you ever felt like a prisoner of geography? As if the longitude and latitude were completely against you making the grass always scorched on your side of the fence? Some of us leave their home towns or homelands and never look back, others have a love-hate relationship with the place they come from. They couldn’t be happier they escaped, yet there is something so pleasantly familiar about that old backyard of a friend’s house where they used to play as kids.
Emily Burns knew she had to look passed nostalgia and sentiments to make her dreams come true. Born and raised in a small town in the UK, she made a brave move to relocate to London at only 18 years old. For an artist this change is a no-brainer, London is where the magic happens. Although the story is never as easy as it sounds, Emily fairly quickly got her foot in the door of the music industry as she began working for the Abbey Road Studios as a receptionist. Balancing this full-time job and performing, she kept writing music in the mornings before work and recorded the material after her shifts at the studios. This girl knows how to grind and how to make the most of her time in a big city. The result? Two EPs with a debut single that hit one million streams.
Coming from a small town, you know you have to work extra hard but my god, the reward is everything. And I’m not talking about the material value of your success. The lessons, the realization of your dreams and aspirations, how much you find out about your strength and resilience — nobody will ever take it away from you. It’s liberating. And it reminds me of the movie Burlesque. There’s a scene where a friend asks Ali, the protagonist, why she left her home town. She replies, “Because I looked around and realized there wasn’t one person whose life I wanted”. This is the essence of Emily’s newest single with an appropriate title, “My Town”.
As the singer said, “I wrote “My Town” about growing up in a place where nobody stays. Don’t get me wrong, a part of my heart will always be there… but it’s a place people talk about “passing through” on the train, rather than actually staying for any length of time. I started thinking about how that’s quite reflective of my life in general, especially on the relationship front. People come and go in fleeting moments. It’s really just a very honest song about loneliness”. The live video for the single says a thousand words as well. Equipped with only a guitar and her brilliant voice, Emily sings on one the rooftops in her town. This quiet hymn set against the backdrop of flickering evening lights is peaceful and reflective. It plays on your emotional string and makes saying goodbye just that little bit more bitter-sweet.
Emily’s music is interesting. It’s catchy, diversified, personal and genuine, all at the same time. Her voice? Gold — clean and pleasant. When she hits the high notes it’s either a velvet whisper or a fierce display of her vocal range. Lyrics? Deep (“My Town”) or funny (“Too Cool”) or creative (“PDA”). And I’m totally digging the pink hair. To sum up, I can feel it in my bones, “My Town” is just the beginning.
Beautiful things happen when birds spread their wings and leave their nests. Good luck Emily! And please could you be the one, who stays ‘till the morning sun… in our town. You know, when you’re in the area promoting your music.
