ELLE COVES TALKS SUMMER

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

Both of your two songs so far had already amassed massive interest on social—media prior to their release this spring and summer. But what did it feel like to properly debut?

To be honest, it was quite a mix of emotions. On one hand I felt incredibly relieved and happy to finally be able to share what I had been working on for the longest time with everyone, but on the other hand it was also quite a scary thing at the time, because I wasn’t sure how people were going to react to it. But really, releasing music has always been a dream for me, so to finally have that come true, even though it’s just the first step, feels incredible.

Do you feel like social media is a good way to make yourself heard as an artist?

Social media can be tricky sometimes, there’s no solid formula that you can follow which guarantees success, or if there is, I haven’t found it yet, so for me, it’s just a matter of putting yourself out there in ways that feel authentic to who you are as a person, and see what will work. It can be daunting to do that, but I definitely believe it’s worth it because right now, social media can undoubtedly be the most powerful tool for artists to make themselves known and have their work be seen, potentially by millions of people, so I totally believe that it’s a good way to do that.

What does that connection mean to you?

For me, connection is everything. I think it’s one of the main reasons why people make art in the first place, so of course it’s incredibly overwhelming when I see people connect to songs that I wrote, partly in my bedroom, about my own experiences. It’s just a really special thing to me.

When did your love for music first start?

Honestly, I have no idea when exactly my love for music started. I've been singing since I can remember, and my parents told me I started asking them for a guitar when I was four years old. They thought that I had probably just heard the word at kindergarten and that I was going to ignore the guitar as soon as I got it, but I kept bringing it up, so finally, after one year, they gave in and bought me my first guitar for Christmas. I've been playing and singing since then, but I did not properly start writing songs until I was fourteen, which is when I met my now-manager. He told me to write a song a day, not really thinking I would take it literally, I did and ended up writing a song a day for a whole year and everything kind of escalated from there.

Does songwriting help you process feelings rather than avoiding them?

One hundred percent. I’ve always used songwriting as a way to make sense of situations in my life. Sometimes I need to sit down and write about something to figure out how I really feel about it, which can be really therapeutic.

There's not a cloud in sight on ‘Summer’, when did you write this song?

I wrote ‘Summer’ when I was sixteen, so it’s inspired by those neverending carefree teenage-summers that I was living at the time, when I used to spend my whole summer visiting my family in Spain and spending time with my friends during those hot summer months. I wanted to write a song that would make people want to sing along to it driving with the windows down with their friends.

Did the song change any from the version that trended on TikTok?

I don’t think the meaning of the song has changed much for me personally, but I do believe that there have been more meanings attached to it since its release and its popularity on TikTok. It’s really special to see people connect to the song and make their own summer memories to a song that I wrote about my own favourite moments in summer.

I can not wait to hear more music from you. Are you keeping busy?

Definitely! I’ve been writing relentlessly these past few months and I’ve never been so happy with the music that I’m making, so I can not wait to share all these new songs with everyone.