ERIN BLOOMER TALKS BYE, BYE

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

With this new song you, as you often do, take a negative experience and albeit still very sassy, put an empowering, catchy spin on it. How did ‘Bye Bye’ come to be. What is it about?

Yes, I often write songs to try and make my friends feel better and that’s what happened with 'Bye Bye'. I wrote it for a friend who had been seeing a guy all year, all seemed good and then just as the summer holidays began and they could finally spend some time together, he called an end to the relationship unexpectedly. I want people to enjoy 'Bye Bye' as a fun, uplifting record about being strong and moving forward after a break-up. It’s intended to give resilience and empowerment, without taking yourself too seriously and not letting the past hold you back.

This one was produced by Jamie Sellers and you have a long history of collaborations with renowned people in this industry, even early on you worked with the same people that the likes of Elton John, Oasis, Robbie Williams, Lily Allen and FKA Twigs has. Probably wild to think about, but of course also speaks for your talent too. Do you most enjoy writing on your own or with others?

Aw thank you, and yes I’ve been really lucky to work with some great producers. I do write on my own but I mostly enjoy collaborating with other songwriters as well as producers so that we can bounce ideas off each other. I always have the storyline in mind when I go into a session so that it’s relatable and there is always so much to learn from others and it makes it a really enjoyable and fun experience.

Are there anyone in particular, perhaps any Scandinavian ones, whether producers, artists or songwriters, you’d love to work with?

I recently worked with Jake Gosling and I was so excited about that, he’s been on my radar for a while, so watch this space! I've written with a couple of Scandinavian producers. They are super talented, I’d love to release something with more of them and if you have any suggestions send them my way and maybe I could do a writing camp in Sweden.

Fingers crossed.

You might be a Bloomer, but not a late one. You've been singing and playing instruments your whole life. When was it that you decided to put some of that on Instagram for the very first time?

Well, I learnt piano and guitar when I was still at school and I was in the choir of course and involved in productions, but I’ve pretty much been singing since I could talk. My mum says that I used to narrate my whole day in song! (laughs) But when I was about twelve years old and bored at home one day I set up an Instagram account called Erin Singing, or something like that, I didn’t tell anyone about it so I didn’t check it for a few days and then I discovered that it had been tagged by an account called The Good Voice, who had reposted a couple of my cover songs, they were only fifteen seconds in those days but I got some good comments and lots of people started to follow my account and it all kind of blew up from there.

You’re hitting numbers which are sort of baffling to think about as each and every one of those streams reflect your songs being a part of other people’s lives. What has that meant for you throughout, to have such a direct connection with your fans through music and your social media?

It is awesome to think my songs are being played by other people in the world, and not just my family! Social media has been great for me because I come from a rural area so it would have been difficult to meet the right people, and to know where to start in getting my music out there. My first management found me on social media and I was approached by several producers, some of them were in the States, so I am very thankful to everyone who follows me and who comments on my posts and, of course, to everyone who buys and streams my songs, that personal connection means the world to me.

Where most artists have the privilege of kinda testing things out before "making it" you already had a big following before sharing your first song with the world. Do you feel like that added any pressure on you to live up to all the expectations?

I know I have been lucky to have done well on social media just as it was kind of starting to be a thing which was great, but yes, it does add some pressure because you obviously want people to enjoy your work. I wrote and released my first song, ‘Right Love, Wrong Time’, when I was fifteen years old and I didn’t really know much about Spotify then so I just released it onto DSPs, it wasn’t pitched to Spotify editors or anything, but thankfully people seemed to enjoy it so it has been added to lots of personal playlists and it’s still doing well today! My music and writing has changed a lot since then, but I’m glad that it still gets played by lots of people all over the world, that is kind of mindblowing actually.

I'm certain ‘Bye Bye’ is anything but a goodbye, if anything it's more of a "hey" it being your first new single in pretty much a year. Too long of a wait to hear back from one of the freshest voices in pop. Have you been all the more busy behind the scenes?

So, 'Bye Bye' is my first release in a year, I hadn’t intended to wait that long in between releases, and that’s now going to change as I am working with a fabulous new manager and we’ve got a great timeline planned, so next release is early in the new year, keep your eyes peeled! I released the official music video to 'Wasted It On You' back in March, which was great fun as one of my best friends features in the video, and I was busy over summer with rehearsals and live shows, I supported N-Dubz and Wes Nelson, they were my biggest live-audiences, performing to 5K and 15K, exciting and frightening in equal measure, actually I think frightening probably tips the balance! So I’ve got several more records to come out in the new year. And then I am planning a headline show in London, at the beginning of May.

I’m super excited about that.