Floating is about stepping off the treadmill of your own expectations. What did that treadmill look like for you, and what made you finally step off?
In the past, I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to make things happen in my career. I’m an independent artist, which means that I’m wearing a lot of hats. The pressure of that is the exact opposite feeling to the flow that you experience when songwriting or collaborating. I’m not sure when exactly it clicked for me, but at one point I just realised how cool it is to be a songwriter and the fact that you get to dream and create with other people for your work. I also learned how to trust my gut and listen to the little voice that was telling me to go for it, and to chase the dream. So although I still struggle with getting everything done, I feel really lucky that part of what I get to do involves dreaming it all up.
You describe yourself as someone who dreams big, yet the song is about leaning into uncertainty. How do you hold onto ambition while giving yourself permission not to have it all figured out?
It’s very hard to be honest. I’m trying to find the balance between doing everything I can to pursue my music, while also staying well within myself. It can feel hard to turn down opportunities, or even to rest sometimes, because you feel like you need to keep pushing to get your music heard. But I feel like you have to trust the process and lean into the uncertainty. Life is messy as hell and I’ve just gotten better at letting things unfold as they’re supposed to. If it’s meant to happen, it will.
Here To Stay carried a lot of emotional weight, and Floating feels much lighter. What shifted in your life between writing those two songs?
I think these are just two co-existing parts. There’s a big part of me that loves to connect with people and hear about their ambitions and their dreams. I’m really rooting for people who have something they want to achieve and go out and do it. But there’s another part of me that’s scared of how life can hurt and I’ve put up walls at times to protect myself. Songwriting is one of the places that my walls comes down though, and I’m really lucky with the collaborators I have now. We’ve created a space where it’s safe to discuss your feelings, but also talk about what you dream about, and that’s really cool to me!
Women in music often feel pressure to arrive with a clear plan and a polished image from day one. Is that something you’ve felt, and how do you push back against it?
Yeah I’ve felt pressure to have an image for sure. I used to perform under the artist name ‘EVK’ because I felt like I could compartmentalise between myself as an artist and as a person. But honestly, choosing to share more of myself as an artist has been a game changer. I’m just being myself now and the music is an extension of that. It feels very freeing.
You’ve played everywhere from Electric Picnic to The Bluebird Café in Nashville. Which moment on stage made you feel most like yourself?
I did a cool gig at ‘All Together Now’ festival a few years ago and it was such a full circle moment for me. The previous year I had a bad panic attack at the festival, and once I got home I wrote about it. I got the opportunity to come back the following year where I performed that song. It was really special because people came up to me afterwards and told me that they related to the song, and they had had similar experiences. That was a cool moment for me. I would have previously hid that side of me away. It was nice to see how speaking about it could help me to reach people, and that I could bring all parts of me to my music.
What does “floating” look like on an ordinary Tuesday for you? Are there any small rituals or habits that help you find that stillness?
Oooh, great question! I love yoga and meditation to calm my mind, but I think it’s important to also let it run wild a little so I can dream up what’s coming next. Sometimes it’s just about staring out a window and doing some old-fashioned day dreaming. We lose that a little nowadays with how much our attention is being called in every which way. Right now, I’m just dreaming about getting out on tour, whether it’s my own or as a support artist. And I’ve been imagining what my first full band show will look like. Now that I’m allowing myself to go with the flow, it feels like the perfect time to embrace whatever comes next – and I’m ready!