A Q&A With EMELINE

This past week, I had the chance to chat with queer pop artist EMELINE and discuss her upcoming debut album, performances, inspiration, and more. Many know EMELINE for her hit 2022 single ‘cinderella’s dead,’ which includes the line, ‘I forgot I was a bad bitch.’ This conversation is a reminder that while she is a bad bitch she’s also so much more. You can read a selection of some of my favorite questions in the written Q&A below, or you can check out the full recorded podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: How has your music changed over the years? 

A: It changes with my life and with the things that I learn. I kind of have immersed myself in a very specific world with this upcoming project. I've only ever put out singles and then an EP, which wasn't intended to be a project. For the past few years, it's been a lot of almost executive producing everything myself because I was working with a different producer on pretty much every song. It's really hard to create a signature sound with that. And so for this project, I got to explore the depth of one aspect of myself, so it's been a fun evolution and something I've always wanted to do.

Q: What can you tell us about this upcoming project?

A: I'm really leaning into all of the parts of myself that I maybe at one point felt shame over. I am very anti-shame; I would say that's like the way I would describe myself and my brand. I am just celebrating the wounds, the scars, and using my scars as something to celebrate and something to decorate myself with. I'm especially talking more directly about my queerness on this project, which I don't think I've gotten the full opportunity to do. I think a lot of my last music has been very much focused on my wounds. And I've met a lot of my fans through talking about what I've been through and how I've collected those pieces of myself. Now I'm able to step out of that and leave those traumas behind, go dancing, and revel in the joy that comes after the healing.

Q: What does queerness in your work  mean to you? 

A: For me, my queerness, my fluidity, is just absolutely never saying sorry for being exactly who I am, never having to shift that, and existing in that joy. Possibly my favorite song on this upcoming album is called 'Against the Gates' and the hook goes, 'I'm the closest to God, I think I've ever been, when you push me up against the gates of heaven.' When I wrote it, I was like, 'I think the closest I've ever been to God was having sex with a woman.' And what I meant by that was, you know, there are all of these people who weaponize religion and use that to spew hate. I find it very ironic because I think that for me, if there was a time I ever felt the most powerful, or maybe the closest to the height of my spirituality, it was when I was looking at another woman and realizing how when I am looking at someone else's body and seeing how beautiful they are I'm not looking from the male gaze at this other person, I'm not looking at their insecurities, I'm not looking for cellulite in the way that I look at myself, I'm looking at a beautiful person having a beautiful exchange. I think that song really encapsulates for me how powerful it is to lean into that. 

I'm excited for this expression of my queerness, especially in this time, in this political time. I will be doubling down on that pride. We need it more than ever in this climate, where, for some reason, I think that a lot of artists are shying away from that.

Q: Where do you draw inspiration for your work? 

A: I think, for me, the biggest inspiration is living my life to the fullest and chasing feelings, not really sitting there chasing concepts. Sometimes that's good if you're in a phase to kind of go inward. But for this project, it came from inspiration from outward experience. I danced my way through having a broken heart, and I mean that literally. I talk about it a little bit, but my first girlfriend, I have a love song for her on this project, and she suddenly passed away, and I had to mourn my first ever queer relationship. And experiencing love after that, and all the ups and downs of that heartbreak, but also not fearing that process of that sadness. You know, I really wanted to be myself in every single emotion that makes me a human, not just a bad bitch because bad bitches have bad days too. 

Q: Are you going to be performing this album live? 

A: I am, and they are currently being booked. In the first half of 2026, I will have my first album out, and I will have my first world tour. It will be the Emotional Virgin World Tour. 

Q: What are you most looking forward to on this tour? 

A: I want to meet my fans. Obviously, I'm so excited to perform, but I will never forget the faces of the people who have looked me in the eyes and that human connection. I spend so much of my time posting for people online, but having that opportunity, whether it's while I'm singing to connect with a fan or hearing their story at the meet and greet, is one of the most inspiring things I've ever had the chance to experience. I will literally never ever forget some of those stories, and I think about them when I go to the studio because, as much as this is for me, this is so much bigger than me, and this is why I will never stop.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to mention? 

A: When I first moved to LA, I was supposed to go to school to be a director. I have always written music since I was a kid. I always thought I had to be a songwriter first or something. I didn't know what would actually be able to happen in the way that it has. 

For me, directing and writing were passions. So, with this rollout, because I'm leaning into my poetry, I'll be putting out some little, episodic short films that will be scored by the new songs, just as a way to express my personality in a way that feels more artistic and less confrontational. There will also be music videos that I'll be writing, directing, and producing–a few of them by myself. It's all very hands-on; this is my first time in a while being an independent artist, and I will be taking that and running with it while it lasts.