Australian singer-songwriter May-A explores the journey of growing up in her latest EP
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JORDAN KIRK
WORDS BY Joahanna Wickramaratne
“This is me understanding sound and understanding there are no more rules in music.”
When I sat down with May-A to chat about what’s going on in her world leading up to the release of her new EP, Analysis Paralysis, she said “It’s like a cluttered room full of art stuff.”
The Sydney-born singer-songwriter may just be the embodiment of what’s cool in music right now. No stranger to the limelight, May-A has been on the rise for a while now, having toured with Flume, released their Hottest 100-winning and ARIA-nominated hit ‘Say Nothing’, and graced some of the world’s biggest stages.
Discover more about Australia’s musical talent in FJ’s Music section.
A lot has changed since then, though. Being off the back of her biggest Australian headline tour, Never Going Back, May-A is ready for the wait to be over on her EP release.
And for those navigating the trenches of a confusing first love or a casual emotional rollercoaster, this one’s for you. Read on to find out how May-A is reflecting on the quandaries of love and life in her latest lyrical exploration, Analysis Paralysis.
Can you tell me the story behind the album title?
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Analysis Paralysis came from just looking at ADHD websites. I was Googling my symptoms, as usual, and it was talking about how people with ADHD tend to experience ‘analysis paralysis’… where there are just way too many options. Because of the number of options, you just can’t seem to do anything so you’re just stuck in nothing.
When I read that, I was like, ‘Well, that’s definitely me and that definitely sounds like a title’. That feels like it explains the whole process of the EP and not being able to make a single decision on anything because there are just too many options.
How do you go from having an idea for cover art to reality?
Oh my god, it’s just so much writing, collecting thoughts, and then putting in 100 different mood boards. I will often have to annotate a mood board to be like ‘This part of this picture means this’ and then ‘This picture is this’. But yeah, even just having colour palettes and different poses or locations, and then sending them to somebody who can actually make that a reality.
I think I’ve learnt to be really specific with that. I don’t know if that’s to my detriment or to help everyone, but all the creatives around me have been able to get exactly what we were talking about. I’m really lucky.
This album draws upon your evolving sound and influence from iconic ’90s grunge music and modern pop. Who are your inspirations?
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I feel like whenever I say the references, you can pinpoint the exact tracks… this EP is like a big kind of eclectic mix of so many different things. I think that kind of comes through in ‘Your Funeral’ where I was listening to a lot of like hyper pop, rap, [The Kid] Laroi type stuff… a lot of 070 Shake and the way she experiments with music and manipulates sound… and a lot of Radiohead.
Is there an overriding theme to the songs on the new EP? Do they come from the world outside or yourself?
It’s just very emotion-driven, which kind of sounds a bit stupid when I say it out loud because that’s kind of the point of music. But I think that… It’s really cool to see people already messaging and being like, ‘This is exactly how I feel about this, this has helped me get through a breakup’ or something.
… It’s a lot darker… and a lot more experimental for me personally, compared to the first EP. That was a lot more me learning how to song write, me growing up, learning about myself, about being queer, and learning how to navigate the world leaving high school.
Do you take inspiration from the relationships in your own life?
It’s 100 per cent taken from my relationships, which is just a reflection of what’s going on. I think that I do have a habit of writing relationship songs… but a lot of them don’t necessarily start out like that. I don’t know how I ended up there.
Did you want to take this EP in a different direction to Don’t Kiss Ur Friends?
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I think when I made the first collection of songs… I knew as soon as that was coming out that I was going to do something completely different. I knew that it wasn’t exactly at the core of who I was, but it was still a fun and enjoyable time and I’m grateful for it.
With [Analysis Paralysis]… this is me understanding sound and understanding there are no more rules in music and all of the blocks that I was facing, I actually just completely made up in my own head… No one’s standing there being like, ‘You can’t do this’ and ‘You can’t do that’. I think the next thing that I make… I might experiment with live music, live musicians and recording bands.
What were some of the blocks you faced?
I think that when I was younger, I was used to seeing a certain type of person who looked like me and felt like I related. It tended to be the singer-songwriter type of girl. But then I would listen to bands like The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys… I was like, ‘Oh, they’re all men, I can’t do that’… I just remember thinking ‘I can’t make that type of music’. I don’t know why, but… it wasn’t until starting ‘Superior Liar’ that I was like, ‘I can do whatever I want, actually’.
Do you feel like you’ve grown artistically and personally since Don’t Kiss Ur Friends?
I think I’ve gotten a lot stronger and the first collection of songs was a lot more insecure. I was a lot more unsure of what I wanted to do and I think in the past two years, I’ve just become a lot more sure of myself, and artistically, I will very much take the reigns. I’m really happy about that.
‘Superior Liar’ describes feelings of being stuck. Can you tell us what you were trying to convey?
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It was post-COVID and it was that weird period where it was raining for like two months in Australia. I was like, ‘This feels like COVID again, this feels like we can’t go outside and I’m really sick of this’… I tend to just get a little bit stressed and want to drive into the mountains for a week or something. I think that period of time was very reflective.
You’re coming off the back of a strong year with tours and festival slots. What are your hopes and dreams after the album’s release?
Just to be able to keep touring. I really enjoy it and I really enjoy being on stage. I also really enjoy being with my band and being able to just sing and play music… nothing really feels like that. I want to do that for a while and then isolate in a cabin and write some more music.
What is your favourite part about collaborating with other artists?
Just getting a good excuse to step into a different genre or sing a little bit differently from how I naturally would. Like the song with Budjerah, I would never be able to sing like that with my own stuff because my sounds don’t really support that soul-type of singing. The Flume stuff was also more belty and sultry, and I also wouldn’t do that either. It’s really about learning that your voice is an instrument.
Who’s someone you would love to collaborate with?
Probably Omar Apollo. I think he’s really cool.
How does collaborating compare to performing with your band?
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That’s really all that I need. We have the best relationship and I think we all have great chemistry and understanding. It feels like we’ve been playing together for like 10 years. We can just look at each other and know what the other person is thinking without having to articulate it. I’ll often just get nervous and say something, and just like look over and be like ‘Is that okay?’
I heard you’re performing at Spilt Milk this year. What can we expect from those performances?
We put a lot of work into making it a cohesive show, having intentional things on the stage, and really working on the setlist to make it feel like it has the right dips and the right highs. So to me, it almost feels like a performance rather than just playing songs.
Who are you most keen to see perform?
I’m really keen to see Post [Malone]. He was a big influence for me on ‘Lola’. I love his music and I just love guitar music vibes.
Do Aussie festival crowds have a niche?
Oh, the shoey… get in the bin. I’m done.
To listen to May-A’s new EP, head here.
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