Making your initial introduction and releasing music for the first time was never going to be easy, but UK based duo Emma & Jolie have been one of the success stories over the last year. After first meeting at music college in Guildford, the duo who are currently based in Surrey and Suffolk are definitely looking to build on that success and there are big things expected for the future.

After receiving success on the UK iTunes country charts in addition to support from Apple Music and Country Hits Radio for their first two releases, the duo return with their third release and first of 2021 as this Friday (March 26th) they share new single “How Do I Choose” which features acclaimed Nashville based songwriter Josh Kerr who also co-wrote and produced the song. (Pre-save / listen HERE)

I recently caught up with the girls over Zoom and after we had discussed the exciting places we have been going for our daily exercise walk, how much we all still miss the pub and how Emma has already had both of her doses of the vaccine (with Jolie set to get jabbed for the first time this weekend), Emma went straight in to talk about their new single:

“It’s been so exciting. We’ve been a fan of Josh’s music for so long and we’ve always said that he was one of our biggest inspirations when it comes to songwriting. For him to come on the track and write it with us was such a big thing for us. Initially we were like, are you sure? Are you crazy? We’re obviously still starting out and he’s such a big artist, he’s won a Grammy, writes with amazing and really big people in Nashville, so for us it’s such an honour to even work with him, never mind have him on the track. We wanted this track to tell a story from both the male and female point of view in the relationship, hopefully people will see the story starting with our feelings and getting to Josh’s verse tells the opposite persons feelings. We are so proud of it and for us it feels like the most exciting thing that we’ve done so far. We’ve had it in the pipeline for a while, so actually having it coming out now is really exciting!”

At what point, did Josh become not just a collaborator in terms of writing the song but for him to also be involved in the recording?

(Jolie)

“We wrote it over Zoom and had said that we would like the male perspective on there vocally. It’s a very sad song but having both sides makes it more universal so everyone can relate to it, it’s not just us and how we feel but also how the man feels. It just felt right having it on there and the whole way that the song flows, it just meshed together.”

To further this, Emma added:

“When we wrote it with him, we knew we wanted it to be a duet with him but didn’t know he would say yes because he is so well established and talented, whilst we were sitting there praying he would say yes. Then, when he said he would love to, we were so happy.”

Before, Jolie talked about the process itself, of writing the song:

“We already had the idea in our head, the title and exactly what we wanted to say so writing it was such an easy write and it didn’t take very long at all. Every word just came out so naturally and so did the whole flow of the song.”

We then moved along to discussing how the duo have made all of their releases during the pandemic where people may have had more opportunity to listen to the duo and their recordings but they have yet to be able to perform them live in person or due to the restrictions and the girls not living in close proximity even been able to perform frequent livestreams like many other artists have.

(Emma)

“It’s been hard because we’ve really wanted to do livestreams and take part in these online festivals but with all of the lockdown rules, we’ve not been able to see each other that much. Looking to when we can get out and perform, we are most excited about being able to perform this song then hopefully now people have got the chance to hear and know us a bit more, we will be able to take part in more shows and festivals, which is really exciting.”

Then it became clear that the girls really are excited to get out on the road as soon as they can, as Jolie described:

“More than anything, we are so desperate to just get out and perform live. To perform all these songs to everyone, our last gig was March of last year and it’s so frustrating as a performer because that is all you want to do. It takes a toll on your mental health when you are not able to do what you love and what you want to do. Any gigs or festivals, we just can’t wait to do it!”

Emma continued, saying:

“When we last performed, which was just over a year ago now, we were both gaining confidence again because before we had become a duo neither of us had performed or done gigs for quite a long time, so we were just getting into it and it all kind of stopped. Over the year I have become quite anxious about being out of the loop and not performing for so long. We both have a vocal coach and train, so it’s not like we have been completely out of the loop singing but from a performing sense when you have been building up that confidence to have everything shut down, I have been anxious about the whole thing but I know once we do get up and start performing again it’s going to be amazing. I hope it will be sometime soon, I know there are a lot of country events and festivals that are outdoors which I think may be more likely to go ahead and it would be amazing to get out and show people our music. We haven’t been able to perform any of our singles live since we have released them so we are really hopeful that we are able to do something. When we can go back, we want to do as much as possible to make up for lost time, we have got a few things confirmed but whether they will go ahead, we just don’t know but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

https://youtu.be/hbBiU9FEpHo

With the optimism around getting in front of an audience hopefully being not too far off and this being their third single, Jolie first and then Emma joined in to tease what the future may hold for the duo and more new music:

“We do have a lot of stuff in the pipeline and what we are working towards but without giving too much away, after this single, the next one is quite different to what we have released before. Almost a bit of a new era for us, which we’re excited to get working on and hopefully over the next few months, we will be able to show everyone exactly what that is.”

“We’ve planned the next single and like Jolie said, it’s going to be a bit different but we are really excited for that one as well. It’s the sorting out the recording studios and stuff and then hope to get that out. When we write something good and we are so excited, we just want to get it out there for people to hear it but I think it has been good how we have left a gap between each single to build up more people to support us. I do feel really confident with where we are now we’ve been together for almost two years now, have grown so much and have wrote so much material that we are so proud of, so I do think we can only go up from here but for now we really do hope that everyone loves this song with Josh as much as we do.”

The final thing we touched on (apart from saying once again how we look forward to chatting in person and having a beer but this time that the “soon” element is hopefully on the horizon) was working with their management company Triple Fret Entertainment and how the partnership is proving so effective:

“I think the good thing that we have with Triple Fret is that we love the fact of having an all-girl team. Women are overlooked in this industry and we are so proud to be part of a team, where we are all strong, determined and passionate women. We believe that women should be seen as just as good, just as talented or just as driven as men in the industry and being part of that team is just showing to everyone that we can do exactly what men do and just as good. We both feel really proud to be part of this team and they have been amazing with us, they have grown with us, they have watched us develop and they are super supportive of everything that we do. It’s worked out so well, we got signed with them really quickly a few months after we developed and for them to believe in us even before they had heard our music or performed live, they believed in us straight away. They saw our talent, saw our potential and have grown with us then they are just as excited as we are coming to our gigs or when we release singles. They are so supportive and that’s the best thing that you can ask for in management, they are the people you want to believe in you!”

The new single “How Do I Choose” from Emma & Jolie featuring Josh Kerr is out on Friday 26th March which you can pre-save on Spotify HERE. For more information on Emma & Jolie, please visit their Website and keep up to date with them on Facebook Twitter Instagram