Dropping today is Silence Through These Walls, the fresh new EP from the up-and-coming Natalie Red. Giving you moments of Hyper-Pop, Rap and the future, Natalie self-produced the five tracks herself. Looking to artists like Pharrell for influence, the experimental RnB/Dance vibe is strong with elements of Yaeji, Shygirl and Erika de Casier also in the mix.
Born in Estonia, growing up in Finland and currently calling London home, Natalie Red attended music college for three years and is now ready to go. The EP sounds innovative, unique and has us hyped not only for this release but also for what’s to come from this one to watch. We catch up with Natalie Red to discuss Lady Gaga, rap and relationships.
Natalie, congrats on the EP. It’s sounding so good! How you feeling?
Great! The response has been amazing. People have been DM’ing me, telling me they love it and it’s really cool. I’m really glad that people resonate with it. It just gives me more motivation and inspiration to keep going.
What is your favourite part of the process of creating and releasing a song?
I’d say actually making the beat. I’ve always loved production. I’m quite technical and love working with computers so it’s always fun for me. The freestyling to the beat part is my second favourite because I love losing myself to the music, getting in my feelings, just seeing what comes out of me. Releasing music is very rewarding because it warms my heart when people resonate with it and if it helps them in any way. A few days ago, I got a DM voice message from a listener saying how much they love ‘Official’ and they were so excited. It honestly made my day.
Where were you when the ‘Official’ melody came to you and tell us about its message?
I think I was listening to a lot of FKA Twigs at the time and I liked her delivery on a lot of songs, the staccat, rap influenced melodies. I was also listening to rap a lot at the time which made me want to try that myself. I cannot rap but I definitely wanted the song to have that rap feel to it. The lyrics speak about being in a situationship with somebody and wanting to get out of it but not knowing how.
I need to know too…whose voice kicks off the track with the words, ‘It’s official’ and how did you decide on using that? Haha…
That is one of my favourites from the entire production. The original demo didn’t have that at the beginning and end of the song. My producer Megra added it in and it was actually a Splice sample, if I remember correctly. It just happened to say ‘It’s official’ to go with the song!!!
To me, the way you sing has such a vibe to it, a playfulness, that it feels like it’s complementing the production as an instrument, unlike other songs where the voice is the main part and everything else works around it. I wondered if you could talk about how you feel about the dynamic between singing and producing and working together on a song. Do you see it as the two working 50/50 together?
To me, production is super important and really shapes the song. I feel like most songs are popular because of the beat. Obviously, the voice and melodies play a huge part as well but the beat has always stood out to me in a song. I also like to mix a very high pitched voice with a dramatic and fast paced beat. That mixture sounds very unique to me.
The EP Silence Through These Walls is out now. Can you tell us about the title and any over-arching theme through the EP? How did you choose the songs for it?
The title is actually from my favourite song on the EP called ‘Silence Through These Walls’. It resonates with me the most at the moment. It’s about missing your childhood, spending time with your friends, and life being so much easier back then. It has a lot of elements of nostalgia everywhere. The EP itself speaks about relationships, liking someone and break ups.
I know you want to do a track with a rapper…and also that you are a big Pharell fan. So let’s manifest this collab! If you were working together on a track, what would you see it being about? What kind of energy would it have?
I’d love it to be a track like ‘The Light is Coming’ or ‘Borderline’ by Ariana Grande. The energy would be hyper and cute while having hiphop and rap elements to it. Lots and lots of synth sounds. Maybe synths like in the song ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga.
More and more female producers are being given the spotlight. It’s great to see and so long overdue. One thing we don’t hear much of is female producers who produce other artists’ work. Do you think we are moving closer to this situation? How have you felt the gender balance change in terms of production duties?
Yeah, I definitely wish more females were inclined to do more production or more technical parts of the music process. We need to even out the playing field a bit to make it a more comforting place for females as well. I feel like girls are put off by pursuing something so male dominated and I understand that because I have felt inadequate in a room full of men. I have actually started to produce outside of my own stuff as well. I have been practising and working on music with other female artists which has been really fun!
You were born in Estonia, spent your teenage years in Finland and now live in London. Are there things that you unexpectedly miss from home?
Surprisingly, I don’t miss much from Estonia because I moved to Finland early on and so I kinda have love for both places. I feel like I can make any place feel like home. Even now, living in London, it feels like home because this is where my network and career is. Of course, the thing I miss the most from Estonia and Finland is my family!!!
Lastly we are named after the biggest-selling single of 2001 and so always ask what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
I actually love Mariah Carey and I’d say my favorite of hers is either ‘Obsessed’ or ‘Twister’. The production on ‘Obsessed’ is amazing and the melodies are memorable. The music video for it is also cool and people say it’s about her situation with Eminem haha. ‘Twister’ is such a beautiful song because of her breathy and sweet vocals.
Silence Through These Walls EP is out now.
