TIA - INTERVIEW

You may remember her from 'Young Talent Time 2012' with her spellbinding cover of Alicia Key's "Empire State of Mind (Part II)," but the matured teenager is back and this time she's ready to take Australia by storm. After winning a silver medal in the Sydney Eisteddfod performing arts competition, and featuring on 'Young Talent Time', Tia Gigliotti enabled herself to blossom into a young-pop-sensation.

Following the release of her much anticipated new single "Stranded", TIA was able to make some time to talk with us here at The Optional E. This is what she had to say!

TIA, you rose to prominence after featuring on Young Talent Time 2012, how did that help you grow as a performer?

Being able to perform on YTT every week was an absolute pleasure! I got to work with many many professionals such as John Foreman (musical director), Rob Mills, Tina Arena and more. I learnt so much from being on the show, not only my voice strengthened but my confidence and performance skills did too! Being on the show allowed me to have an idea about what kind of artist I wanted to be due to the various genres we got to perform and it was great to entertain Australia while I was at it.

Who are your main musical influences?

Rihanna and Rita Ora are my main musical influences. I not only love their music but I love the way they perform! They are so confident on stage and have a unique aura about them. Their outfits are amazing

Your new sound is more techno-electric, will we be hearing any more acoustic sounds anytime soon (like your famous Empire State of Mind cover)?

My music is mainly pop dance, but as I'm writing my album I'm finding I'm doing a lot more acoustic based tracks. I play piano so that's how I start each piece I write. I am a massive fan of Alicia Keys so hopefully I can do a song influenced by that type of music.

We, at The Optional E, love your single "Stranded" - but where did the idea for the song come from? And we're most curious as to "who" you left stranded? *giggles*

THANKYOU! I like to describe 'Stranded' as a song about breaking the shackles of control! Moving on from a relationship positively... Hahaha - well, a past relationship with a guy... That was very controlling sparked the inspiration for the song, it wasn't serious but it was enough to have an effect on me!

After your recent single-release, whats next for TIA?  

After the single release it's more writing writing writing for me! I am planning on releasing an album at the end of next year so I'm busy putting my pen to paper and getting my music produced! I'm also planning to be gigging all the time at different venues around Sydney so I can't wait to be performing again. 


The Optional E would like to wish TIA great success in her music career as it starts to take her off into stardom and fame. Take a look at her new single - "Stranded" - here:

EMILY HARLEY - INTERVIEW

Emily Harley is a young teenager from Victoria who is looking to make it big in the music industry. Her enchanting voice along with her serene guitar playing provides us with a relaxing and peaceful musical atmosphere. Her fruitful covers as well as her broad and anthemic original songs will truly take her far in the music business.

We, at The Optional E, were fortunate enough to catch up with Emily, and this is what the young superstar had to say!




Emily! You have quite an angelic voice, when did you start to realise you could sing like that?

Thank you! I’ve been singing since before I can even remember, although I remember winning a school talent show in grade 4 (9 years old) and falling in love with performing. Since then I’ve been involved in everything I can, whether it be school choirs, bands, musicals, and I’ve received a good response from that, which helped/helps me believe in my singing ability.




Who are your musical influences? 

My biggest musical influence at the moment would be Daughter. I listen to a wide range of music, from bands like Northlane and Being As An Ocean to artists like Matt Corby and Snakadaktal, I find that I can draw inspiration from concepts within the ‘heavier’ genres and combine that with the sound of the other music I like to create my music.



We, at The Optional E, love your original song - "Lost Soul" - when will be able to hear a more detailed mp3 version of your brilliantly-written original songs?


I’m still in high school, so I currently don’t have the funding to produce any of my music properly, although I’m looking into getting some help recording some of my songs for the future.



The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

Probably The Beatles, they were quite revolutionary and, although I don’t know their music well, I have a lot of respect for the songs I do know.



Will there be any gigs or live performances any time soon for your 500-odd fans to go and see you play?

Nothing that I know of yet! I’m focusing on completing my Grade 8 AMEB and VCE before I start doing gigs.



Lastly, what's next for Emily Harley?

I’m planning on completing Year 12 this coming year (2014), my Grade 8 AMEB singing exam and then hopefully beginning to look into doing live performances and finding a university with an appropriate music course for me and my future as (hopefully) an artist.




We'd like to thank Emily Harley for taking her time to speak with us and we'd also like to wish her luck as she embarks on the final year of her school life as well as taking on her Grade 8 AMEB singing exam!


Check out her youtube channel here: Emily Harley's Music Channel

This is an Optional E favourite - "Lost Soul" - Emily Harley:

LAZY DAYS.

Today was the most mind-numbingly boring day.

I have to get ready to go back to school so that pretty much warrants a twenty-four hours of non-stop boredom.

It's been an odd three weeks and I guess I would've been glad to see my friends again if I hadn't seen them in a social situation some nineteen hours ago.

I've been doing a bunch of random things for the last few hours - which Beatles wife are you tests (I got Linda McCartney! Yessssssssss - I'm just glad I didn't get Yoko or Heather), searching up cool cafés in Sydney (apparently there is a very nice one in West Ryde called element6 which turns out to be owned by someone we know) and watching the oh-so-addictive reality television that's on (The Block is so hilarious and The Great Australian Bake Off isn't too shabby either. Masterchef is getting a little repetitive but Hamish and Andy probably takes the trophy for plain entertainment.)

And of course, I've been listening to music.

Cub Scouts released their new single onto Youtube about a week ago and in four days you will be able to buy it! Woo!

Have a listen in the meantime. They'll be playing at Splendour and also supporting Jinja Safari on the 21st September at the Metro. I WANT TO GO MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE ARGH.
Well, enjoy, my lovely readers.

WHERE DOES MUSIC COME FROM, MUMMY?

So evidently I have heaps of music and I know a few songs here and there. But some of you might be interested in where I find my music. If you're not, then keep scrolling.

When a mummy song and a daddy song love each other very much, they...

Ok got a bit carried away there. But Kaya thinks it's funny!

But NICHOLAS HOULTTTTTTTTTTTTT.


Back to business. Ahem.

So I get my music from heaps and heaps of different places - I get them from my friends (yes they exist) and because they all have varying tastes I kinda get a bit from everybody.
Bands I got from friends:
The Paper Kites, Of Monsters and Men, Mumm-Ra, Pegasus Bridge, et cetera et cetera - pretty much every band I found in 2011 is from a friend or radio.

Which brings me to radio. I really like to hop between all these different radio stations - I used to listen to Top 40 but it's so trashy and boring. I don't actually listen to triple j that much - it's pretty much Sir Richard Kingsmill Overlord of Triple J or Tom and Alex. I always seem to miss the Like A Versions which are the only good things about triple j, really. Some of the acts are okay but others are simply despicable. I really like the oldies music station :) it's the only station that plays David Bowie and Queen and Heart and Blondie. I do listen to this really lame daggy station for relaxing pop music which sounds like it sucks when it plays Carpenters (who are really slow and boring) but they play lots of 70s and 60s songs like The Monkees and The Turtles and The Beach Boys. I also like the Christian music station with some of the really great rock songs - some are really exciting and they're all parent friendly, unlike the metal station. Hunt the Haunted is not a good idea with parents. Ever. Please do not try. Unless your parents are metal musicians. In which case, go ahead.

I also get Youtube recommendations and weekly emails which are really helpful. I also love my Insound newsletter which has such epic New Wave tunes. Some of the Youtube comments are great - they're hell as annoying when they sell themselves on other people's pages but some of these musicians are really great.
I love to hear covers of some great songs and also hearing the support acts at music concerts. I do love Soundcloud with its free downloads sometimes and Fingertips music which features free music. But really most of my music is found on Youtube or friend recommendations - Youtube does songs and friends do artists. I do get music from good soundtracks (Suicide Room had a good soundtrack) but yeah. Friends and Youtube.

I manage to hoard music from pretty much everywhere - Shazam helps me a lot in cars, taxis and shopping centres but I also like to just memorise short snippets from lyrics then type them into Google :)

I find new songs all the time but I just can't remember them right now because my sewing machine is broken and my laptop is running out of battery. So there.

SONG OF THE WEEK #6.

So another week has rolled around and we're prepared to hear our next Song of the Week!
I was talking to a friend who reads this blog recently (yeah, she rocks) and she actually listens to the YouTube videos I post. That surprised me quite a lot but made me feel all warm and fluffy and fuzzy inside.

She happens to be a massive fan of old music and 60's stuff. I love the 70's and 80's quite a bit but 90's and 00's music is are my main waters. Maybe just 00's music. And this decade I've been pretty pumped about the music coming out.

So she said that she really liked my post with Jake Bugg - he does sound like Mick Jagger. I was going to pick a song that sounded kind of old and jaded but still somewhat fresh (to get her into new music that's just as good as the old stuff) but I thought I might pick a favourite of mine.

I often say that the reason mainstream music is so boring and generic nowadays is that all the good songs (cracker tunes, if you're reading this, Joe) were created decades ago. I actually have a listening playlist on my phone with all my favourite songs all meticulously arranged and a Top 5 list - I know, I'm a music dork.

Guster - Satellite

This is a personal love of mine. The otherworldly, warbling scales in the introduction set a really spaced-out feel for the song, and the catchy melody and chorus just add to the mood.

I know this one has been circulating the Internet for a while - Ganging Up On The Sun was released in 2006. It's still a fresh song that I listen to when I stargaze or whatever I do.
It's such a great song to sing along to so anyone willing to jam, you know where you can find me. Hint: on the floor with a hobo somewhere. It's what I do. •~

Speaking of which, Triple J Unearthed High is coming up and I have a song written for it. I have no idea how to record it though because I don't have GarageBand or whatever and my guitar is a super crappy one that I can't hook up to a computer. And of course, my voice is rather unfortunate.

So that's this week's Song of the Week! Any song requests, song recommendations or just plain ramblings are welcome. I will probably reply unless you're some spammer. Be prepared.