We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emma Barge. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emma below.

Emma, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents were always very supportive of me exploring music from a very young age. I remember playing around at the piano we had in our house when I was about 4 years old, and I was quickly put into piano lessons and encouraged to keep going! I also think my mom being a singer really influenced me. My dad has been an entrepreneur my whole life, and has run a successful business all on his own. That was always really inspiring to me, and I think that really made me want to be my own boss in a sense.

Emma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started writing songs when I was really young, but started taking it more seriously later in high school. I was super involved with music at church growing up, which is where I learned how to collaborate and work with other musician. That was really cool because it opened me up to the world of co-writing! I moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University in 2014 and learned so much there about the music industry. While I was there, I connected with friends who I still work with today!

I’ve been writing full time for the past 2 years after taking a break during COVID, and have really gotten into the habit of writing songs every day. I think this discipline is super important and is the only way to sharpen your craft and really get to the good stuff! I co-write with many different writers and artists in hopes of helping them tell their stories well and in a way that they want to share with the world. I also started writing for my own artist project this past year. I find that the songs I write by myself have felt close to my artist project, but I’m also very excited to explore this side of myself with my co-writers!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Maybe this is more of a mentality than a lesson that I had to unlearn, but when I was younger, I think I used to take criticism of my songs, ideas, etc. much more to heart. If someone didn’t like a line I threw out in a writing room, I would end up overthinking it for way too long and take it personally. If I felt like I didn’t contribute enough to song on a certain day, I would walk away from that room feeling like I’m not an actual songwriter and I should just pack up and move home. Somewhere along the way, I think I found more confidence and chilled out a little bit! 😂 If you can learn to take criticism at face value and not take everything so personally, collaborating becomes a much more enjoyable experience. Also, I do throw out lines that aren’t the best sometimes… and that’s okay! We all do. You have to leave your ego at the door when it comes to writing songs with other people. Having multiple perspectives is such a valuable thing in songwriting.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I would say that overall, my goal on my creative journey is to become as authentic as I possibly can with my music. Not to sound too cheesy, but I think the journey of an artist and songwriter are just as much of a personal & spiritual journey as it is a creative & professional one. The closer I can get to my true self and feel confident in myself and the music I’m making, the more successful I am.   

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmabargemusic/

Image Credits
Caroline Ocegueda