We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emmaline Cleary a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Emmaline, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

So I kind of started out pretty late in the game, but in saying that, I wouldn’t change anything. I don’t think I ever truly believed doing music as a full-time job was very realistic. I attempted to be happy in “regular” jobs, but nothing ever fit for me. I always was drawn to music and it was the only thing that made me happy; singing and songwriting. I didn’t really pursue this fully until I was about 30. I think if you’re serious about anything, age doesn’t really matter. I think what’s important is always just giving things a good go! Looking back and asking ourselves what could have been, or what could’ve happened doesn’t seem productive to me. Looking forward is the only way to win.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So I’m Australian, and right now I’m in Nashville, Tennessee, and I’m predominantly a singer songwriter who makes music mostly for film and television. I started off as an artist, performing, writing, doing music videos, the whole thing, which has been an amazing ride, but I was drawn to film and music and what that might look like career wise for both me just as a songwriter, but also as a singer. Working in film particularly has been my dream come true. I didn’t set out to achieve placing my songs in film, or writing strictly for film, but as time went on as an artist, I started to day dream about a career where I might not necessarily have to be out on the road touring or performing so much. This fits for me and it’s been an interesting road. Ive met some amazing people and been super lucky along the way too. Just last week I was nominated for Best Artist Performance at The International Christian Film and Music Festival Awards. The nomination comes from a short film I was blessed to have worked on called The 12th Letter. The song I sang is the theme song and was actually written by the films writer, Jackie Hovorka and she asked me to sing it. This is what I mean by luck. Saying yes to things in life is so important, as long as it feels right for you, and this certainly did. It was beautifully written. The song is called Turn The Tide and the film aims to bring awareness to Veteran Suicide and PTSD. It’s been a really wonderful journey working on this film.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Telling stories and connecting with people is the most rewarding thing. I think as people we forget that others might be going through similar situations or thought processes, so to connect with each other, often on the same thing, is such a special thing. I think when you’re able to write about an experience, share that experience through a song, and then have people feel something is just the greatest. I think if you’re being your authentic self as a songwriter, or through your performance on a record and telling an honest story, you will always win. At the end of the day it’s about making each other feel something, even if it’s a little escape from reality, we get to do that with music and that is so wonderful.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I generally take things day to day, but I think in the future I’d definitely like to move into Music Supervision. I’d love to put other creatives in a position where they might not otherwise have one. There are just so many talented people out there and so many people have helped me get to where I am right now, so I’d like to pay forward the blessings. I think that would be just the end goal down the road somewhere. Of course, best song at the Oscars or The Emmy’s is the ultimate, ultimate big time lifetime goal. A girl’s gotta dream big!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamemmaline
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamemmaline
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalinecleary/
• Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/iamemmaline

Image Credits
Photos by Paul DeBurger