The internet’s new favourite artist, Em Beihold, talks songwriting as a form of therapy, mental health and her new upcoming EP.
Born and raised in Los Angeles of half-Persian descent, 23-year-old singer, Em Beihold, rose to stardom after a video of her singing to her song, ‘City Of Angels‘, went viral on the popular social media platform, TikTok. Riding the momentum, she subsequently released ‘Groundhog Day’, then ‘Numb Little Bug’ that both also gained popularity on the platform.
When asked about her biggest musical inspiration, Em Beihold shared with us that ‘The Call’ by Regina Spektor was the song that ignited the spark in her to pursue songwriting. In her own words, “I felt like my soul just came out of my body because I could not believe I heard something so beautiful.”
Em Beihold’s idiosyncratic creativity knows no boundaries as she combines sunny, buoyant melodies with sad lyrics. For the singer-songwriter, translating her thoughts into lyrics is her form of therapy. “I don’t associate any shame with sharing your mental health status, I think it’s better if everyone talks about it,” she spoke to us from her bedroom. In fact, her hit song ‘Numb Little Bug’ was written about those times when you feel “uninspired and can’t quite pin down why”. Through her blunt songwriting, Em Beihold hopes to reassure others that this feeling is normal and no one should feel alone.
“The best part is the messages that I get from people saying that after listening to ‘Numb Little Bug’, they talked to their family about how they were feeling and sought out therapy. That is the best result I could ever ask for because it shows that my music is not just something that people listen to but actually take action by,” she gushed.
More on mental health, Em Beihold also confessed that she is still trying to figure out the boundaries between everything and her mental wellbeing, and when and where this line should be drawn, even if it means missing a good opportunity to have a little more sanity.
In the past months, Em Beihold’s career skyrocketed and it has been a relentless journey ever since. Em shares, “I feel like everything has happened so quickly and I wish I could relive everything that has happened and feel it more. It has been a non-stop go, go, go that it was hard to process everything that happened.”
After touring with Anson Seabra and performing with AJR, Em Beihold is finally back to releasing new music.
Her latest single, ‘Too Precious’ is about struggling socially and not fitting in at parties or doing “the cool kid things”. For ‘Too Precious’, she worked with producer Michael Coleman, with references from the song ‘My Moon My Man’ by Feist, for a new sound compared to her previous releases. “It’s a departure that I am excited about.”
As an artist that believes in not putting too many rules on what Art should be, Em Beihold is unapologetically herself and has fun with the music she puts out. She revealed that her seven song EP, ‘Egg in the Back Seat’, is coming out this summer. “The title doesn’t make sense but I like eggs. I think they’re funny.”
Check out Em Beihold on all streaming platforms.
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