Depicted as the “sunny indie queen” by BBC Introducing, 21-year-old Genevieve Miles is lighting up her hometown of Birmingham with her innovative indie-pop through previous singles like ‘Magic Man’.
Now, Miles is releasing ‘Storm Before’, her newest single, produced by Carlos de los Santos (Neon Islands, Simple Fiction), she has fine-tuned the balance between sad girl synth-pop and 80s guitar riffs to create her own unique take on alternative pop. ‘Storm Before’ realises Miles’ growing maturity in her songwriting, as she begins to openly embrace a darker side. Taking on more jazzy and psychedelic elements, inspired by the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD and Crumb.
Describe your sound in three words.
sun, storms, synths.
What influences the music you create?
I think I’ve always been an observer, so I'm influenced by anything that grabs my attention I guess - like if someone says a cool word in a conversation I make sure I make a note of it.
Turning to Storm Before, what is the message behind the track?
It’s a nod to the long cyclical process of healing. I think slowly but surely, I’m growing up? And I’ve found that healing and growth never end. But when pain randomly comes up again, even though it’s hard each time, maybe as I grow it gets a little different, each time a little better than the time before, cause I’ve learnt so much since then, so I have so many new tools to work with and to look after myself. That doesn’t mean I don’t have moments where I’m a complete mess, but it’s knowing where to go from there, how to pick myself up from that.
Photo @louishicks99
In regards to writing and producing Storm Before, what was that like as a process?
I wrote this song a couple of summers ago. A few months after, I randomly had a jam with a load of friends and we changed the song up completely, jamming with sax and keys definitely opened my eyes to how I want my music to sound now. Straight away it felt like the sound I’d been craving to make for a long time. Me and Carlos have been working together for a while now and I was kind of scared to bring it to the studio cause I knew I’d be a perfectionist about it but I feel so lucky to work with him - he feels the emotions with me and somehow he helps me get all these messy thoughts and feelings out in the form of nice sounds.
What is your favourite lyric within the song and what is the meaning behind it?
“Tangled truths that lay to rest are rare.”
It’s a super rare thing to be in the company of someone who you can just speak your messiest, ugliest thoughts to and the words don’t just hang stale in the air above you while you freak out that they're judging you. When you can completely be yourself and say what you really think and the words can just be left there, there's no judgement or fear of who else they might tell. When you can just speak your truth to someone, be your messy self and it can just settle there, away from the chaos.
Photo @louishicks99
What’s more important about being a songwriter: creating a hit song or having a
chance to express yourself?
Definitely being able to express yourself! But I think I definitely fell into trying to make music that I thought other people wanted? I think it was part of being a people pleaser - I was obsessed with making music that made people happy but that meant I was writing about really surface level things. But that's not who I am, I feel SO MUCH all the time haha. I kind of realised that if I have to feel all these massive emotions all the time I may as well put them to use instead of always avoiding that, I think I was rarely honest in my songwriting, and Storm Before was one of the first times I started being brave in that.
What do you hope that people get out of your music?
Some kind of enjoyment I guess!
Genevieve Miles’ top songs that inspired the track Storm Before.
Genevieve Miles' Link's
Instagram: www.instagram.com/genevieve_miles
Facebook: www.facebook.com/genevievemilesmusic
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