Exclusive Channel Sounds Interview with Juliette Reilly on Positivity, Independence, and Her New Single “Wrong Ones”
Light-hearted and fearless are the best two ways to describe Juliette Reilly’s music.
If you’re a fan of Katy Perry, Rachel Platten, Alessia Cara, Fletcher, or Anne-Marie, this is the girl for you. The pop singer/songwriter recently released her new single "Wrong Ones" which is a track that may have a sad meaning to it, but really is a coming-of-age song disguised as an upbeat, energetic tune. You honestly won’t be able to help yourself and will want to just start standing up and dancing. Her empowering lyrics are what defined her as the ultimate “pop-timist”. Through her platform with music, she promotes anti-bullying messages and as a result has built a loyal following on YouTube. As you listen to her music, you begin to realize the anthemic, motivating aspects of each song that just put you in a great mood. Reilly grew when she first won the SongDoor International Songwriting Contest with her debut single “Hero” back in 2015.
Now based in Nashville after moving last year, Reilly is preparing to release her upcoming EP Unsaid, which will also feature this new track and is set to drop early next year.
She then continued to gain popularity when she released her viral song “Battle Cry,” which was written for a YouTube series. Her single, “I Am” was recognized by Red Shoe Movement, which is an organization dedicated to raising awareness about domestic abuse, as well as by Project Semicolon. It is evident that there is something truly evocative, poignant and inspiring about her music that makes people so drawn to it. In 2016, her debut EP I Am charted on the Billboard Heatseekers and iTunes charts. Since then, 27 year-old Reilly has continued to push positivity through her pop music to other notable, philanthropic organizations all while continuing to chart and release new music such as her 2018 project My Virtual Escape and her 2019 project Love You Good Bye. Her music has been featured on shows like MTV’s Teen Mom and ABC’s General Hospital as well giving her new and exciting platforms to share her sound.
We’re excited to have had the chance to chat with this source of light in the music industry, and we’re excited for the new EP to come out, which she explains truly being an exciting force with many different styles and collaborators.
Here is our interview:
[CS]: What drew you to music in the first place?
[JR]: “From an early age, I was inspired by my aunt who’s a Broadway singer/actor, and through her I saw that it was possible to have a career in entertainment. I started writing songs when I was 11 in my middle school notebooks and would stay up singing/humming melodies into my old Sony voice recorders. When I got to high school and into college, I began to use songwriting as a coping mechanism to help me deal with bullies, breakups, and to lift people up in my life who were also experiencing hard things. I loved that I could reach someone and capture exactly how they were feeling in a song.”
[CS]: When you wrote this song "Wrong Ones", what was the process like from start to finish?
[JR]: “I wrote this song after ending things with someone I had been in a casual relationship with for awhile. I caught feelings and they didn’t, and I remember talking through it with my mom like, ‘maybe I just fell too fast, too soon and I scared him off. I feel like I’m always the one who ends up loving harder’ To which she replied, ‘you can never love someone too much, you can only love the wrong ones.’ I was so struck by that, because it’s true in all relationships, not just romantic ones. So, I decided to write an anthem for people like me who feel like they are always the ones loving harder, feeling deeper, and hurting longer. Maybe there’s nothing inherently wrong with being a loving, emotional person, maybe we’re just talking to the wrong people. I brought the song into the studio with Liam Muckala, who helped me finish it and who produce it.”
[CS]: What music projects are you looking forward to in the near future that fans should prepare for?
[JR]: “I have a pretty crazy next few singles coming out. They’re super different for me, with much more hip-hop influence and more confidence/sass than I think my audience is used to hearing from me. There will be a new song each month until January, when I’ll be releasing a brand new EP of 7 songs. :) I am beyond stoked for my fans to hear this next era of music. I hope it’ll bring them, even just for a minute, a bit of joy/inspiration in this crazy year.”
[CS]: If you could have dinner with three of your favorite artists, who would they be?
[JR]: “Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, SZA”
[CS]: As an advocate against bullying, what's the biggest piece of advice you can give to those who have been affected by bullying?
[JR]: “It’s something that may take a minute to sink in, as it did for me, but to just simply “do you.” To do your best, despite people trying to tear you down, to stay in your own lane, focus on what makes YOU happy, and celebrate your own uniqueness. What I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that all of us have been bullied in one way or another in life, which is sad but also very unifying. There is always going to be someone saying or thinking something about us, whether positive or negative, and we can’t control those judgments. But what we can control is how we react when someone is bring toxic energy into our lives. I remember it being especially difficult do this at my small high school because it felt like there was no escape, but as much as you can try to keep things in perspective and know that everything is only temporary.”
[CS]: What's your detour?
[JR]: “I love crafting, baking, painting, coloring, anything that involves working with my hands. It’s a huge way of coping with my anxiety and it really grounds me in the present moment. The other thing is that I do struggle with anxiety/depression as so many of us have been, particularly this year, and my biggest passion outside of writing songs is de-stigmatizing and raising awareness for the importance of taking care of your mental health. If someone had a broken leg, you wouldn’t expect them to walk up a flight of stairs. But when someone’s brain is hurting, you can’t always see it. My mission is to be kind to others and to be as open as possible to try to start a dialogue and normalize the scary things we’re all all going through. You are not alone.”
— —
Thanks for chatting with us, Juliette, and we can’t wait to hear the new EP!