Emily Blue

Emily Blue (born Emily Caroline Otnes on June 28, 1994; /ˈɑːtnəs/) is a Norwegian-American[4] electropop singer-songwriter and the lead singer of Champaign-based indie rock band Tara Terra. She was born and raised in Urbana, but is now based in Chicago.[3] Blue's career is characterized by sharp changes in musical style, and her releases fall into vastly different genre classifications, ranging from synth-pop to avant-garde and death metal.[1][2][4][5]

Emily Blue
Blue performing in 2013
Born
Emily Caroline Otnes

(1994-06-28) June 28, 1994
Urbana, Illinois, United States
Occupation
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
  • composer
  • instrumentalist
Years active2012–present
AwardsBest Chicago Pop Artist
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
  • synthesizer
LabelsAudiotree
Associated acts
Websiteemilybluemusic.com

Life and career

1994–2015: Early life and career beginnings

Emily Blue was born as Emily Caroline Otnes on June 28, 1994, in Urbana, Illinois. She wrote her first song when she was 13, and got motivated to become a songwriter. She says her mother was the guiding figure in her home, and that she inspired her by taking a powerful female role in the household.[5]

She went to a high school in the same area as that of Colin Althaus and Joey Buttlar, and met in the early 2010s and started making music together. The three later joined Nick Soria and Céline Broussard to form an indie rock band named Emily Otnes and the Weekdays. They later changed their name to Tara Terra. The singer also rebranded herself, presenting herself as Emily Blue rather than by her full name.[2]

Tara Terra released their debut album, Daughter, on August 30, 2014. Blue worked as a live performance host for Audiotree and interviewed many artists on behalf of the Chicago record label, who she later went on to sign for as a solo artist.

2016–2017: Solo career and Where's Your Light?

Blue describes the beginning of her solo music career as an accident.

In 2016, while touring with Tara Terra and planning for the band's second studio album, Blue went through a mentally difficult time and felt the need to express her thoughts about womanhood, rape culture, and trauma. According to her, she packed those emotions that she felt in song form, and later produced the tracks she created and got ready to release them.[5]

Blue's first single, "No Pain", was released on August 6, 2016, along with the announcement of the Illinois singer-songwriter's debut EP. The lyrics of "No Pain" discussed rape culture in a very poignant and daring manner that caught the attention of music reviewers.[2]

The debut EP was eventually released on November 4, 2016. It was titled Another Angry Woman, with its lyrics speaking of subjects considered taboo, but conveyed with a mellow indie pop sound. The EP's title got its name from society's alleged response (from Blue's perspective of view) to women who were abused or assaulted. According to the singer, it "is a title that intends to take a critical stance on our culture's lack of empathy towards survivors".[6] The album was positively acclaimed and was labeled as "unapologetic pop" for its reluctance to stay within the limits of topics that it is considered alright to speak about. All the income from the album sales and merchandise for Another Angry Woman went to RACES (Rape Advocacy, Counseling, & Education Services) organization. On the official tracklist of the release, the five songs featured on the EP are joined by three interview tracks, titled "Anastasia", "Gene" and "Christine", all one minute in length, making this release an LP rather than an extended play.[7] After the release of the album, Blue confessed that she had planned a different debut release, but scrapped it.[5]

Blue's post-release touring was cut short as Tara Terra planned ahead for their upcoming 2017 album, Where's Your Light?, which was announced only weeks after the release of Blue's debut non-profit album. During the run-up to the album, Emily Blue released two surprising tracks which showed a drastic change in the singer's genre. The two-sided single, "Blackberries // Rico Acid", included both tracks, and was released officially on April 7, 2017. It showcased Blue's musical diversity and shifted from her regular indie sound to fun, up-tempo pop. It also marked the beginning of Blue's collaboration with Max Perenchio.[7][5] Blue's single "Blackberries" became largely popular on music streaming service Spotify, and currently has over 1 million streams.

Three days after the release of the soloist's double-sided single, on April 10, 2017, the lead single from the upcoming Tara Terra album was released, titled "Like the Clothes". Huffington Post praised the track, labeling it as the band "[showing] off their rhythmic chemistry underneath Blue's falsettos and [Colin] Althaus's bright guitar riffs." The Illinois band released the rock album, which was recorded in Audiotree prior to the release of Blue's Another Angry Woman, on May 31, 2017. It was described as having a harder sound than their 2014 release and received mostly positive reviews.[8]

By the end of 2017, Tara Terra went on an indefinite hiatus, which in turn allowed Emily Blue to embark on a new direction in her solo music career.

2018: Musical rebirth: *69 EP
Main article: *69 (album)

Following the release of Tara Terra's second studio album, Blue went on to concentrate on her solo career.[1] She decided to experiment with new, out-of-the-box musical genres, and her musical style started to revolve around 80's music revival.

Borrowing elements from 80's synth-pop, the glitch movement and industrial music, Blue started working on new material that continued the musical development that she has shown in her 2017 solo release.

On April 6, 2018, almost precisely a year after the release of her two most recent singles, Blue released "Cellophane", an experimental and heavily synthesized pop track that presented the change that Blue has gone through. The song later turned out to be the first single from Emily Blue's *69 EP, produced by and written with Bad City's Max Perenchio. It was initially released on August 8, 2018.

The second song from this extended play, "Microscope", was released five days before the EP was out, along with a minute-long excerpt from the dance pop track "Waterfallz", which eventually was not an official single from the album. The experimental pop sound on the EP, which featured a cohesive yet very diverse style palette, was described by the Chicago Reader as "a glossy, idea-packed EP whose five tunes burst with pulsing electro beats and walloping synth-pop choruses". It was also said that a few listens to Blue's "Microscope" and "Falling in Love", "make it clear that she can translate her razor-sharp hooks into any musical language".[1] On the album's re-release, three songs were added to the tracklist, making *69 the singer's second EP to eventually become a full-length studio album.[2]

2019: Tara Terra reformation and ICONIC

On January 10, 2019, Blue commercially released Emily Blue on Audiotree Live, her first live album, including all songs from the original *69 release (with the sole exception of "Dum Blonde"), as well as three of her earlier single releases.

On March 8 of the same year, Blue released a pop-rock cover of Blondie's "Call Me", just three weeks before the release of her Tara Terra's comeback single "Ithaca", which was revealed on April 1, 2019, premiering on Atwood Magazine. This album was Evan Opitz's premiere as an official band member and guitarist of Tara Terra. Along with Tara Terra, Blue released a five-track extended play entitled Couch Surfer, Lover, on April 7, 2019. The band went on to perform a short tour, which upon ending allowed the group's front-woman to work on her new musical style.

In mid-June 2019, to build up to Blue's upcoming single, "Bad Decisions", Blue hosted a contest to decide which two bad decisions she should make, titled #DecisionSubmissions. The contest's results saw her tattooing the word "impulsive" on her thigh and eating a birthday cake with her bare hands on the train in California. The song was made available on all platforms on June 28, 2019, the day of Emily Blue's 25th birthday.[9] The cover art for the album depicted the singer mooning to the camera in front of a McDonald's branch. The controversy surrounding this cover art was key in the track's rise to success on Spotify, where it reached 100,000 streams in just over one month. The song was notable for being a shift back in the singer's career route, displaying her indie-pop roots but with musical inspiration taken from MARINA.

On October 11, 2019, the singer released an indie-metal fusion track titled "17" on Spotify. Due to an audio error, the song was taken down but brought back up shortly after. The song was described both by reviewers and fans and by Emily Blue herself as inspired by Lana Del Rey, who had released her critically acclaimed album Norman Fucking Rockwell! just one month prior. The song builds up from a very soothing indie sound with keyboard-based instrumentals to a heavy metal riff, which carries the chorus which repeats twice, eventually ending with a glitch pop sound reminiscent of *69.[2] The song was subject to an internet challenge on Instagram titled #17CHALLENGE, in which fans had to upload a video of them headbanging to the song's refrain and tag the singer in the post.

On October 14, 2019, Blue announced an 18+ LGBT music festival organised by her, titled ICONIC (stylized in all-caps). The festival, which hosted by Becca Brown, will took place on December 6, including performances from Chicago band Flora, artists Carlile, SuperKnova, Thair and GirlBoifriend.[10] According to the festival's site, a portion of the proceeds will go to nonprofit organization Brave Space Alliance, a pro-trans rights organization.

On November 8, 2019, Blue won first place in Chicago Reader's year-end Best Pop Artist award.

2020-present: COVID-19, new beginnings

In 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue launched an initiative entitled "Artists for Global Giving". The concept of the project was that artists in lockdown make tracks from quarantine within 24 hours, with all tracks compiled into a mixtape, the proceeds of which go to COVID-19 relief funds. Many artists promoted the concept on social media, with the process being dubbed "#1DaySongChallenge". The first volume of the project, "Artists for Global Giving | Mixtape #1" was released on March 25, 2020. "Social Distance", the fourth track on the album, is performed by Blue herself.

The singer has confirmed on social media that she suffered from COVID-19 in March 2020, but has since recovered.

Blue released a new single titled "Aperture" on 8 May, which was first teased on 15 April.[11] The song was premiered with a live performance on Good Day Chicago. The Deli called the song "ethereal" and said it was "more firmly planted in Dream Pop than Blue's previous singles", while Emma Maliborski of Chicago Haze said it "manages to send listeners to a vibrant landscape through their earbuds".[3]

The singer had originally planned to go on the See the Future US tour in mid-2020, but COVID-19 precautions eventually led to the tour's inevitable cancellation.

In the summer of 2020, the singer's name came up in the context of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Chicago-based artist was rumored to be a potential participant of the Norwegian national selection Melodi Grand Prix,[12] and Wiwibloggs named her the artist they would most like to see representing the Northern European nation.[4]

On 7 August 2020, following a live performance for Jack Daniel's via Audiotree, which features two previously unreleased tracks "Prophet" and "Glow", Blue released an unannounced single titled "Trump.". The song is a protest song against Donald Trump in the genre of death metal.[13] The cover art of the single release shows a golf ball on a grass background, criticizing the President's close association with golf. The track describes Trump as narcissistic and self-centered. The lines "I rewrite my history / I make my own laws" and "Everybody on the ground / When I wear the crown, you bow down" are told from his perspective, depicting his character as an absolute monarch.

Blue announced on Twitter on 27 August 2020 that she would soon release an EP. The expected date of the release is unknown as of now. On 9 October, she followed the news up with a cover of Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain on Me", which features vocals from Chicago singer Thair.

On 26 November 2020, Emily Blue's long-term songwriting partner Max Perenchio died at the age of 33 in a car crash in Southern California. Perenchio produced the vast majority of her releases up until that point.

Personal life

Blue resides in Chicago, Illinois. She is a supporter of LGBT rights and pro-LGBT organizations.[14]

Blue is openly pansexual.[15]

Discography
Main article: Emily Blue discography

Albums
  • Another Angry Woman (2016)
  • *69 (2019)
  • Artists for Global Giving | Mixtape #1: Salud (2020)

Live albums
  • Emily Blue on Audiotree Live (2019)

EPs
  • Blackberries//Rico Acid (2017)
  • *69 EP (2018)
  • #1DaySongChallenge (2020)

Singles

Awards and nominations
YearAwardsCategoryResult
2019 Chicago Reader, Best of Chicago Best Pop Artist[16] Won

References
  1. Nelson, JR. "Tara Terra front woman Emily Blue drops a newly expanded solo synth-pop EP". Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  2. Mosk, Mitch. "Tara Terra return with irresistibly raw "Ithaca"". Atwood Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  3. Maliborski, Emma. "Emily Blue Paints an Ambient Landscape in "Aperture"". chicagohaze.com. Chicago Haze. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  4. Muldoon, Padraig. "Wednesday Wishlist: Our dream Eurovision contestants — Moldova to Russia". Wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  5. Rud, Nico. "Who is Emily Blue?". Chicago Creatives. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  6. Casey, Skorski. "Another Angry Woman: An interview with Emily Blue". Smile Politely. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  7. Corrall, Cody. "INTERVIEW: Emily Blue". Hooligan Mag. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  8. Fountain, Rasheena. "Indie Rock Band Tara Terra Asks, Where's Your Light?". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  9. Mosk, Mitch. "Emily Blue embraces imperfections in "Bad Decisions"". Atwood Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  10. Blue, Emily. "ICONIC – A Queer Benefit". Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  11. Newman, Charles. "Emily Blue "Aperture"". thedelimagazine.com. The Deli. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  12. "How Would You Feel if Emily Blue Represented Norway?". r/Eurovision. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  13. Blue, Emily. "Trump". Bandcamp. Max Perenchio. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  14. Mead, Tina. "ICONIC - Emily Blue / Carlile / Girlboifriend / Thiar / Superknova / Flora". chicagocrowdsurfer.com. Chicago Crowd Surfer. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  15. Blue, Emily. "Emily Blue on Twitter: "Wow I'm a horrible pansexual I missed pansexual / bisexual visibility day... uhhhhh maybe it needs to be a bigger day"". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  16. Best of Chicago 2019, Best pop artist, chicagoreader.com
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