Emma Andersen’s music offers a clear reflection of who she is.
If you went back in time to her high school, you’d find her in bright teal roller-skates gliding around campus and cruising up and down the aisles of the local 7/11 between classes. If you visited her childhood home, you might catch her three siblings laughing as she lived up to the nickname “Baby Giraffe” for her klutziness. She wasn’t a fan of uniforms or homework, and she proudly lived off Pop Tarts as a teen. “The cherry ones with the frosting,” she corrects. These days, it’s not uncommon for her to “get dressed up in a vintage-2000s-borderline-cocktail dress with heels and hair done” just to go to the grocery store simply because “it’s fun.” All of these wild, weird, and wonderful idiosyncrasies make their way into her music. Quirky chord choices and disjointed melodies add character to songs about being blown off by your high school sweetheart, wrestling with anxiety alone, or celebrating who you are without apology.
After amassing millions of streams, the Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist excitedly introduces herself on her 2026 label debut EP, Too Much Maybe, for RCA Records.
“As a young kid, I knew exactly who I was,” she reveals. “Because of that, I always had a very unique way of living, dressing, and talking. I try to act in a manner that brings me joy.”
She spent the first five years of her life in Massachusetts. Eventually, her family relocated to Connecticut until dad’s job carried them across the country to the West Coast. They spent some time in Oregon and eventually settled in San Diego. Music followed her wherever she went. As a kid, she and dad burnt countless mix CDs and cranked them in the living room, jumping from Taylor Swift to The Oh Hellos and Hall & Oates.
She begrudgingly took piano lessons until a little white lie made things more fun…
“I kind of told the teacher, ‘My parents said it was okay for me to do half-piano and half-guitar’,” she laughs.
During high school, she gravitated towards theater. In 2023, she enrolled at Nashville’s Belmont University. The environment encouraged a steady stream of creativity, inspiring countless impromptu jams and dorm room songwriting sessions. While gearing up to perform at The Bluebird Café’s open mic night, she randomly bumped into John Vincent III who just so happened to be one of her “biggest folk inspirations.” Impressed by her set, John invited Emma to attend his impending EP release show. She caught the attention of his producer Tyler Neal Johnson, and he agreed to helm her I’ll Be Alright EP. Off the latter, songs like “I Don’t Want To Go Out” and “Deserve This” gained traction on social media and DSPs.
However, Emma really struck a chord with her breakthrough “FTSG.” As it generated streams in the millions, she landed a deal with RCA Records and assembled what would become Too Much Maybe heralded by the single “You Don’t Really Like Me.” On the track, wobbly acoustic guitar quakes, violin wails, and sunny harmonies shine. You can hear fingers slide across the fretboard, and she dramatically exhales, “Gave everything I had, you gave nothing back, okay, I’m over you.”
“In my senior year, I started dating this guy,” she recalls. “I was head-over-heels in love with him. Even though I loved Nashville, I flew to Boulder every three weeks to see him at college. Unfortunately, he became a frat boy. I’d sit at home in bed hoping he would FaceTime me, but he’d be out partying. I thought we were going to get married. The day after we broke up, I sat in my bed, and the song’s concept came to me. I felt like he never really liked me in the first place. By the time we finished it, I was like, ‘I’m so over your ass now! You genuinely didn’t like me, and it’s okay’.’”
The visual for “You Don’t Really Like Me” gleefully tips a hat to classic romantic comedies and turn-of-the-century teen flicks circa 1999, hinting at the scope of Emma’s multi-dimensional creative vision for the EP.
A bare snare drum holds the tempo on “Freak In The Streets.” Accented by sparse horns and fiddle, she leans into a cheeky and catchy chorus, “I’m a freak in the streets, a lady in the sheets, party upfront, business underneath…am I too much baby? Never to you.”
“If a relationship isn’t right, I’ll still try to stick it out,” she admits. “When I went on my first date with my current girlfriend though, it hit me, ‘I’ve never been so weird, free, and careless’. She brought the whimsy back to my life. I joke a lot about being a freak, but she brings out the softer and truer authentic side of me.”
Then, there’s “I Can’t Even Think Straight.” Gently strummed guitar accompanies an emotionally charged vocal as she embraces herself lyrically.
“After I left that boyfriend on ‘You Don’t Really Like Me,’ I thought, ‘Maybe, I’m just gay’,” she goes on. “It’s been in my head since high school. I went to a party, and I didn’t want attention from men at all. I was looking at every woman and thinking, ‘You’re so pretty and cool.’ I met my girlfriend there. The more we hung out, the more I thought, ‘How did I miss this the whole time?’ I’m finding joy in this!”
Her smoldering vocal delivery sways in a woozy haze above a steady beat on “Matcha and Nicotine.” Guitar chords creak, and she proclaims, “If I’m gonna feel like shit, I’d rather self-diagnose.” She sets the scene, “There was a week when I wasn’t seeing friends or writing any songs that I was super interested in. I hadn’t been taking my anxiety meds and antidepressants either. It frustrated me that I could only be myself on medication. I don’t know if that’s how I’d like to live my life, but it makes a difference. I realized taking medicine doesn’t make me a broken human; it’s a normal thing.”
Ultimately, Emma Andersen’s music sounds as genuinely free, open, and alive as that carefree girl roller-skating around school. “I view my life as a RomCom or TV show, and I share my emotions through my art,” she leaves off. “When you listen to the EP, I hope you see me, a friend, or even yourself in it. You could dance in the shower to ‘Freak In The Streets’ or sit alone in your bedroom and vibe to ‘Matcha And Nicotine’. I want to make loud, fun, freaky, and hopefully relatable music.”
BOILER
Emma Andersen’s music offers a clear reflection of who she is. If you went back in time to her high school, you’d find her in bright teal roller-skates gliding around campus and cruising up and down the aisles of the local 7/11. If you visited her childhood home, you might catch her three siblings laughing as she lived up to the nickname “Baby Giraffe” for her klutziness. She wasn’t a fan of uniforms or homework, and she proudly lived off Pop Tarts as a teen. These days, it’s not uncommon for her to “get dressed up in a vintage-2000s-borderline-cocktail dress with heels and hair done” just to go to the grocery store simply because “it’s fun.” All of these wild, weird, and wonderful idiosyncrasies make their way into her music. Quirky chord choices and disjointed melodies add character to songs about being blown off by your high school sweetheart, wrestling with anxiety alone, or celebrating who you are without apology. She grew up obsessed with music, learning guitar and piano and getting accustomed to the stage through high school theater. In 2023, she enrolled at Nashville’s Belmont University. After two years of jamming and writing songs, she caught the attention of his producer Tyler Neal Johnson, and he agreed to helm her I’ll Be Alright EP. Songs like “I Don’t Want To Go Out” and “Deserve This” gained traction on social media and DSPs. Emma really struck a chord with her breakthrough “FTSG.” As it generated streams in the millions, she landed a deal with RCA Records. Now, the Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist excitedly introduces herself on her 2026 label debut EP, Too Much Maybe, preceded by the single “You Don’t Really Like Me.”
