Erika Heynatz’s debut album – Sweeter Side – has finally dropped. It’s a wonderful little gem, one filled with some beautiful acoustic moments. Lead single, Kingdom, is there, as is the new single, a sassy swaggering little number called Bullet. Sure to be a hit, Bullet is the kind of song you could hear remixed. The album itself is testament to Heynatz’s determination and desire to be self-made and to follow her dreams right through to the end. Sweeter Side is proof of what one can achieve, if only they believe.
Heynatz took some time to talk to OUTinPerth about her new single and new album, both of which are out now.
What can you tell us about your new single? Bullet is kind of tongue in cheek and the attitude is all a little more playful. And there was an opportunity to link it to a visual artist as well and create something that was visually much more bold and much more provocative.
It sounds slightly different to the rest of the 10 tracks on the album. Bullet was actually the last song I produced on the album and the great part about that, because it was left until the very last, we started to produce it and then it changed tact. It came at a time where I had a much better grip on production language and how to steer the session the way I wanted. I worked with a wonderful guy called Luke Gordon who had worked with Goldfrapp and he does a lot of work as a composer for orchestras. And I knew I wanted Bullet to be quite lush and to have a string section, and because everything else on the album is very acoustic guitar driven I wanted to give this a little bit of a different feel. So it was important for me because I feel like there’s a lot more of me invested into it and a lot more of my direction went into it in terms of production.
And Bullet sounds as though it has this amazing capacity to be something else – have you considered doing remixes of it? We’ve got a guy in Germany working on them at the moment, which hopefully I think will work out well. I’m a big fan of the remix. I feel like there is a real opportunity to play with it some more and give it a new feel.
You wrote the beautiful standout track I Didn’t Want You with Mark Sholtez – how was that process? The writing session I had with him was fantastic. I think sometimes in song writing sessions you can get railroaded by the person who is holding the guitar. He’s not like that at all. I learnt a great deal with him in that short few days we spent nutting things out. But his passion for music is pretty relentless.
So what’s Sweeter Side exploring? In terms of the themes that I’m exploring something happened for me where I was exploring dual themes of strength and vulnerability. There’s a part of me that wanted to write the really driving, up, optimistic, hope filled affirmations. And because of where I am in this space and time I wanted to maintain a real purity and honesty in the language, make sure it’s really melodically strong. So I’ve made sure I not only honour not only the stronger more empowered sides to my personality but also the softer and at times more insecure or more self-doubt. Hopefully I’ve achieved a good sense of contrast and explored some musical personalities and sounds within reason while honouring aspects of my own nature.
What can you tell us about the song writing process? I love the spontaneity of the song writing process and I think it’s about being really open and receptive to ideas and having the courage to spit out ideas no matter how random or weird that they might be.
I went over just so full of hope and just wanted it to be great and sometimes it is just crippling, the discomfort. And other people feel it too and what I’ve learnt is that unless they are the long term songwriters, a lot of them experience a very similar discomfort and don’t quite get over that initial self-consciousness of meeting someone for the first time and extracting ideas from one another. But it’s about being really careful and nurturing to the other person and encouraging them and I think sometimes you’ve got to get through a lot of shit before you can get to the good stuff. And I think it’s just about developing that flow and being ok with it.
So what have you taken away from creating Sweeter Side? I’ve taken away a lot. For me the song writing process I think I’ve learnt to be a lot kinder to myself. I know that I was very critical of my own work and there was a desire in me to be really good at it really quickly and I know that you need to give yourself time to refine ideas and give them time to create a life of their own. Sometimes when you write something and revisit it, it has a new meaning. I love collaborating with other people and I love what they can contribute and I love what people can extract from me. I like being provoked and being pushed and asked, and for me to do that to them as well. I think I’m just starting to hit my stride in terms of knowing hot to get what I want.
Sweeter Side is out now through EMI. To win yourself a copy head to our giveaway section today.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
