Artist to Watch: Emii

With Yakpak backpacks, purses and accessories providing a colorful, cozy atmosphere and background Emii, and I took the stage and sat on couches to conduct our interview. For a second, I almost thought I was about to go live on a talk show. Her debut single “Magic” will hit airwaves and stores on April 6^th and her full-length debut album will follow a few months later, in the meantime the Ohio native, who was born in Pittsburg but moved to Ohio at the age of 10, is making the rounds on the press circuit letting the world know Emii is someone you should keep your eyes and ears open for.

“I didn’t really realize [my love for music] until I was a bit older,” she confessed.  “I was in high school, but apparently I have been singing since I popped out of the womb. All of this footage is coming up of me as a toddler singing.” The singer admits that she started taking music more seriously when she was about 13, “I pretty much kick and screamed until my parents home schooled me so that I could pursue music.”

Now that the release of her album is approaching Emii will finally have the chance to show the world who she is musically, “In terms of sound it’s actually a really diverse album. The reason for that is I love all music,” she said. “When I first started stylistically everybody tried to shove me into a box, and it drove me crazy.” With her red hair, fair skin and brightly colored tiger tattoo on her arm it’s easy to see how she’d be tossed into the pop rock genre. “You don’t only have to do a pop album or only do a rock album,” she said. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do everything we want because everyone has different musical tastes and there’s something for everybody [on this record].”

The album will feature a blend of all the genres she loves including, “pop, dance, rock and R&B.” Followers and friends can get frequent updates on what the star in training is up to via her twitter account, “I like to let people know what’s going on. I didn’t quite get Twitter in the beginning,” she confessed.  “But so many people were asking, ‘what’s going on with you? What are you up to?’ and it’s so hard to text everybody down the line. So I said [to myself] ‘OK this is what Twitter is for.’ So I try to keep people updated, but I’m not gonna say ‘I’m eating a cheeseburger at this time’ or ‘I’m walking right now’ It’s not every little moment because I don’t think it’s feasible to capture every little moment on Twitter. It’s only like 180 characters.”

As far as performances go, for the time being, you can check her out in action on Youtube as tour dates and appearances come up. She’ll be performing 3 shows at this year’s South By South West Music Festival and will host a CD release party in the upcoming weeks in her new base, Los Angeles. When asked what she’d hope audiences take away from her shows and music, she said, “I just want them to have a good time. Have fun ‘cause I am [having fun].”

Get a peek at her debut single at http://www.emii.net and www.myspace.com/emii