Eurielle is one of the most successful independent classical crossover artists. With millions of streams and music video views, she has made a name combining her classical vocals with original compositions that take listeners into a world of myth and fantasy. I caught up with Eurielle for our ‘Connections’ series to discuss her career and latest album, “Lady in Waiting.”
The first time I was introduced to Eurielle with her single “Carry Me” she already had a defined sound and image but her beginnings were very traditional. Eurielle studied classical voice and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music. “I always sort of had this feeling that I wanted to do my own music, that I didn’t just want to be kind of constrained to always performing music that was written by other people,” she told me.
She began searching for alternatives and eventually became connected with producer Ryan Louder. The duo had no firm direction but due to the popularity of Katherine Jenkins at the time, assumed it might be a similar path. “All the potential was there for us to go down that route.” It was here where experimentation played a crucial role. “We quickly discovered that if you layered my voice up, and you sort of pulled the vibrato back a bit, you know, that was a nice sound.”
As Eurielle and Ryan continued to record and try new things they eventually came to realize the parallels with Enya. “We just looked at each other and were like, ‘Oh, this sounds a little bit like Enya, doesn’t it?’ That just happened completely by accident… we naturally found this sound of mine.”
Eurielle shared that the journey in the music industry has not always been easy. “Like all things, you know, as an independent artist, there’s a journey. And along that journey, sometimes you make mistakes.” For her it included managers who often led her the wrong direction, which included trying to market her to major labels. “Right at the beginning of my career, I really had no idea about the industry at that point, and certainly had no idea that being an independent artist was a thing.”
Because at the time her sound was so unique most labels didn’t know what to do with her and the process was frustrating. From some offers that made her feel as though she had “dodged a bullet” and finally being ghosted by one of the top labels, Eurielle felt as though the writing was on the wall. “I was just like; I get the message. You know, I am just going to have to do this myself and hope for the best.”
Although it felt like a major setback, she now describes it as “the best thing that ever happened to me.” Navigating the music business has been challenging but she says, “I was forced to kind of figure everything out for myself. I’ve learned so much now that I’m in a far, far stronger position, if I ever do get signed to a label in future… I’ve had to be so hands-on with absolutely every part of my career, I understand everything in great detail now. And that’s put me in a much stronger position than I would have ever been.”
Eurielle is one of the few independent musicians to make a majority part of her income from streaming. She says that it was one of those happy accidents as at the time she was “too inexperienced” to push it herself. “At that time, when I released my debut album, independent artists had been around for a while, but it was still a relatively newish kind of concept. So, there was less music being released at that time, and therefore more opportunity for those albums being released by artists like me to be discovered, and to grow…. It was just again, pure luck in timing. The circumstances were right for an album like mine to be able to take root and grow organically. So, I was very lucky like that. And I’m also aware of the fact that for most independent artists, it’s very, very difficult to make a living from streaming. So that my music has achieved that is something I’m extremely grateful for.”
As an artist Eurielle is also very focused on creating music that will last. “As I’ve gotten older, this feeling inside of me that I can only make music if a song has a deep personal meaning to me, has just got stronger and stronger and stronger, to the extent that I just have zero interest now in making any song unless it has some deep personal meaning to me. And I think that’s a core reason probably why the songs that I make, hopefully do sound timeless, because they’re based on real emotions, real experiences that, you know, everybody goes through. So, they’re universal themes, essentially, that I’m singing about and concepts that everybody can identify with.”
She admits to being out of touch with the latest trends. “I’ve never been cool. But I don’t care because I don’t want to make songs that will be popular today and nobody wants to listen to in two years’ time.” She’d rather make music that is steered by quality rather than popularity. “Hopefully, you know, they’ll sound as fresh in 10, 20 years’ time as they do now.”
For her latest album, “Lady in Waiting” Eurielle has brought back producer Charlie Mole (who also co-produced her second album Goodbye Butterfly). The album was recorded in Air Studios in London with the Chamber Orchestra of London. “I think it was just a case of kind of taking what we’d done with the second album and elaborating on that with the next album and improving on that.” Eurielle can see the growth between her second and third albums and credits Charlie Mole who “kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone, because he got me to do things that I hadn’t done before, and I never thought that I would do as somebody coming kind of from a classical background… it’s one of the reasons I wanted to work with him because I wanted to grow and develop as an artist not to just stay in that kind of very safe groove of just releasing album after album that all sound the same.”
One of the more surprising songs on the album was “Your One and Only.” Eurielle tells us, “I had said to Charlie it would be nice to try and do a kind of vintage style song. I’ve been watching that TV series, the Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, which had a very 60s sort of soundtrack, and that was kind of what put the idea in my mind… I never expected to do a 60s style track. I love that one.”
Of course, when discussing Eurielle’s career I simply had to bring up the various soundtracks she has been part of. She began the journey at a networking event – Games Music Connect. “I went there not having a clue really who anybody was.” She carefully observed and finally approached Darrell Alexander, CEO of COOL Music who warmed up to her upon discovery that they had both attended the Royal Academy of Music. “A couple of weeks later, he sent me an email and said, you know, how would you like to record a song for Downton Abbey? And I was like ‘Yeah, go on. Yes, please!’ And then one song turned into two songs. And then after that, I just got the opportunity to record on various different soundtracks.”
Other credits fans may recognize are Enola Holmes, Shazam, The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station, Born in China, and Call the Midwife. She also recorded for video games like Dice Legacy and Cassock.
View this post on Instagram
As to what’s next, Eurielle says she has a whole list of things she’d like to accomplish this year and calls it a “mixed bag.” At the end of this month fans can enjoy a collaboration with Clamavi de Profundis; a group that specializes in recording fantasy songs and especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The video will be available exclusively on her YouTube channel.
Eurielle is also currently collaborating with Ryan Louder to make an album of the singles they released after her first album Arcadia and adding a few new ones to the mix. “I’ve got scribbled on my list here things like Greek mythology album, opera album…” though she clarifies it’s opera “with my twist,” and of course more soundtracks to come as well.
“It’s going to be an interesting year. I’m actually quite excited about it because, when you’re doing a whole album there’s a lot of pressure but if you’re just doing a bit of this and a bit of that, more bite-sized projects with other people, and it’s all really different stuff, there’s less pressure.”
Join us Sunday, January 30th for the premiere of ‘Connections’ and watch the full interview with Eurielle.
www.eurielle.com
