Ruby Coley on her debut EP ‘Eddie’
Growing up in Tāmaki Makaurau, music was always a significant part of Ruby Coley’s life with her parents’ involvement in the music/movie industry and her mum being a 90s chart-topping pop/soul singer. Collaborating with the likes of Josh Naley (Wells*), Phoebe Jasper (Navvy), Brayden Jeffrey and Harry Charles, ‘Eddie’ showcases the beginning of discovery through bedroom-pop songwriting, including themes of growing up, moving away from home for the first time, discovering new cities, first relationships, self-doubts & growing pains.
HM: Hey Ruby! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us about your new music! First of all, we'd love to know about your musical journey from when you first started singing and making your own music?
Ruby: Heyo! Thank you guys!!! I have always loved to sing! I grew up in an environment where music was always celebrated. My mum was a singer in the 90s, and my dad worked in the business at the time, and that’s how they met! And then came me. Throughout my childhood, I took piano lessons and had an epic piano teacher who encouraged me to sing and start writing songs. It then became such an outlet for me. It started as something fun I would just do in my bedroom and grew into something that I felt I should try and explore. I did some demos when I was in my last few years at high school. I was then super lucky to meet Josh Naley (Wells*) and we started writing together. During this time, I moved to Wellington for University and studied design, but I was always playing, writing, and singing - coming back and forth to Auckland to work on the songs. Josh and I had managed to secure NZ On Air New Artist Development funding to start developing this project. It was great as I got to meet and collaborate with so many talented people and learn so much while making some cool songs! These songs from ‘Eddie’ all came about almost three years ago now, which is crazy!
HM: Awesome! And congrats on your debut EP 'Eddie'! How did you land on the concept of the album and can you tell us about the central themes you delve into lyrically and musically?
Ruby: I think because, at that specific time, I was living away from home, and I was still navigating the idea of moving on from childhood and the first years of “adulthood”. I was meeting all these new people and finding my way in a new town. A lot of my writing and ideas were influenced by my new surroundings and experiences at that time. Over the few months where we did most of the song development and collaboration, the themes lyrically were initially driven by either starter ideas that I’d been working on or ideas we fell into in conversations in the studio - these evolved musically as we spent time with them. These four songs felt so intertwined at that time, and since they were some of the first songs that had started to feel like a reflection of the new things happening in my life, it felt like they should be the first story I wanted to share and put out into the world. I named the EP ‘Eddie’ as an ode to my gran, who passed 8 years ago and was such an integral part of my childhood. She loved storytelling, and the first big girl book she would read with me was ’The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” written by Kate DiCamillo, about a china doll rabbit who goes on this big journey. In a sense, this was my first lil journey.
HM: So beautiful! And who would you say are you main musical and creative influences?
Ruby: Gracie Abrams has been a big musical, creative influence and inspiration for me since I was 17 and certainly when I first started to write my own songs! Her super honest and authentic writing and bedroom pop vibes really resonated with me. I posted a pretty rough cover of her song ‘Mean it’ on Insta when I was 17 because I loved it so much and the next morning I woke up and she had commented! I absoutely lost it and I then thought I was such hot shiz lol - I refuse to ever take that post down now hahaha. I also have been loving Lizzy McAlpine’s new album ‘Older’, and artists like Holly Humberstone, Lennon Stella, and Olivia Dean. Ahhh I could go on for ages there are so many awesome artists out there - I saw Olivia Dean live earlier this year and she’s insane! I’m so excited for when she comes over to our side of the world next year!!
HM: Yes, some absolutely incredible & inspiring female artists! And we wanted to chat about your track ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ which we LOVE! Can you tell us a little bit about the concept of this song and how it came to be?
Ruby: Thanks so much! ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ is one of my faves. I wrote it with Josh and Harry Charles. We had been writing some slower, sadder songs in the previous couple of sessions, and we wanted to make a bigger song with some momentum. At the time, Holly Humberstone’s song ‘Scarlett’ was on repeat for me, so we took some inspiration from that. I especially loved how in that song she had a part where she just spoke the lyrics, so it was more of a conversation. I wanted to have an element of that in the song so we have that moment in the pre-chorus where I try to be all sassy and say “just tell you how it is”. I had a little lyric in my notes for a while, which was the chorus line ”there’s a devil on my shoulder, and she’s telling me to let you down”. After that, we just talked about not being able to let yourself go to someone and then formed the whole song around it. It was such a fun session, and I think it translates into the song.
HM: ‘Runaway’ is another one of our favourite tunes from you! What was the writing and production process like for this one?
Ruby: ‘Runaway’ I wrote with Josh and Phoebe (Navvy) - we just wanted to make a summery, boppy song. Again, it started with a small idea about driving away to find some space from something that had happened and then blossomed into this. Phoebe is such a great songwriter. Her and Josh are great mates and have written a lot together so they really kicked into a great vibe - such a cool session! I love how this one is a more positive and exciting vibe for moving on and knowing you need to grow on your own. I felt at that time of moving away from home, I was so homesick and wasn't taking in that its an exciting time!! I think this song celebrates that.
HM: What were some of your highlights and/or core memories made throughout the journey of making this album?
Ruby: So many highlights and core memories made so far on this journey. The overriding feeling I have is gratitude as I’ve been so fortunate to meet and work with the most amazingly talented people so early in my career. Each of the sessions Josh and I had with Phoebe, Bray and Harry were all highlights, different in how each of the songs came to be, but such great memories.
“Take me Back” as a song was quite the evolution and definitely a cool memory. It started as a really sparse ballad that Josh and I had been working on - it sounded super cool but definitely missing something. Josh asked Harry for some ideas, and he ended up co-producing, and it started evolving into this cool building banger with such a soft and subtle finish. There is such a cool instrumentation to it, and it absolutely pumps - I love this song, something a little different.
Another highlight was when we had finished and decided to get the EP ready for release. We were working on finding someone to mix the final tracks. I was definitely on a Holly Humberstone vibe at the time and loved how her music was sounding - as it turns out Harry had worked on a track with another artist that had been mixed by Lee Smith in the UK who had mixed most of Holly Humberstone’s work. Couldn’t hurt to ask I guess (definitely didn’t think he’d say yes), I remember being in the halls at Uni and my Dad was down in Welly visiting me. We were in his hotel FaceTiming Lee in the UK and he was keen and that he would be happy to help! That was pretty awesome to hear, as I had not really played the music to anyone outside of my close circle so it felt so reassuring. As I said I’ve been so lucky to have worked with all these lovely people - it has been an amazing experience, everyone has been so invested - I feel very lucky.
HM: So amazing! And who are some of your favourite NZ artists right now and are there any songs in particular that you especially love?
Ruby: There's such cool music going around NZ at the moment its freaking awesome! I recently just played my first gig opening for Wet Denim! They are the shiz! I’m loving their songs ‘Cascade’ and ‘Window Song’ from their new EP - so freaking good. When I did my lil acoustic opening for them, I was super lucky to have the very talented Sam Cullen play guitar - he is writing some amazing tunes. Josh (Wells*) has been releasing so many cool tracks lately - can’t wait for his album … and of course BENEE, duh! “Animal” is a vibe. Gonna be my summer jams.
HM: Lastly, if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be?
Ruby: That is so much pressure!! So I am gonna do a cop out answer and choose a section of a quote from the book that I was talking about earlier, EDDIE’s name sake hahah. “You must be filled with expectancy, you must be awash in hope…”.
Thanks Ruby! Make sure to keep up with her on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify or Apple Music.
