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First Stream: Essy Explores Confidence, Inner-Strength, Sexuality, and Self-Discovery on New EP “Cry For Me”

Singer/songwriter Essy has been gearing up for the release of her sophomore EP Cry For Me for what feels like forever. Beaming with excitement to share her latest project with the world, the Nashville-based EDM prodigy gives Celeb Secrets readers a first listen at Cry For Me, along with an inside look at the lead single’s music video hours before its big debut.

Paying homage to her EDM background with four-on-the-floor drum arrangements and side-chained synth grooves, Essy’s new set of songs are offset by clean, simplistic vocals that pack hard-hitting lyrics to make you cry and slick synthpop beats to make you dance while you’re doing it.

“I really wanted listeners to have their own emotional experience when listening to the EP,” she tells Celeb Secrets. “The track begins with this effervescent, lifting synth intro and then carries into this angry, energetic heater on ‘Break A Heart,’ and then swells back down for an intimate serenade on ‘Missing Me Missing You.’ It’s both high and low, aggressive then tame. I hope listeners feel this push and pull within them as they listen so that they, too, explore new emotional depths.”

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Describing the extended play as “fierce, liberating, and intimate,” Essy tells Celeb Secrets that Cry For Me is “the most empowering project” that she’s been apart of.

“It’s about rebirth… learning to start over again, re-finding trust in yourself, making peace with your deepest fears, and embracing the pain of the past,” she explains. “It’s my personal journey wrapped into a sonic emotional saga. I feel deeply connected to each track and very much and remember what I experienced when writing each song. I’m grateful for this album because it also challenged me to express emotion beyond lyric writing. I really got to dive into production and find new ways to connect to my music.”

The project’s lead single was written about her experience with pride, facing her own and seeing it in other people. “When I was writing the song, I felt like I was staring at the face of ‘pride’ itself and trying to kick down its walls to get some sort of emotional connection out of it,” she says, “I want people to crave that energy when they hear the track.”

Born into the fire, Essy (born Rachel Braig) cut her teeth in both the Berklee College of Music and New York University Steinhardt School’s early songwriting programs, learning from and writing alongside industry veterans Barry Eastmond (Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston) and Maia Sharpe (Carole KingThe Dixie Chicks), as well as pop songwriter Michael Pollack (LauvCeline Dion).

After a piano ballad she composed out of her college dormitory caught the attention of Atlantic Records electronic duo Ship Wrek, Essy’s first cut with NCS Records Star Party soon followed, and an early graduation prompted a move to Nashville to begin songwriting and producing full-time alongside some of pop’s most promising penners, including Johnluke Lewis (LANY), Jintae Ko (OneRepublic), Paris Carney (Adam Lambert), Mike Pappas (Meghan Trainor), and Hunter Hayes.

Growing interest in Essy’s tracks and vocal collaborations encouraged her to jumpstart her own musical project, and in 2019, she began releasing her solo material, racking up over 4 million streams and 75k monthly listeners on Spotify alone. Her latest project Cry For Me details the end of a relationship and highlighting themes of confidence, inner-strength, sexuality, and self-discovery and sets the budding musician into stardom with its down-to-earth, moody feel.

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Listen to Cry For Me below and let us know what you think of it by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.

You can connect with Essy by following her on Instagram at @essysounds.

Author

  • Juliet Schroder

    Juliet is the founder and executive producer/host of Celeb Secrets and Celeb Secrets Country. When not reporting on the latest news in pop culture and country music, she enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, watching sports and exploring the latest fashion trends. Juliet holds a B.S. in marketing from St. John's University.

Juliet is the founder and executive producer/host of Celeb Secrets and Celeb Secrets Country. When not reporting on the latest news in pop culture and country music, she enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, watching sports and…

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