New Release – Candy Heart (EP) by Eliza May
With her bubbly personality, iconic colourful hair and contagiously catchy tunes, Birmingham (UK) based indie pop artist Eliza May knows how to stand out from the crowd. Using intricate harmonies alongside captivating melodies, Eliza brings a refreshingly warm vibe to the indie pop scene.
Her new EP ‘Candy Heart’ is out 11th February. A pre-save is available here.
“If you like songs full of playful instrumentation that will have you singing and dancing all the way through then these delightfully addictive indie pop bops will truly leave you wanting more.”
How would you describe the EP?
“To me ‘Candy Heart’ is like a series of diary entries. It’s a concept EP that tells the story of a classic relationship cycle; starting off full of romance, originally tasting sugar sweet but over time, things turn sour as the relationship ends. The EP is based on true stories from my own dating life and takes inspiration from artists such as Paramore, Olivia Dean, Fickle Friends and The Wombats.”
“For anyone who’s ever seen me perform live, you’ll know that I’m obsessed with harmonies and I wanted to layer them throughout this entire EP. I took inspiration from my last EP ‘The Fall’ and sprinkled in different harmony walls throughout the whole of ‘Candy Heart’.”
“I’ve also used sassy but classy lyrics for a few of the later tracks as the story starts to go downhill. If you like songs full of playful instrumentation that will have you singing and dancing all the way through then these delightfully addictive indie pop bops will truly leave you wanting more.”
Do you have a favourite song on the EP? Which one and why is it your favourite?
“My favourite song from this EP always changes but at the moment, I’d have to say ‘Green Light’. It was the first song I ever wrote about my relationship with my current boyfriend and it reminds me of the original feeling I had where everything in my fresh relationship seemed too good to be true. Part of me wasn’t sure if I was just seeing things with rose tinted glasses or if everything genuinely was perfect and I was waiting for there to be a sign, signal or green light to let me know it was as good as it seemed.”
“I love the middle 8 section of this song when the harmony wall comes in, the lead guitar riff pans from ear to ear and the keys dance effortlessly in and out of the rest of the instrumentation. This song always brings me joy and it’s a lot of fun to play live too!”
Are you planning any videos for your music?
“We’ve actually made and released two music videos for this EP already. The first one was for the track ‘Edge of This’ which was the first single I released from this EP back in January 2022 and the other one was for my more recent single and title track of the EP ‘Candy Heart’.”
“I planned, filmed and edited these music videos myself with the help of my best friend Holly Brearley (@breals.s), who’s an incredible photographer/videographer and my boyfriend Connor O’Brien (@biggordgram) who was extremely helpful as the creative director. ‘Candy Heart’ and ‘Edge of This’ were so much fun to create visuals for. Both songs talk about different types of food so we had to buy lots of sweet treats and lemons in bulk online and in the supermarkets. We bought at least 80 lemons during our time filming ‘Edge of This’ and when we got to the till we got some very odd looks.”
“Before this EP, we’d never made a music video before and the whole experience showed us that you don’t need to have a lot of money to make a high quality music video that you’re proud of.”
How long did it take you to write and the record ‘Candy Heart’?
“It took about three years overall to write and record this EP. ‘Candy Heart’ is all about the different relationship experiences I’ve been in over the years and to write about everything, I needed time. Every song on ‘Candy Heart’ was written in the exact moment I was feeling these emotions and even though I wrote these songs sporadically over the years, they weren’t put together as a collection until 2020. My band and I had been rehearsing these songs for a couple of months and then just as we felt ready to record, the pandemic hit. We were determined to not let anything stand in our way of releasing these new songs so we recorded everything at home in our bedrooms and sent the master Logic files to Jamie Farnell at Fretless Audio to mix and master. We didn’t expect the process to take so long but it was 100% worth the wait! Listening back to ‘Candy Heart’ I don’t think you’d be able to tell that it wasn’t recorded in a studio. (laughs)”
“A lot of people over the years didn’t believe in my vision for this EP but I’m so glad I kept going because these songs are a part of who I am and are probably some of my best tracks to date.”
What message do you hope your music sends to listeners? What do you hope they can take away from your songs?
“One of the main messages I hope listeners take away from ‘Candy Heart’ is that no matter what happens, you’ll always find love whether it be from your friends, family or in a romantic partner. Love is all around you and even though things can turn sour and the classic dating cycle seems to keep going round and round, there’s a lot more positivity, love and kindness in the world than there may often seem. I also really hope that ‘Candy Heart’ brings a sense of joy and inspires people to keep going and never give up on their dreams. A lot of people over the years didn’t believe in my vision for this EP but I’m so glad I kept going because these songs are a part of who I am and are probably some of my best tracks to date.”
