EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Eleri Talks ‘Good For A Girl’ Single

On-the-rise country-pop artist Eleri hailing from Swansea, South Wales is fast becoming one of the genre’s most talked about acts and over the course of the past year she has really pushed herself to create the best music she can, and her latest offering ‘Good For A Girl’ is a brilliant collaboration Eädyth.

Here we chat exclusively with Eleri to delve a little deeper into the track and her upcoming plans:

Congratulations on the new single, how excited are you to have this one out in the world? 

Thank you! I’m so excited about this one – It was really born from a shared experience talking to my co-writers and other women in the music industry. It’s got such a powerful message underneath the catchy poppiness of it that I’m really proud to be bringing to the forefront. I’ve also been a fan of Eädyth for such a long time so it’s really exciting to have a track out together.

I feel like you’ve been keeping this one under wraps for a while waiting for the right moment to release, so why now? 

I wish there was a more fun answer to this question but I’ve mainly been waiting until I had the full album ready before I started releasing the singles. However, I do think it came out perfectly in time for festival season, as we often see the gender imbalance a lot on festival lineups – Glastonbury, for example, this year only has white male headliners, and I’ve been to plenty of previous years and other festivals (not to just pick on one in particular) where the main stages are predominantly filled with male acts. It’s been lovely to see some breaking the mould though too – I’m going to the Greenman festival later this year where First Aid Kit and Self Esteem are both headlining so that’s amazing!

How did you find the overall writing and recording experience for this one? 

I wrote this one in my amazing co-writers Nina Sundstrom and Rachel Walker Mason Rachel’s music room in Bristol and it was actually the fourth song we’d written that day (happy to say all 4 have made it onto the album!) It started off as a bit of an in-joke when I was writing other album tracks with Nina and Rachel; it was only when we talked and shared our experiences that we decided to turn it into a song of its own. I knew the song needed to be entirely female-created so I contacted Kaity Rae who I’ve loved since I watched Beth Keeping interview her on the Write Like A Girl Instagram during lockdown. I began production on this track with Kaity via Zoom in January 2022 (so it’s been in the making a while!) and then we had a studio session in London to lay down the vocals and co-writer Nina even joined us on backing vocals. Kaity is so much fun to work with and we really layered up the vocals to make it sound HUGE. Then when I approached Eädyth with the track she recorded her verse at her home studio and we mixed the two together. I love how our voices contrast and complement each other.

 

As you’ve previously mentioned, you’ve collaborated with Eädyth on the track, how did that come about? 

It was a bit of a fluke actually! I wrote the song with Nina and Rachel back in 2021 and straight away I knew it needed to be a project where women all came together to make it happen. I wanted someone to sing on it with me and bring their own element and story to it. Then I saw a post Eädyth had made on Twitter calling out a local festival for always booking the same white male-fronted rock bands and calling for more diversity. The timing was perfect and I knew I had to get her on the track. Thankfully she agreed and recorded the vocals for me at her studio that same week. We’ve been friends ever since.

What are you hoping listeners take away from the song’s lyrical story? 

That diversity in music is needed to make it interesting! Women in this industry aren’t just ‘pretty good for a woman’ we’re damn good at what we do and often have to work twice as hard to gain the same recognition as men. I hope this message resonates with people in every industry and I really want this song to become part of a bigger movement. I think it’s so important to keep calling out for improvements and addressing the diversity balance across the music industry and the world as a whole. I’ve looked into loads of industry stats for this project and female written material still only makes up 14% of releases and female producers are even fewer at around 2.5% of the charts. It’s certainly not down to a lack of talent and interest so I hope people will change their attitudes towards thinking that women can’t do ‘techy stuff’ and give female producers and songwriters more of a chance. I also hope that if there are any women out there who feel they can’t enter into the production space they feel empowered by this song and find the confidence to take on the industry. A gorgeous example of this is my co-writer Rachel’s 4-year-old daughter who has been obsessed with this song since we wrote it. I hope it can inspire her to do whatever she puts her mind to as she grows up. 

Do you plan on sharing an official music video too? 

I haven’t got an official music video planned for this one, but I did record a live acoustic version of the track following my performance at Spring Classic Festival with the amazing Runaway Sessions. The song is also used in my Buckle & Boots highlights video that I’ve posted to my Facebook page. I think as musicians we’re really having to get creative with content on Social media and so I have planned some ‘mini music videos’ for some of the next singles. 

Looking ahead, what else does 2023 hold for you? 

Well, that brings us nicely to my next single, which I’ve just told my mailing list (and now you!) all about. Live Wire will be released on July 12th and can be pre-saved now. I’ve then got a few more singles before the album drops in the Autumn, and I’m going to be announcing a very special show very soon too!

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