Artist Talk: Paulina

It was all about just my artist expressing [its] way out [but] for the first time…I feel like it’s greater than myself.

Paulina is an emerging singer-songwriter based in Tulmur (Ipswich) and Magandjin (Brisbane). We sat down with her to talk about how she started, her process and (now released) EP as well as some challenges emerging artists like her face in a digital age.

Q: The first thing I’d love to know is how you started and how you got to where you are now as a singer-songwriter emerging into the industry.

Paulina: Well, it [started with] my Dad playing piano cause he was in a jazz band… [with] friends, and we would always play songs and as a kid, I would make my own songs to him playing so [music] was always there. When I was 15, I really wanted to get into [song]writing and my Mum was like, there was a songwriting course and it was like 50 bucks and she’s like, I signed you up cause you said, you really wanna write songs. And I actually had a gig at the same venue [as the workshop] that night, so I had…both sides of doing music in one day. Afterwards I was like, babe, that’s it, like, I wanna do this.

Q: How would you describe your music and direction you’re going in?

Paulina: Up until this EP that I’m working on (now released), it’s kind of been a ton of different genres and I feel like it…very much represented that I was super young and kind of.. just getting in the studio, making as much music as I can. I’m a firm believer that [the] more music you make, the better you’re gonna get. Just honing your craft. So I was just experimenting at the start, it was like the super indie, folky pop kind of thing. I feel like [now] I’m heading into like a…dark pop…bit of soul, ambient, you know what I mean?

Q: You’ve been pursing music since you were quite young, had your first gig at 15, what has driven you to continue on this journey all this time?

Paulina: I feel like I’ve hit this new phase, the purpose has always been like I love it...love creating. And even though [on] some days in the studio when you’re like five days in a row [and] on that fourth day...it just doesn’t work. And that’s okay. But I don’t know, it’s all about hearing people. when I talk to people about my music, and they tell me… what they felt and…how it impacted them… that connection is so pure and so precious. I love it.

Q: What’s your songwriting process like?

Paulina: It depends. Like, for example, let’s say with this EP, we were in like, four, five days….we’re gonna get in and write one to three songs. You know what I mean? [But] some days we’d go and be like, hey, we’re gonna do three songs today, an hour for each. So, there’s different phases -it was like a quantity thing, but you already kind of knew when you heard [the song] it was definitely worthy of going into the EP. I think it was just writing as much as you could because within those hundred, you’ll have one where your heart [in] really in it, and that’s what people connect with and that’s what we wanna put out.

Q: Nowadays, artists are trying to win the favor of the algorithm, trying to be viral to start their careers, what do you think of this as someone who is also emerging within the industry?

Paulina: I think as a whole, especially now with TikTok where you can have one song blow up and that can be like the beginning of your music career, [this] whole idea of like wanting to have a number one hit song, I feel like takes away…this authenticity of your music because you’re no longer like creating music from within, you’re creating music…with the expectation of I need this to be catchy…I need TikTok to pick it up or…I need numbers so that a label will sign me and stuff. And I feel like people become so focused on like the end result instead of the actual experience and the actual process of writing.

TikTok...I think…gives people a chance to quickly gain an audience they may have not had prior...enabling people to have this…great deal of people listening to your music quickly. [But] as we’re heading into this, like, quick entertainment, this instant gratification style of entertainment, [it’s] also totally being reflected in music.

And look, I get it because like, especially now TikTok being such a huge part of the music industry, labels, managers, everyone’s so focused on statistics and numbers, followers, and the algorithm. So I understand why people are then craving that success, but also that’s external. That’s external stuff.

Connect with Paulina at @paulinas_music