Eloise’s 'Drunk on a Flight' Is the Companion Album to All the Uncertainty of Your 20s [Q&A]


London-based singer-songwriter Eloise makes music that feels like a Sunday morning. From the natural sunlight and crisp linen bed sheets to the cup of black coffee and contemplation of last night, Eloise manages to curate a world that feels so warm and familiar, like opening a letter from an old friend. I could think of a thousand more metaphors to describe the Eloise atmosphere, but it’s best to let the music speak for itself.

After releasing a string of singles throughout the year, the 23-year-old has released her debut album Drunk on a Flight. Through 12 songs, Eloise unravels a relationship turned sour, pinpointing the intricacies of a recent past and rediscovering herself in the process.

I had the utmost pleasure of chatting with Eloise about all things Drunk on a Flight—from the sequencing of the tracks, songwriting as a form of therapy, to somehow finding ourselves talking about Fleabag and other complex female characters.


Ones To Watch: By the time this interview is up, Drunk on a Flight will be out everywhere for the world to hear. In one word, how do you feel?

Eloise: Relieved. I just want that [the album] to be out now. I understand the reason why people put singles out, but I am one of those people that listens to albums top to bottom when they come out. And I will just wait for the album to come out. So I am going to be relieved for those people to hear it all in context.

I actually had a question about the sequencing of the album, so that’s a good segue. As a 20-something who has gone through heartbreak myself, listening to the album felt like I was re-experiencing that process after a breakup, where you're sort of inching closer to closure but then you take two steps back for every step forward, and it's just a chaotic mess. So when it came to writing and sequencing the album, did you have a particular narrative in mind, or is that sort of just how things played out?

It's a combination of both. I never had a narrative—as in, I never knew the tracklist. I knew that it opened with “Drunk on a Flight.” And the next thing I knew was that it had to end with “Tired Now,” just because I like the first line of the whole album being “We broke up” and then the last line of the album is “I'm tired now.” But all the stuff in between, it was just the songs that were coming out of me at that time. And so of course, when you're putting a tracklist together, you kind of can see a little bit of a natural arc.

Because if you put them out in the order you wrote them, it makes a lot of sense. But yeah, I think I mean, it happened very naturally. But I never bear it in mind, I very much let myself write whatever I need to write. And sometimes decisions will be made, because like, that song sounds really nice flowing into the next one. So there's so much stuff that needs to be considered unless you're doing an active concept album. You're gonna have to like, take some hits, you know?

Do you think that your personal growth has been reflected in your music, comparing it to previous EPs?

Yeah, I feel like in life, I feel braver than I used to be. I feel like I set myself free a little bit. I used to be really scared to be messy. I wanted to have my shit together all the time. But I just learned that letting loose means that you grow up more roundedly. And that's not a word, but I made it one. And my music did the same thing. I think I was like, “I love all the music I've put out and am really proud of it.” And it was definitely honest, and exactly what I was going through and what I was listening to as reflected in that. But I never felt as brave as I did by making an album that's so different to what I've put out before. But I think they're both, you know, linked, the growth in both my life and music as they should be.

I know that Fleabag and Everything I Know About Love were both cited as influences of the songwriting, which are both incredible. I love that book and Fleabag is an amazing show. Can you tell me more about the theme or thought behind the heartbroken heroine protagonist of the album?

When asked about my music, I've always said that the stuff that I find most brilliant and exciting to listen to storytelling-wise mean things. So like, for example, Amy Winehouse, the queen of that, she would write songs about cheating on people. She wouldn't write just the 'fuck you' songs or the 'I love you' songs or the 'I feel sad' songs, she wrote like, 'I love you but I need to have sex with someone else but like are we cool?' You know what I mean? She wrote, like, the human songs, right?

And I didn't intend on them being heartbroken protagonist songs, these ones, but what I find most interesting is the feeling of 'I have so much anger and frustration and sadness. It's not actually directed towards you, the person who I went through this with, but it's just existing in the world and then in the world of my heart and everything.' I just find that more interesting than like a 'blame song' or 'poor me' song, you know? Love songs have been done a million times but with the type of love songs that have been done, less are the ones that are about the in-between kind of inexplicable feelings where there's no solution.


While each song on the album gets closer and closer to unraveling all the ins and outs of a breakup, I'm curious to know if this project was a personal form of closure or catharsis.

It was definitely cathartic. It's interesting, a few of these songs are about my last relationship. But there are a lot of songs that I wrote in a creative period where I was teaching myself how to write in a pop structure. And because I was churning out a lot of songs, because I was learning this new thing, I was practicing loads. I've obviously run out of personal stuff to write about.

And so, it's the first time I've ever written stuff that isn't about me. It's my take on something. It's how I'm sure I'd react if I were in that situation. But it's strange because it was cathartic. But it was cathartic for something I hadn't been through, like, obviously, for the obvious reasons, the ones that are about my old relationships and stuff... they're always cathartic, that's my therapy, but the other ones it was more just like, "Wow, I've just unlocked this thing in me that I didn't know I had." This sass. Like, it's the first time I've been really sassy. You know, for lack of a better word, but like, you know, I've had a bit more of an edge in my attitude than in the other stuff. So it was cathartic, but just for weird reasons, you know?

Talking about the production, especially on tracks like "I Take it Back" and "Therapist," you experiment with more of an upbeat, pop-rockish sound. Did you find yourself more open to change and experimentation with this record?

Bar a few songs, I always write by myself. I'm not very good at writing with other people. So the freedom and the songwriting came naturally. And it came because I did a session. When I was in LA, I had missed my flight home. My friend was in the studio, who writes songs for pitch, and he's a producer, a writer, he's great. He was like, "Come on, let's have fun. Let's have a few drinks and write a silly pop song together." And that was the first time I've successfully written with someone in that pressure cooker environment, with the intention of having a solid finish by the end of the session. So in that way, it opened me up—he opened me up, my friend—like to writing in a new way, but the production stuff is really where I think it differs. And that was just working with someone new. I was working with Conor Albert, and we both wanted to try something new, because it's not very him either. I think we both were like, “You know, we're both young musicians who live in London, we've got something to prove.” And that felt really exciting. Being in the studio with someone who's like, "Yeah, I want to try something new as well. Let's just go into, like, the arena of the unsure together." Yeah. So I was just free because, yeah, so was he.

Was there anything that you learned about yourself during the creation of the album, or maybe things that happened that you didn't anticipate going into it?

This is a complex one because I've always loved being an artist, but I felt shy about it. Like, I've always felt a version of imposter syndrome. When I get into the studio and show someone my music I just assume they're not going to like it. And they're not going to know what to do with it as a producer and stuff. I think it [the album] was the first time I felt like I deserved to be in the studio. It was the first time I brought songs that I wasn't scared to show who I was. It was a really big deal for me, because I felt like I'd stepped into my artistry for the first time, which is so nice that it coincides with it being my first album. And maybe you know, chicken or the egg, who knows which part of that came first whether actually or subconsciously, I was proud to share those songs. So I was like, we're about to make my first album. But that was the biggest kind of revelation, I think it was like, “I'm not scared. And actually, I'm so hooked. This is the most fun thing.” It's the best part, the first time you come back after your first session, and you hear what the song is gonna sound like, that is the most exciting thing because it's just been like a guitar solo in your bedroom for a year or whatever.


Drunk on a Flight feels like an album where, even if you're not going through heartbreak, you can still find pieces of each song to relate to. And I'm wondering if there's anything you hope people take away from the album?

It's always hard, this one, because in one breath, I want to tell all the little callbacks and stuff in the songs, but on the other hand, you want everyone to have their own experience and take what they naturally take from it. But I think really it's all about giving in to like whatever needs to happen and surrendering and being okay that it's messy. I mean, it's just like the journal of life for a 22-year-old. You know, it's like thinking that you're meant to be an adult by that point.

You've grown up because when you were 14, you looked at a 22-year-old and you're like, “Oh my God, you're a grown-up, right?” And it's about getting there and being like, “Oh, no, I'm so far away from having it together.” But realizing that that's fine. And that's why none of the songs are really pointed and mean or anything. They're all just like, “Oh my god, I got all this mess of crap in my head and my heart. I can't make sense of it. And I thought I'd be able to by now.” But actually, the trick of it all, is that you just never know. You'll never know. You'll never have your shit together. And that's fine.

Yeah, exactly! Definitely a good thing to make peace with, and something that I have also been doing myself in the last few years.

Yeah, I mean, like, if you could have your shit together, then like 60-year-olds who go through heartbreak wouldn't go through heartbreaks. You know what I mean? We're never gonna know how to go through these things, you just gotta get through them.

I agree.

And if that means you dye your hair pink, and you get really drunk and you run amuck. That's you getting through it. You get through it, but no shame.

Are there any tracks off the album that you're most excited to perform live? 

I'm excited to do “Vanilla Tobacco,” because I feel like it’s the older sister of “Subside” and “Subside” in my set has always been my consistent favorite, because it's just free and shaky and slow and laid-back and I can really sing. So I'm really excited about “Vanilla Tobacco.” I'm pretty pumped about doing “I Take It Back” but that will also be the one that scares me the most to do live because it's going to require me, like, taking on a different role. You know, “I Take it Back” is so hectic and so far away. It's the furthest away from anything I've made, that I'm going to not know how to, I would have to embody our role of Avril Lavigne and like, I've been Norah Jones up until this point, you know?

I'm sure it'll be okay. Maybe wear a tie and some pink hair streaks and you'll be right there.

I think I’m going to have to, yeah.

And the last question, who are your Ones to Watch?

Oh, my God, that's a fucking great question. I've been really, really into dance music. I mean, I've always been into dance music. There's a young guy called Hagop, who's like a really cool garage DJ and producer and he's amazing. I'd also say my best friend Belot. And her name is Bella. And she just makes really cool, like, funky pop that is very, like, on the thing of like old Calvin Harris, like acceptable in the '80s. Calvin Harris.

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