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Darker, more emotionally agile, and full of subtext that leaves you wondering alongside her, Emei is proving to be an artist with more sharp edges than she had let on. Reflective of life, adulting & grieving, her new sound has us on edge, in the best way, feeling out a vibe that perks our interest and our appetite for this darker sound. To help us peel back the veneer of her new sound, we had this pop polymath join us in studio for a chat on life, her upcoming project, Night At the Opera, as well as the other dark arts she has in her bag:

OnesToWatch: Who are you? 


Emei: I'm Emei. I'm from New Jersey. I'm a Chinese American immigrant, first gen child. I'm a theater kid. I make pop music. 

I sense the theater kid. 

It's palpable. You can taste it. 

Why do you do what you do? Why are theater kids theater kids? 


I don't think I had a choice. I feel like I never had a choice. There's a photo of me as a three-year old with one of those pink fake mics in my hand. I always loved to perform, ever since I was tiny. I just followed that. It’s very lucky that I’m able to. 

If, for some reason, your immense artistic talents were taken from you, what would you be doing? 

Oh, man. Okay, so I did get a cognitive science degree from Yale. 


Woo! 

So I would probably do something with that. It's a pretty good plan B. 

Does that mean work for the CIA? 

I don't really know. Honestly, half my friends are consultants, which is unfortunately not really something I want to do. That would be my other life. When I was a kid, people would tell me I’d make a good lawyer, but then I realized that's actually just a way to tell children that they're being assholes. I got that a lot. So, who knows? 


Fun fact, one of our best photographers, Deanie Chen, who you may know, went to law school. And now she’s a very successful photographer. So, don't listen to your parents. 

My mom has an irrigation company and I find that fascinating. She makes connecting products and both my siblings work for her now. That would probably be my real plan B. 

So many questions about the family enterprise, but let’s get back to music. It’s interesting, theater kids flourish with a dramatic flair, but you've done a great job of being a little mysterious, nuanced. 

I appreciate that. 


How did you teach yourself that talent, one that I think a lot of people struggle with? 

I've always followed my instincts and not questioned it too much. If I look at something and it cringes me out, I'm not going to do it. If I'm doing something and it feels great and it feels cool and it's pushing some boundaries, I'm going to do it. It’s just about connecting to that, whatever that is.

That's probably hard to do, though. 

It is really hard to do. I do affirmations, all sorts of things. 

Let's dive into your songwriting process. Has it changed since you first started? If so, what’s different? 

I've gone through eras of how I've written. When I first started writing, it was just me, acoustic guitar, very singer-songwriter, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson inspired stuff. Then I started doing the speed rounds of session dating in LA and meeting new producers, new writers, and making a song every day really fast. That was great.
I made a lot of fun projects out of that, but then recently, I’ve started a new era that’s very meticulous. I’ve been doing a lot of editing – writing one chorus for eight hours, editing one verse for four days. That's where I'm at right now, which is very different, but I love it. 

So you're getting clinical, scientific, breaking it down? 


I'm digging more. 

Archaeology... What are you looking for? What does this eureka moment feel like when you find it? 

I'm looking to not settle. I'm looking to beat myself, I think. 

This is very Ivy league. Exceptionalism. 

I know, it’s hard. I’m used to just pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. 

How does it feel when you find it? 

Oh, my God. I always go too far, start losing faith, and then finally it happens. It's always that. I’ll feel like it’s not even worth it, and then all of a sudden we get there and I remember why we were doing this. 

I love how even your songwriting has a theatrical arc to it. 


Definitely. 

Where do you think you are visually and aesthetically, in terms of this era? Because I feel like there's a maturation there. 


Thank you. This project has meant a lot more to me, and it feels dark in a way. I'm okay with that. I had a really hard year last year when I was writing the project. So, the writing came from a darker part of my soul. Therefore, when we were making the visuals, there's tints of that in there, even though it's theatrical, even though I'm in a tutu, it's still rooted in that feeling. 

Why did this project mean more to you? 

It's more revealing of me and it was harder to write. Not only in the editing sense, but there were parts of it where I started a song from bursting into tears. Whereas my previous stuff, although I love it, and some of it was hard to write, a lot of the time I went into my sessions with smaller feelings. Last year. I was grieving my grandma, that’s a very intense feeling. So, it was just different. 

Love that you took something painful and made it so purposeful. Do you have any personal ambitions for this work, for this era? 

I mean, yeah, always. I'm always just trying to beat myself. That's the biggest thing. 

What do you have to do to beat yourself? 

This is a really good question. Unfortunately, I don't even know. Just yesterday, I had a bunch of my Yale classmates at my house and cooked with them. It was very lovely. It was a little reunion. They were talking to me about music and how I think about it and what success means to me. They asked if it's about artistry and taste and being cool and mysterious or if it's about the live element. For me, I don't care how cool it is. I care that as many people as possible feel like one of my songs is their song. I just want that. I want to reach more people in a way that's impactful. I want my music to mean something deeply to someone. 

That's a great ambition. If you were to be at your most serene, zen state, where are you? What are you doing? 

Nature is big for me. 

Tall forest nature, empty desert nature? 


Tall forest nature. Hopefully by a lake, that'd be cool. My phone is 20 miles away from me, but at least in a place where I could potentially get to it. Nobody can find me. But I could find myself. I think that would be zen. I’d want my friends there too. I’m not a loner, when I'm alone that stresses me out. 

Which song do you listen to and go, damn, I wish I wrote that? 

“Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves. 

That’s a good one. 

I've been really into that one. 

What do you cook when friends are over? 

I've been making my grandma's Chinese food. When I was 17, I was smart, I wrote down all her recipes. I'm so glad I did that because it would be gone. They're horrible recipes, though. They're like, a dash of this, a bowl of that, a cup of this, but not measuring cups. So I've been remaking those and I've been loving cooking for my friends. It's been really lovely. Sauteed egg and tomato is my go to. It's very fast, very easy. I had a vegetarian with me last night, and so that was perfect for him. I also make adobo chicken, which is really easy. 


Is that your grandma's recipe? 

No. She only makes pork, but I am kind of a gym bro, so I'm into macros, so I have to add some chicken. 


You're gym bro-ing, too? 

I am a gym bro, so double chicken. I love bok choy, too, sautéed cabbage. 

How do you do bok choy? I always cook it wrong.

I got to tell you. It's so easy. Chop, chop, chop into one inch little squares, cook the white part first. Heat the oil, throw the white part in, salt, add the lettuce part in, sauté, done. 

I’m going to try this. What’s your workout routine? 

Leg day. Leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls. Anything that includes racking big weights, I'm not doing that, I'm going to go to the machines, it’s easier, faster. 

But arguably cheating on core strength.

In a way, yes. I'm also a big walker. I'm a big morning walk person. It's so good for you. It's good for your organs. It's good for your blood flow. It's good for your lungs. Good for vitamin D, get a little bit of sun and fresh air. It's not too exerting so it doesn't force you to eat more. 

Who knew? Design me your dream festival lineup. 

I have to be on it because this will be fun. Chappell Roan. Twenty One Pilots. Olivia Rodrigo, Katseye. Kacey Musgraves. Djo. Role Model. Tiffany Day. Devon Again. Zara Larsson. I love that viral video where she went hiking with all the kids. 

I haven’t seen this. 

I believe it's in Portland, Oregon. They have these bike trains to school. So there's an adult who goes along a route and all the kids follow behind on bikes and the parents can sometimes go with them.

That sounds awesome. Last couple questions. I would love a recommendation that's not music. 

I recently watched Train Dreams. It's a slow movie, very slow. It's one of those movies where you're like, where is this going? It's so sad. Why is it taking so long? What's going to happen? It's so boring. 
And then as it continues, it all comes together. It's one of those. It broke my brain. I sobbed uncontrollably. Really good movie. 

What is the best theater show to go to? 

I've always said Wicked, but then the movie came out, and now it feels like a basic response. But Wicked imprinted on me when I was seven, so that was a big deal. I saw Fiddler on the Roof in London. It was incredible. Whenever I go to London, I see a show. The British shows just hit extra hard there, obviously. I grew up watching Broadway, since I grew up in New Jersey. 

That’s awesome. Now that we’ve gotten some non-music recs, who are your OnesToWatch? Who are you listening to that we should be listening to? 

I would definitely say Tiffany Day. I'm such a fan right now. Specifically, “Everything I've Ever Wanted” is incredible. Djo live at the Greek was the best show I've been to in a minute. And I have very, very high expectations with shows. He blew my mind. He was just having the time of his life. That's the biggest thing with shows.
If you see that the artist is loving the music and they're having a lot of fun with their band, it's just so fun to watch. Music is powerful like that.
I love it. 

Me too. Thank you so much for chatting!

Thank you.