Emmy Meli on Divine Feminine Energy and Reclaiming Her Art

Emmy Meli

When Emmy Meli’s ‘I Am Woman’ surged across global charts, earning Platinum certification in the US, Silver in the UK and surpassing 300 million streams, it marked a defining cultural moment as much as a career breakthrough. The track’s placement as the theme for Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast only solidified her as a voice of empowerment for a new generation. Yet for Meli, that success was never the destination, it was the starting point.

Now, she returns with ‘Other Things’, the latest single from her new EP All About Love, released TODAY! We caught up with Emmy to discuss the release, her new project and of course, her FAULTs. 

FAULT Magazine: What did writing All About Love while you were single for the first real time in your adult life unlock creatively?

Emmy Meli: It unlocked new perspectives and vast, deep creative wells within me. Channeling all the energy I would normally put into someone else into my art was life-changing. I think the phrase “you don’t want a relationship, you’re just trying to abandon your art” holds a lot of truth for me.

FAULT Magazine: When you were reading bell hooks and thinking about womanhood and feminism, how did those ideas begin to shape the lyrics and emotional direction of this EP?

Emmy Meli: Those ideas were actively causing me to reflect on why I felt, acted, experienced and made the decisions I made in love as a whole , not just romantically, but within myself, in friendships and in family dynamics. As I unpacked and admitted my transgressions to myself, I wrote them. The lyrics became a real-time process of facing my shadows in order to become spiritually whole.

FAULT Magazine: What inspired the stripped-back acoustic version of Other Things?

Emmy Meli: My fans often ask for more acoustic music because they say that’s when my voice really resonates with them. I find that when it’s just me and one instrument, I’m truly able to convey emotion. It’s one of my favourite parts of what I do, so it was partly that and partly wanting to give my fans what they’ve been asking for.

FAULT Magazine: What was the writing process like for this EP compared to Hello Stranger?

Emmy Meli: Since I was the only lyricist and songwriter on this project, it’s much more vulnerable and less polished , more gritty and truthful, free of inhibition. It was a process of liberation and reclamation, and I think that’s reflected heavily in the lyrics.

FAULT Magazine: The EP is described as embracing the “divine feminine”. What does that concept mean to you?

Emmy Meli: To me, the divine feminine is a warrior. She is messy, dirty, bloody, primal and full of rage. She is a leader , the leader within you and the leader within me. I have never viewed the divine feminine as something soft or complacent.

FAULT Magazine: After the global success of “I Am Woman”, did you feel any pressure to try and top that milestone?

Emmy Meli: Oh gosh, my whole life became about how to follow up that song and try to beat it. Every industry professional around me wanted me to keep rewriting it in different forms. It became so huge that it overshadowed me as an artist. In the years that followed, I had to learn not to walk in that shadow. My art had become more about beating my own success rather than listening to myself and growing. I no longer want to beat that song , I want to explain the artist behind it.

FAULT Magazine: What do you want listeners to walk away from this record feeling?

Emmy Meli: I want them to feel inspired. I want them to go and make art, read that book they’ve been putting off, face that shadow, leave that man, cut that toxic person off. I hope it leaves them feeling like they know themselves more.

FAULT Magazine: What was the greatest creative challenge of this project?

Emmy Meli: The greatest challenge was also its greatest strength , it was just me and my producer. Just the two of us listening to what the music was trying to tell us. I’ve written songs by myself before, but I had never written a fully fleshed-out project that tells a story. For years, I was told I needed a room full of people to make good art. I don’t believe that’s true. I wrote “I Am Woman” by myself on a napkin, and I was determined to find that trust in myself again. It was difficult, but ultimately so liberating.

FAULT Magazine: What is your FAULT?

Emmy Meli: My biggest fault is that I overthink absolutely everything. I even overthink my overthinking. It leads to a lot of anxiety. I think I may have been addicted to my own anxiety, and I’m trying to unlearn that. I feel like I’m entering a space where I trust and respect myself too much to identify with my false thoughts.

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