The Emo genre (particularly the modern definition that covers a wide array of music styles and cultures) is known for its emotional lyrics and dark themes however Sarah Saint James brings a new perspective to the scene, with veracious honesty and unique influence. Sarah’s debut EP, “Home Is Where The Hell Is”, highlights all of the above.

We caught up with Sarah to discuss the inspiration behind her debut EP, her experiences growing up and future plans.

Your debut EP, “Home Is Where The Hell Is”,  was released last Friday. One thing I liked about this EP was how you utilized a tasteful 00ies Emo influence within your music while still maintaining a unique modern indie-pop sound. So, what are some of your biggest influences behind the style and sound of this EP?  

Sarah: Growing up I would either listen to primarily Emo/Pop-Punk or on the other of the spectrum, mainstream Pop. Some of my favourite artists growing up were My Chemical Romance and Lady Gaga. When I was writing this record I really wanted to bring “that touch” to it without going overbroad. Some artists I feel do that really well are Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish. I’m also influenced by fairly theatrical Emo artists like Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy.

One of your recent singles, “Heather”  has a fairly prevalent Pop Punk/Emo influence. I also saw that the track was co-written by Alex Lahey, who’s becoming quite the powerhouse songwriting in the Australian music scene. What was the experience like, working with Alex? 

Sarah: It was really funny because I came into the studio with a concept as I’d just watched the movie, “Heathers” and wanted to write a song about my high school experiance through that version and then Alex said, OMG I only watched that movie about two days ago. It just happen to be that we’d both watched that movie for the first time that week. Then we got some coffees and choc chip biscuits and wrote the song in the space of about 2-3 hours and it just felt very easy, especially as we both grew up listening to the same music.

All of your music seems to come from quite a personal, honest and vulnerable place. While this results in the creation of powerful, impactful music, is there a level of nervousness involved in sharing this work with the world?  

Sarah: it’s probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, especially with this EP.  As Adelaide is almost like a small town, everyone knows everyone. Even when I released, “Heather”, everyone who I went to school with knows who that is about so I received a lot of messages from people asking if this song was about, XYZ *laughs.

There is a song on the EP which is specifically about my Dad remarrying and not having a place in the family for me. It’s very much my teenage self on a platter, to be; seen, judged and consumed. I could not have gotten more honest on it if I’d tried.

Do you feel creating an EP based around your experiences growing up (a lot of which were not positive) has changed your perspective on situations in any way or has it served as a way to summarise those feelings? 

Sarah: After I finished writing the EP I went back to my old school in Adelaide and spoke to the year twelves about music. While I was there I visited all the places where everything happened and I felt nothing. I think each song being about specific events helped me to process everything and now I’m completely over it. Writing these songs was kind of like therapy and in retrospect, none of it really bothers me, which is great!

You moved from your home town of Adelaide to Sydney in 2019. From the perspective of your musical journey/career and personally, what was the biggest contrast that came from moving to a different city? 

 Sarah: I was really struggling to find like-minded people who understood the level of artist I wanted to be in Adelaide. If you talk about playing music in Adelaide, everyone just assumes you’re a wedding performer or something like that, whereas in Sydney everyone I met wanted to be a pop star. It made me feel very motivated and once I got a name for myself as a writer in Sydney I was able to work with some incredible producers and I would not have had that type of opportunity in Adelaide.

On a personal note, moving to Sydney was a chance for a fresh start. Moving to a place where no one knew who I was made every friendship so much better as no one had any preconceived ideas of who I was. Everyone was just super like-minded and supportive and it was completely different.

After two tough years for the industry live music is following making “somewhat” of a constant return in 2022. Reflecting on live music both in the past and more recently, can you think of a particular concert you went to pre-2020 that inspired you and have you had the opportunity to go to any shows recently that have been impactful to you?  

Sarah: I haven’t had the chance to go to any concerts recently but the last band I saw live “pre-COVID” was Parkway Drive at Good Things Festival (last held in December 2019) which is so different to anything I do musically. I’ve seen all my favourite bands live but Parkway was on a whole other level. They had flame throwers going everywhere and it was insane. I thought it was incredible and as a band, they really inspired me.

TikTok has obviously become a massive part of promoting music and engaging with the online music community in recent times. One of your singles, “Mad at God” has done well on this platform. Upon release did it ever strike you as a song that could do well in this area or has the success come as a surprise. 

Sarah: It was totally surprising. I wasn’t planning on releasing it as I thought it would be too controversial. I posted a snippet of the chorus on TikTok and after a day it had twenty thousand views. I thought that might be it but then it just kept growing. It really blew me away, especially watching videos that people made to the sound and hearing their stories. Some of them were similar to my own and some were worse, which is really horrible but it has been nice to see that community come together. A lot of people who were initial fans of my music are now friends because of shared trauma, which is good because now we are a sort of a community. I couldn’t be more grateful for the platform, its changed my life.

What are your hopes, goals and dreams for 2022?  

Sarah: Well I’m going to America so that’s exciting.

I want to write another record. I’ve been writing for the past twelve months but COVID has delayed the processes with closures and lockdowns. Because of the massive transformation in my life, I think it’s going to result in a whole album of songs. Hopefully, I’ll get to write with some incredible people over in the states and hopefully, the EP does well, I just want people to like it.

Home Is Where The Hell Is, is out now!