ERICA MANZOLI * 2000
( One For The Future? You Choose… ) - Thursday 22nd February 2024
Words by Isaac Solanki. Photography by James Garrow. Thanks to James Merritt.
Introduce yourself and describe your sound…
“My name is Erica Manzoli and my sound can be described as a kind of sad or moody form of bedroom pop. Although it’s not too obvious, I’m actually also starting to naturally infuse a bit of a 60s influence into my work, especially with the project I'm working on at the minute. I’m really looking forward to experimenting more this year, while trying to create my own little world by aligning my music, visuals and brand as an artist together as one whole image. I really want the link to be obvious so that you get what I’m about as soon as you hear or see me somewhere.
I think it’s one thing to be making music as an artist these days, then it’s a whole other type of full time job to be constantly presenting yourself as a brand, promoting your image and maintaining your ethos. Sometimes, when I’m in my pyjamas finding it a little tiring, I have to remind myself that I want to focus on maintaining that image; I don’t mean putting it on everyday but purely just making sure that I’m staying as true to both myself and what I believe in as I possibly can. At times it’s hard but eventually it’ll pay off in the long run… hopefully.”
What do you think makes you different to the other young up and coming artists of today?
“Mainly, I think the fact that it hasn’t come instantly for me is a big one, it’s something that in the long run I hope will work out better for me. I’ve literally put so much into this journey already and I’m actually really proud of myself for doing a lot of the stuff I’ve done to now. I feel like when I get a little bit more support my end, I could go on to do anything - if i’m doing all of this currently with minimal support, I really can’t wait to see what I’ll be able to achieve with a whole professional team around me one day. There’s so many artist making a living from music but I genuinely feel like there’s room for everyone - it’s hard seeing other artists take off around you when yours hasn’t yet but I try my best to steer away from that mentality; I think its something that we should definitely all try and improve on.”
What’s your story? How did it all start and what challenges have you faced along the way so far?
“So, I actually went to Brit School, which is where I met the person who produced my first EP. I studied music production and I felt really lucky to be the only singer in a room full of talented young producers. Initially, I worked with loads of cool producers, I was doing sessions left, right and centre while I was still at school and I actually ended up completely losing my sense of self, I kind of had no idea who I was at one point and I’ve got 100s of songs that I’ll never release because when I look at them now, they feel so unauthentic and untrue to myself.”
When lockdown came around, I started writing music on my own and that’s when I realised that it just felt so much more honest. My first EP included entirely just songs that I’d recorded in my bedroom; I was quite depressed, it’s just how I was feeling at the time and I just felt like there was no better way to introduce yourself to the world than by putting out something so truly unfiltered. Personally, it just felt so honest and I think I really needed to strip back to just me; now with that knowledge, I feel like I’m really to start working with people again, which is great. No ones going to say that lockdown was an amazing thing but for me musically, I just think it was really beneficial for my writing - I’m now nowhere near as sad as I used to be, so it’s all improving.”
Moving forwards, what are some of your short-term and long-term career goals for the future?
“I would love to get some festivals done this year but it’s quite competitive, especially for developing artists but I would really like to do some proper summer performances this year - I do have quite a bit of stage freight so it’s a bit of a weird mix for me but I think it’s really important. Long term, I’d love to live entirely off the music; at the moment, I’ve got multiple things funding what I do but to have the music pay for itself one day would just be amazing. Looking back at the past few months alone, I could say that it’s already getting there; one of my last singles actually recouped what I put into it, so it’s now just about carrying that over to the next one and continuously building upwards and pushing forwards each time.”
Talk to me about some of the unsung heroes of your music career to date. Is there anyone that you perhaps wouldn’t be here today without?
“My family, my parents, my sister, my boyfriend and my whole support system have been really really positive - I don’t think I would be where I am now without them. Sometimes I kind of feel guilty because they’re constantly cheering me on - I don’t really know how to say it but obviously I’m doing this music journey for myself but when they’ve been so supportive to me this whole time, I do kind of put this extra pressure on myself to make it happen for them if that makes sense? Not that I really need to but I sometimes feel like I don’t deserve it all, it’s so hard for your ego at times to not have things happen or work out straight away, especially with people around you constantly telling you that they believe in you. I genuinely don’t understand how some people manage without a support system around them at times.”
“The Stages of Grief” by Erica Manzoli
“It’s actually a song that I wrote after my first ever heartbreak; I’d just come out of a relationship and I don’t think I properly understood what heartbreak was until then. I’d read about it in books and seen it in films but I’d never truly felt it until it hurt; I was actually physically ill as a result of it, I found myself in so much grief - grief being love with nowhere to go. Physically, I lost 10kg and mentally, I really wasn’t well. Looking back, I was probably quite naive, I’d just come out of lockdown, found myself in this relationship and I hadn’t really experienced love yet so when it just left me, I really struggled a horrible feeling that I’d never dealt with before - I wrote this song as the grieving process behind the relationship ending.
In terms of the relationship, it was actually very toxic, manipulative and it had quite a hold on my mental health - there’s actually three other singers that have written songs about this specific individual. I remember hearing a debut single from an artist who’s doing really well now and I just remember recognising that all of the lyrics were about him - I messaged her on Instagram and we had an hour long phone call, taking about it and we both recognised so many similar patterns.
I kind of felt like a little deer, I was ready for slaughter while feeling so unprepared for the games that would come with it. I called it the track The Stages of Grief because it’s a song that talks about and represents the different stages of myself dealing with what I went through but I suppose it can actually be taken several ways in terms of loss - not only for people that have lost close ones physically but also for those who’ve lost relationships and as a result lost parts of themselves along the way. ”
Favourite lyric from the track…
“I’m not alone, it’s just bad company, because I found a friend in the stages of grief.” When I was in a bad place, I actually often felt more comfortable being sad because I felt like it was a lot more risky getting back up incase I got knocked back down again. Myself finding a friend in the stages of grief was kind of more about me finding solace in myself as an individual.”
