Your mid-twenties are for self-discovery, love, hard lessons, and, inevitably, a little mess. On her fourth EP, ATMOSPHERE, Natalie Shay captures it all. The record acts as a “sonic diary,” with the North London artist writing and singing with disarming honesty as she reflects on the past two years, marking the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another.
On the latest episode of the Juice Box Sessions, we sat down with Shay to chat about the making of the EP, including her collaboration with close friend Kaity Rae (Remember Monday, The Shires) and the most important thing she learned about herself along the way.
Excerpt from the podcast (This interview has been edited for clarity)
What was the inspiration behind the single “atmosphere,” and what was the process of writing it like?
I think that’s actually the oldest song on the EP, even though it came out last. I wrote that one first in that period of time. I wrote a lot of love songs. I was sort of falling in love, I guess. And I think in that period, I was like, “I don’t know what this is or where it’s going, but all I know is I feel this thing.”
I think I said it out loud, “I don’t know if it’s just an atmosphere.” And my friend was like, “atmosphere.” So I wrote it with my friend, Kaity Rae. We’ve been writing together for years, but we were friends when we were kids as well. We’ve had a special sort of relationship where we both are in music now.
You just performed your biggest headline show at Oslo, London. What was that like?
I knew it would be my first show since I’ve had these songs and I wanted to make a point of really talking about them before I played them, as well. I sort of gave these songs a moment and spoke about them a bit and sort of confessed some stuff and then we played them.
From a vulnerability perspective, when you’re way more honest on stage, what is it like to see people singing words back to you that are so personal?
It’s like I’ve written a journal entry and everyone knows the words. It’s a weird feeling. I assumed people would connect because, I know myself, I know all my best friends, and they’re all very similar to me with the issues and things that we have and stuff we’ve been through. So I’m like, well, if that’s just me and my friends, there must be loads of that are going through similar things, who feel similar ways and have similar experiences. I just want to find those people. I’m glad they relate.
Featured Photo Credit: Liam Maxwell
Amelia Cordischi, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Juice Box Press, is an accomplished digital marketing professional with over a decade of experience in media and communications. Her work has been featured in notable publications, including The Boston Globe. A communications graduate of Simmons University in Boston, Amelia served as manager of Simmons College Radio (“The Shark”), where she also launched and co-hosted her radio show, The Find.
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