(LOS ANGELES, CA) -- In an era starved for young Pop artists with something significant to share, the New Jersey born singer/songwriter Em (Emily Wachspress) delivers with her music and her message in her latest album, “DEAR LIFE,” a ginger breeze of mood, truth, and soulful Pop. “This album represents a big chapter in my life of growth and empowerment,” says Em.
Following the crossover Pop and Urban successes of her thoughtful “Say What You Mean” single is a transfixing second offering entitled “Hear Your Love” concerning two lovers – eternally united no matter whether they may be physically apart or even separated by lifetimes. As with all of Em's songs, it is accompanied by an epic video.
“My family is from Russia so I'm taking it back to the mid to late 1800s where my mother country began to boom in the arts – our ‘romantic' era.'
The lead single of “DEAR LIFE” was the dynamic “Say What You Mean” which was promoted with a sensually and supernaturally mesmerizing video helmed by Parris Mayhew. Em is dressed in a provocative gown, her raven hair streaked in white, deep red lipstick setting off bewitching green eyes and mystical elements such as ghostly clones, tarot cards and raindrops that turn to tears.
“‘Say What You Mean' is about wanting someone to love me with every fiber of their being…to be as sure of our love as I am,” she adds.
The title track “DEAR LIFE” speaks to the universality of trusting in a higher power. “It was inspired by a near-death experience,” Em confesses.
Em collaborated on the entire “DEAR LIFE” project – a meditation on coming of age – with music producer Chris Young. Em's previous EP, “PATHWAY TO AETHERIA,” was also produced by Chris Young, only at that time she was pursuing a musical direction she describes as “indie-world.” Her capriciousness in the past was the twin result of her being so openly influenced by artists of varying genres and the old familiar scenario of her producers steering her toward styles that were already working for other young female singers.
Em absorbed the work of artists ranging from progressive females such as Carly Simon, Stevie Nicks, Alanis Morissette and P!nk to introspective male writers Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, Michael Jackson, and Drake.
“Em is and old soul when it comes to her artistry, composing and performing. I have written with Academy Award nominees and platinum composers, yet Em's talent and professionalism is right there among the best. She is a future force to be reckoned with,” says Michael B. Sutton, Former Motown Staff Writer | Producer – Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Cheryl Lynn and more.
“DEAR LIFE is an album-oriented project,” Em concludes. “My mission is to help people heal and feel connected – closer to God and their truth.” The album debuts October 22, 2021 on The Sound of LA.
Everywhere she goes, singer/songwriter Em carries a ring on her finger emblazoned with one word: Truth. This ring is a resounding symbol of her arrival into knowledge of self as a young woman who has been a recording and performing artist since the age of 12. Now in her `20s following stepping stone periods with several high-profile producers and engineers, New Jersey-born Em (short for Emily) is chiseling out musical and visual performance art that speaks one hundred percent from her heart and spirit.
At age 4, little Emily was taken by her grandparents to experience a dazzling concert by Britney Spears. Eight years later at age 12, she found herself at Westlake Recording studio in Los Angeles with producer Andy Ditaranto (of Disney fame) singing on the exact microphone in Studio C that Britney had recorded hits on. Though her father, a very conservative physician (now deceased), pushed her to pursue a traditional college education, her mother – once a jewelry designer who gave up her art for marriage - instilled in Em not to follow in her footsteps in that way but to go for her dreams with all the passion she had inside her. Em and Ditaranto worked together for six years until his passing in 2014 which left Em stranded, unfinished and unsure of herself.
Over the next several years, Em worked on scores of songs with producers and engineers including Tony Papa (Willie Nelson, James Brown, “Weird Al” Yankovic). Then a connection with Chris Young resulted in several songs leading to a breakthrough composition entitled “Grace.” This inspired a sojourn and sabbatical to Woodstock in upstate New York where Em’s songs began to take on a more mature sound and sense of purpose, recalling the voices of strong women from before Em’s time in the `50s, `60s and `70s. “Woodstock proved to be a very magical place,” Em marvels. “We’d ask for something and the next day…it would manifest. I’ve been writing since I was 16 but I never had an experience like that - a time that was my college.” Em also made key performances at World Café Live’s “Love Fest” in “Philly Rising” series (2017-18) and was elected twice to perform at Durango Songwriter’s Expo.
“Anytime I am writing and anytime I am in the booth recording, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that this is the destiny of what I was put here on Earth to do,” Em concludes. “My mission is to help people heal and feel connected - closer to God and their truth.”
