Parachute’s ‘Famous Five’ Feature:
Emily Muli
Ambient Light continues Parachute’s ‘Famous Five’ series by this week getting to know Emily Muli. She is one of five young people participating in Parachute’s year-long artist development programme.
Emily Muli is no stranger to the spotlight. As a World Vision ambassador, the 24-year-old has been a key speaker at the National Young Leaders Forum. She’s also just finished five years of university, studying pop music and commerce degrees, and has shared the stage with Kiwi queen of soul Aaradhna, as a backing vocalist. She’s also a bit of an internet sensation, with her YouTube channel boasting an impressive 40,000 subscribers and four million views. Emily is now busily perfecting her craft as a solo artist and will this year start to reveal some seriously cool tunes steeped in R’n’B, soul, jazz and gospel.
Who is the best new artist you’ve discovered in the last 6 months?
Sabrina Claudio.
If you could write the ultimate song, what would it be?
My ultimate song would be drenched in neo soul, RnB, slam poetry and Pacific roots (crazy concoction of creativity). If I can find the balance between all the music and sounds I love, then I think that would be my ultimate song.
What has been your biggest challenge this year in developing yourself as an artist?
A big challenge has been trying to balance everything outside of my music life – all things that I love. I never thought I’d say that there aren’t enough hours in the day! But it does mean that I get to experience a lot of different things, which translates into more writing.
Who is in your musical community?
I’m lucky to be surrounded by amazing creatives and musicians who inspire me to be better. It’s pretty easy to be inspired when those closest to me are musos! Some of these people include David Taafua, Junior Soqeta, Ivan Fuimaono, Isaac Graham, Shana Llorando (Valere), Valeti Ngahe & Tommy Nee just to name a few!
When did you get serious about making music your career?
This year I got serious about investing into my craft and making something out of it. I’ve spent a lot of time playing for different things and writing for others, but this year I decided to take time out to focus on what I wanted to create.
Who is your ultimate Kiwi icon?
I have a lot of respect for Aaradhna. I grew up listening to her music and I remember singing along to Downtime every time it would come up on C4/Juice TV or the radio. So it’s pretty amazing that I get to do backing vocals for her now (and my respect has just grown since I’ve jammed with her!). She is immensely humble and remains true to her creative process, which is inspiring and something I aspire to do always.
Each year Parachute holds auditions to to find emerging Kiwi artists who are serious about making music their career. A handful are selected for the one-year artist development programme, which is tailor-made for each artist. Over the course of the next few weeks, Ambient Light will be featuring five young acts on this year’s development programme.
EMILY MULI’S SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
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