Julia Campbell: Finding Her Sound

You haven’t released your own music in a couple years. Has the process for this EP been different from how you used to make music?

I started releasing when I first moved to LA, and I really had no idea what I was doing. So I feel like a lot has changed. At that point, I was really just making songs and not knowing what was going to happen with them, and then I showed it to enough people that they were like, you should put this out. So I was just putting stuff out on an independent distributor through DistroKid. I wasn't even really doing playlist pitching or anything, just kind of uploading. I had help from my friend, Richard, but I really had no idea what I was doing. I also honestly really lacked confidence, like I was putting stuff out, but it was hard to post about it and promote it and all those things because I didn't fully see the vision and fully let myself connect with the music as an artist. I reached a point where I was actually putting together an EP in 2023. I had so many songs, but I was talking to my friend about it, and he was talking about all the visuals I had to get together in order to do it, and I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for that. I don't know if the songs are quite there. And I don't know if I see what I want it to all look like or if they all really go together. So I was pretty unsure of myself when I first started releasing. So I took two and a half years off from releasing. It was in that meeting that I ended up just being like, okay, so what if we just table the artist stuff for a bit and focus on writing for other people? And because at that point I was kind of doing both, but not really doing either to the fullest extent. So I ended up pivoting and really just putting all my energy into writing for other people and working on meeting people, getting in rooms, and building a network, a community here in LA. My manager at the time, Richard, helped me with that, and we made an extensive Google Sheet where we gathered everyone's information and started just cold emailing. I feel like then at that point, I was getting a lot of reps and just working with other artists, and I think that has made a huge difference when it comes to releasing my own music and finishing my own project. I've learned so much from working with others. And watching all these other artists go through like a crash course on how to put out music. When it comes to releasing, I feel like I have a really wide perspective of the industry, and I'm not sure everyone has that. I feel like I'm in a place now with releasing where I'm able to, like make a plan and approach it in a way that is sustainable and thought out. And in that way, I've also been able to connect with the story of it all a bit more. I think in the world-building aspects, I felt even more inspired to do that since releasing more and since having an audience and having people respond and tell me what songs make them feel what things and that really just adds to my knowledge and data, basically, that I have in order to release well. I feel like I'm giving the songs the life that they deserve. So this EP “Sick of Staying” was pretty much ready, like written probably a year and a half, 2 years ago. And I thought I was gonna have a distribution deal and they were gonna give me money. That went on for 6 months and didn't end up happening. I thought I was going to land a theme song. That didn't end up happening. And then I got dropped by my management team. And so I was like, oh, what now? So anyway, I kind of had to reset, but I think that was really good for me. When starting to release again, I feel like I had taken the time to really consider what it is I want out of this and also to grow a new love for my songs and gain some self-esteem and confidence. So that's been huge.

What song on your EP do you want people to listen to the most, and why?

I feel really grateful that people are listening to Backseat. I worked on that song for a very long time. And for so long, it just existed as a rough demo that like my friend Mike and I were working on, and like no one else heard it for like years. When we first wrote it, I was not releasing music. So he was like, let's do something kind of in the Gracie Abrams world. I feel like there's probably a singer-songwriter out there who would take a pitch like that, you know? So I was like, yeah, cool, like let's do it. And it took so long to finish it, like the first day we wrote the 1st verse, and the chorus, but then we sat on the demo for a year before getting back in and writing the 2nd verse. And then after that, I was like, I think it needs a bridge. So we went back in who knows how long later and wrote a bridge. At one point, the song had vocals from 3 different times across 3 years. And It just kind of was this puzzle that I had to piece together. And then, once “Almost Did” came out, it was funny because at that point, “Backseat” had been mixed and mastered, and I was ready to put it out. But I always was like, I feel like I could add layers to the bridge, but also I'm just anxious to get it out, you know, it's good, it's gonna do fine in this version. But then, when “Almost Did” landed on playlists, I was like, okay, wait, maybe we should go back in on this and bring it more into the “Almost Did” world. So we went back in again, just on production, and redid the intro and added some elements to bring it more into that space. So when it finally came out, and people have been listening to it, it's very, very satisfying playing it on tour. And people saying it's their favorite is so crazy because I'm just like, thank God, like I thought when writing that song that no one was ever going to hear it. I was just doing it because I wanted it to be done, but it's just an extra bonus to have people hearing it. So I would say, I feel grateful for the amount of people that have heard it and obviously, I would love more people to hear it. I also have to give a shout out to “How to Bring Me Down” just because I actually wrote that whole song in a day, and just like never touched it, and then we went in and fixed up the production in one day, and then it was done. And that song has just always felt really aligned with who I am as a person and just the way that the content is supported by the sonics of it. It's like, “how to bring me down”, and then it's floaty, there's a floatiness to it that I feel like puts the listener in the headspace I was in at that time, like, “I live in this dreamland, and I need someone to bring me back down to the ground into reality.” Whether that dreamland is positive, dreaming of something ahead, or anxiety, like just being in my head.

You have written and collaborated with a lot of other artists in the past. Is this something that was important to you in making your own music and this EP, or do you prefer to work alone?

I definitely think it was important, but maybe not in the direct way that you would expect. In some ways, it was important in indirect ways, just feeling like I knew how to do things because I had watched someone do it. Not necessarily because they were in the room helping me. But I will say collaborating with other people has been largely how I met the people who ended up producing these songs. So, I definitely think it's given me that. I can give an example. I worked on “Ohio Song” with my friend Wes Henry, and historically, we had written with other artists. I had introduced him to Leanna Firestone, and we did 2 days together. And we actually have 2 songs on her album that's coming out. And I had set that up. So I'm technically like I A&R-ed that. And Wes was like, “dude, you're like my A&R, like you bring me all my artists, you bring me all my work. And, if you ever want to do stuff, let's do it. Don't worry about money, we'll make it work.” And having that made the threshold to start making music a lot lower because a lot of it is about how expensive it is. It's just so hard to make music because it costs so much money. We wrote “Ohio Song” with Karissa, and it just was so nice to work with friends and feel like we're reciprocating. So, I definitely think that has been a huge, huge help. I would say, writing-wise, I do prefer writing alone or writing just like me and a producer. I think being able to test out those relationships with other artists kind of takes the pressure off because I get to meet them, we write a song for someone else. And then I get to decide if I want to work with this person for my stuff, and if I feel like that'd be a good fit. I'm able to do a trial run, which I think is very helpful because going in with a new producer as an artist can be really terrifying, especially when there's like money involved, because what if we write this and what if I don't like it? And what if I don't want to put it out? And then I have to pay them anyway? And there's so much anxiety around sessions as an artist. So, I feel like it's given me a good baseline to set myself up well for success.

You’ve been on tour a lot this past month! What has been your favorite part of touring so far?

I mean, it has to be just meeting people who listen to my music. That's the most obvious thing, but Avery [Lynch] kind of said that's on stage every night, it's just surreal seeing people standing in front of you and being like, wow, there's real people listening to these songs that I made in my bedroom. I think people romanticize the life of a musician, but the reality is, I'm just working from home most days, and I forget how cool it is to do what I get to do, you know, because to me, sometimes it does feel like a job. But I feel like being on tour was like, oh wow, this is really cool. And this is why I do this. To inspire people and to be able to just see that right in front of me was huge and really unlike anything I've experienced before.

You have another project called softboy that’s more of a folk project. Can you tell us about that?

Yeah, I can tell you a little bit. I don't have much info at the moment, but basically, I want softboy to be, as like an Instagram and as like a site, somewhere for people to get to know me more and get to know me on a more intimate, close-up level. So it's really about hyper vulnerability, hyper specificity, and the rawness of it all. Song-wise, it will be a lot more of things I make on my own. Some things that are more demo-ish. Some things that are just live. “What you see is what you get” kind of thing. So that's the idea with softboy. I love the songs I'm working on, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to connect with people on a deeper level. It also just feels very true to me that there's 2 sides to me. I always say I'm a Gemini moon, and I feel like that reveals a lot about me. I feel like the softboy and the pop stuff, it just feels so like, “yes, this is me”. So, that's softboy.

What is next for you?

Honestly, I have no idea. I never know what to expect in this life. But I have some plans to release a lot of music. And I'm very, very excited about that. There should be songs coming every month or two. I have probably the next year planned at least. And I’m hoping to go back out on the road. I'd love to open for an artist. Possibly in the UK. I'm not sure, but that's been thrown around, which would be very cool. And I hope to do like my first headline shows in the next year. Probably just like LA, New York, maybe London, if I'm lucky. So those are just some things that I know about. But I feel like with music, it's very unpredictable and it's very much out of my control. So, I'm really just focused on what I'm doing and just keeping things moving on my end, and I think what's important right now is just to keep doing it.