New Zealand’s rising star Lucy Gray digs deep into the heart and soul behind her debut EP, ‘Whole Life Waiting’
This six-track collection isn’t just a collection of songs; it’s a tapestry woven from the threads of Lucy’s musical heroes.
From the raw vulnerability of Phoebe Bridgers to the storytelling magic of Taylor Swift, Lucy Gray takes us on a journey through the artists who’ve shaped her sound.
Prepare to delve into the influences that fueled the fire of “Whole Life Waiting,” and get a taste of the emotional rollercoaster that awaits, care of the artist – Lucy Gray – herself.
July – Noah Cyrus
I’ve placed Noah Cyrus’s ‘July’ as the frontrunner of songs behind the EP because it was the inspiration for my song ‘not fair’, which is by far my most successful song yet.
‘July’ is a song that never really leaves my mind and I come back to it often. Never fails to make me cry.
Noah’s casual but delicate vocals highlight the lyrical content of this song like a magical sparkly pen.
The antagonist in the song is so visual to us, someone who we know we are not in a healthy relationship with, but yet can’t quite detach from.
It’s the casual phrase ‘If you want me to leave then tell me to leave and baby I’ll go’, followed by the whistles of a person seemingly unbothered.
For me, that line is the perfect analogy for how it feels to need to be seen as nonchalant, in a situation that you care so much about.
The Gold – Manchester Orchestra + Phoebe Bridgers
This song. To me, this song is a musical masterpiece, and it proves itself as that.
In its original form, it’s an electric, sad rock anthem, and in its collaboration with Phoebe, it becomes an introspective piece of indie-folk on repeat in autumn.
This song has inspired so many on this EP such as, ‘pretty’, ‘paranoia of the mind’, and ‘not fair’.
The stable and harmonic guitar melody allows the vocals to be beautiful, raw, emotional, and piercing, but never too much. Manchester Orchestra’s lyricism is hauntingly beautiful.
The line ‘You and me, we’re a day drink. So lose your faith in me’ has always stuck with me, because it’s not a recount of events.
It’s not ‘You lose your faith in me’, or ‘You lost faith’, it’s a command. It’s saying ‘You can’t rely on me’, for your own good, lose your faith in me.
If You Want To – beabadoobee
beabadoobee has been an influence in a lot of my work, especially my earlier song ‘Your Name’.
The quintessentially crunchy indie pop electric guitar and full band combo with these dreamy vocals is so cool to me.
beabadoobee’s lyricism in this song is so visual and feels almost like a childlike lens on the world.
Talking about sleep paralysis, insomnia, anxiety and overthinking using terms like ‘Bed bugs in my mind.’
This thing that ‘Creeps out at night,’ and haunts you, but refers to this scary thing in such a whimsical way.
One of my favourite lyrics in the song is ‘Use some pesticides and throw it in my brain’, because I think so many of us can relate to thinking how much better we would feel if we could just give our brains a scrub with some soapy water.
This song really inspired ‘paranoia of the mind’ in terms of themes, the lyric ‘All my life just parasites, the demons live inside my mind’ in the bridge kind of links into this song.
This Love – Taylor Swift
I can’t make a playlist without talking about this song. The themes, the lyricism, the production, the storytelling.
All of it was such a big inspiration to me, the key song influenced being ‘running through my mind.’
I wanted to take that concept of using fantasy as a way to tell a story and sort of incorporate it, and I had to take influence from one of Taylor’s songs considering she was originally very core in my drive to write and sing.
Taking the idea of ‘Wonderland’ and creating a song about a hard and fast relationship that came crashing down couldn’t be any more fitting.
In Alice and Wonderland, for Alice, falling down the rabbit hole is so easy and almost accidental, exploring this new world is scary… but also so exciting and before she knows it she’s somewhere she doesn’t know how to escape.
Sounds like the tale of someone falling naively in love. This is what Taylor explores in this song, and I thought the details on the concept were really underused and exciting.
Come On Mess Me Up – Cub Sport
Cub Sport’s song ‘Come on Mess Me Up’ really captured my attention when I was recording ‘not fair’ with my producers, and like all of the songs on this list, wormed it’s way into my playlist of songs that I wanted us to draw influence from for the EP.
The synths, the way the vocals had been captured and the dynamic shift from the verse to the chorus were the main things I loved, and was inspired by.
The verses are so paired back and pretty much only feature vocals, synth, super wavy guitar pedals, and maybe the occasional kick drum.
But then the chorus comes in with all of that and also full drums, energetic piano high notes, and this powerful vocal mix.
There’s this vocal stack in the song on the line ‘I fell in love with avoiding problems, and that way the problem’ that just scratches my brain in the right way every single time.
Check out Lucy Gray’s latest EP release and our review here.
