Meet Emma Gullo | Singer/Songwriter & Performer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emma Gullo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emma, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The two most important factors that have given me the most consistent success are drive and authenticity. I grew up admiring my dad’s work ethic, a lot of the personable values he taught me early on have been incredibly beneficial now.
My drive and ambition have been what propelled me through my younger years. I started performing in front of people when I was 12 and booking gigs at 14; it took a lot of discipline and consistency to create EGSINGS’s foundation and still find motivation for required milestones. High school for me was academics, theatre, and gigs; I’ve been lucky to have really wholesome friends that have been supporters since the beginning. I’m really proud of my younger self for recognizing the bigger picture, putting down those stepping-stones allowed me to pave a smoother road for my adult self.
The other contributing factor is authenticity. It’s important for me to stay true to who I am, I wanted to emphasize that in my brand values. I’m not a perfect human and I don’t want to pretend to be. I’m a chaotic and lovely creature, I’m a creative, young adult still learning life skills, the music I write represents those perspectives. As I change and grow up, I expect my brand will grow with me until my story is complete with all its little chapters!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
This is the question that I’ve been most excited to answer, and yet scared to tell. Art can be such a vulnerable journey for an artist – it’s full of so many emotional outlets and personal growth. The album itself is only 5 songs, but they were written during a time in my life where change was happening so consistently – young adulthood.

What I am most proud of is how much this album reflects who I am – it’s emotional, every little detail has a meaning, it’s indecisive and daring. I used to feel like I was so behind in industry, mostly because I kept comparing myself to other artists, I was focusing on what I was lacking and punished myself for not “being original”. You feel this “weight” to be unique, the boulder of authenticity perched on your shoulders. That’s how you feel in your teens though, everyone around you seems to walk on grass evergreen. It’s not until you reach independence where that shift happens – this is young adulthood, the sky’s the limit and your world triples in size, it’s both insanely exciting and utterly intimidating. You find out more of who are as an individual, sometimes so rapidly that the changes overwhelm you. You stumble through this sense of identity, foundational people start to fade to acquaintance, the reality and dream of adult independence start to blend. At this point my album was a tangled web of question marks – I found myself stuck in these mental loops, I was never satisfied or maybe just too afraid to commit.
“STORYTELLER Chapter 1 – INTO THE LIGHT” highlights those hopeful notes of youth and adult existence. It’s raw and unapologetic. It’s a salute to the last 8 years of my life, building my confidence and artistry to its starting potential, and learning how to love myself for all I am.

I wrote “WEIGHT” at 14, the same year I started high school; the song has so much optimism and warmth written in it. Then you hear “carbonated cars”, and just think dark and moody, a little nostalgic. The lyrics are what drive every song on the album, that’s where the story is. The music production is the heartbeat, it keeps the music pumping and flowing, the various sounds give you those little accents that bring the story off the page. The vocals are the album’s soul – pure emotion, unmasked. It’s an encapsulation of my human experience thus far, setting the standard for what I want my brand to represent; ambition and authenticity.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Smith’s Olde Bar – if you’re in the downtown Atlanta area and looking for a good music scene, SOB is one of Atlanta’s original music bars! From hosting traveling artists, engaging local bands, and providing a stage for some of Georgia’s most remarkable talents, SOB is a hot music spot to check out!

The Georgia Botanical Gardens – A peaceful, beautiful experience for anyone; the Botanical is a blend of incredible, artistic architecture and mother nature. It’s always been a happy place for me – everywhere around you, life is thriving, and growth is happening constantly. You find so many different parts of the garden to explore; my personal favorite is the hidden mini bar in the edible foods section (you may also catch a band filling the grotto with melodies!). If you have a love for the outdoors and an appreciation for the beautiful things, its a great place to take a little walk.

The Town of Duluth – Probably my favorite place to go with family. The town of Duluth is just what it is – a town. But the character and aesthetic of the town is what draws in not only its direct community, but surrounding county members as well. There are PLENTY of yummy places to pick from, but my favorite is O4W Pizza – the grandma pie pizza is LITERALLY the most heavenly pizza I’ve ever had. They have a huge outdoor amphitheater with a large field space to set up blankets under the shade of the trees. The local community is friendly and always down for Food Truck Fridays – best of all is The Chocolaterie on the corner of the street … with smells so sweet you smell them down the street :)!

The Collection – The outdoor shopping center only fifteen minutes from my home! It was the first transition our town started to see as “malls” were becoming a thing of the past. The Collection is an outdoor space filled with restaurants like Mellow Mushroom and Marlow’s Tavern, it has boutiques and home good stores (popular ones include: Altar’d State, American Eagle, Francesca’s, The Gibson Co), all surrounding a GIANT AMC Theatre that I saw almost every Avengers movie in IMAX in! It’s a place of nostalgia because it reminds me of my high school years. This was THE place to go on dates, hangout with friends, and at one time held the record of having the highest grossing Chick-fil-a in Georgia (smart marketing to set up across from a high school lol).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to give a shout to my bandmates – John McMaster, Andrew Bates, Jake Mitchum, & Devin Robinson. I met these guys in my last semester of college and what we have created with HighSpeed Dreams has literally been a DREAM. They’ve taught me so much about music and how to collaborate with other musicians, most importantly they are just genuinely fun and talented people. Each of us is a werido in our own way and the rest of us embrace it. They are my teammates, I’ve always loved performing solo, but when HSD gets on stage there is a magic that radiates from the instruments, from the sound equipment, it just pours into the crowd. We all can feel it, and when we hit that groove of being in sync, without having to think about what comes next, that’s the purest form of entertainment.

Website: egsings.com

Instagram: @egsings

Facebook: @EGSINGS

Youtube: https://youtu.be/kSjWGZZwS9k

Other: tik tok – @emmagullo https://linktr.ee/egsings

Image Credits
Shelby Lauren Smith Emily Cash Hanna Midd