The debut single “Ghostly” by Emilia Christine Russo is a gorgeously cinematic musical odyssey into the stages of grief. From the onset, shimmering piano keys cradle the listener in their soothing tones. Emilia’s ethereal vocals provide calm assurance that even our darkest moments will pass.
Beneath the serene surface, her lyrics probe the deep pain of loss. She vividly captures the sense of being left behind and the difficulty of accepting a loved one’s sudden absence. Emilia’s ability to blend light and dark themes is masterful. At the 1:20 mark, intensifying instrumentation hints at a breakthrough – the realization that change has come whether we are ready or not. Earthy beats emerge to elevate the track into an empowering yet melancholy journey of self-reflection.
When atmospheric vocals swell during the climax at 2:50, it feels transcendent. Emilia transports listeners to heavenly realms of hope, healing, and remembrance. The bare intimacy of the song’s latter stages resonates long after its close.
Checkout the latest news: Bengaluru’s Fallen Letters Make a Powerful Dark Rock and Metal Debut at Alterfate
Through her profound songwriting and tasteful production, Emilia honors both the grief of loss and the beauty found even in sorrow. For anyone navigating life’s most challenging transitions, “Ghostly” by Emilia Christine Russo offers solace, catharsis, and hope that our tears will one day be tears of fond remembrance rather than tears of sadness. It marks Emilia as one of alternative music’s most insightful storytellers.
You may also like listening to: You Can’t Get Enough of the Warm Embrace in Janeuary’s Dream Pop Song “Awakening”
We recently had an opportunity to have a great conversation with Emilia Christine Russo about her debut release and beyond. Read on to know more!
1. Hey Emilia! Welcome to Sinusoidal. Congrats on your debut soulful release, “Ghostly.” The song features some beautiful keys and a minimalist approach. Could you walk us through the creative process behind it?
A: Thank you! I have in my Notes app on my phone a bunch of lines and words that I think sound pretty cool. “Ghostly” was one of them, and I originally intended to write a song about something else. But after I had a productive therapy session, I looked again at my notes and was like, “No, this song has to be about what I just talked about.” It just kind of came out like a stream of consciousness–I wasn’t too stuck on form, rhyme, things like that. I just wrote. I don’t know how long it took me to write it–could’ve been 20 minutes, could’ve been an hour. I was in the zone, expressing my grief the best way I knew how, because regular talking kind of fails me at times.
2. It’s hard to believe that “Ghostly” is your first release! The track is so polished and captivating. Were there any challenges you faced while recording the song?
A: I think my biggest challenge was my muscle tension dysphonia, or MTD. At the time, I had recently been diagnosed with moderate to severe MTD, which is a voice disorder that is caused by overuse of the muscles in the throat. My muscles were squeezing when they didn’t need to be, which left me with pain for days after singing for even just one hour. It can be caused by a lot of things, but my ENT and speech-language pathologist who diagnosed me think that my psychological well-being was a huge factor in my case. I was in an environment where I had to keep myself quiet, be the bigger person–be the adult, really–and it was causing me stress. When I listen back to this song and another song I recorded not long after that, I can hear the difference between my voice then and now. I struggled to hit my low and high notes, which is pretty typical for someone with MTD. MTD also made singing my lyrics with emotion kind of difficult. I was singing a precise, safe way I learned from my vocal rehab coach, and when I was recording, I was encouraged to feel the music and not sing so “exact,” you know? But I was afraid the whole time I was recording of hurting myself even more. The MTD is a lot better now, but if I don’t do my vocal exercises, I can easily slip back into it.
3. The lyrics in “Ghostly” express a deep sense of abandonment, longing, and the emotional scars left behind after a loss. It definitely resonates with a lot of listeners. Are there any personal experiences behind the song that you’d like to share?
A: I wrote this song all at once the night after a therapy session. I was in two types of therapy at the time for my traumas–regular talk therapy and music therapy. That day, I had my talk therapist, and we talked about the death of my older sister. I was really young when it happened, and the things I remember have always been more like flashes of memories, but apparently it left more scars than I had initially realized. I felt pretty good after that session, and that night, “Ghostly” just kind of flowed out.
A couple of days later, I showed the song to my music therapist. With her, I was working on feeling my feelings. That’s another thing that made recording “Ghostly” challenging–in order to sing the song and not cry, I had to trap my feelings in a box and put it away. Go on autopilot and sing the song exactly as I practiced it. That’s what I do with life, too–I state the things that happened in my life as facts, like a medical history at a doctor’s office, and everyone thinks I’m okay, because I’m able to verbalize things. But I’m actually not okay because the traumas manifest as somatic symptoms in my body and pop up in my dreams or when I’m alone. So anyway, the day of the recording, I was walking that tightrope of singing with emotion while trying not to cry and embarrass myself on my very first day in the studio while also trying not to hurt my throat for, like, a week after.
But I digress. I showed the song to my music therapist, and she was like, “Don’t touch it. I wouldn’t change a thing.” We talked about the process of writing the song and how I felt after seeing my counselor. The song was clearly needed to turn the page on this part of my life.
4. Has there been any collaboration on this release that you would like to talk about?
A: I really have to thank my producer, Chris Newton, for the way this song turned out. I’m primarily a songwriter; writing is what I have most experience with. Composing, on the other hand, not so much. I grew up in a family that didn’t have enough money for extracurriculars. I really wanted to learn piano and take singing lessons, but lessons were just too expensive. So, I had to wait to take piano, singing, and guitar lessons in college. Anyway, I came to Chris with my lyrics and some piano. Not long after, he sent me a first draft of the music and he was like, “Sorry, I made some changes to the music, give it a listen and let me know if you’re okay with it, and if not, that’s totally cool, we can go back to how you did it.” I was like, “Wait, no, this is amazing.” I told him what was important to me for this song to have, like the piano and singing bowls, but the music was really a collaboration. Another thing about this song was that he had to play all of the instruments, because we live so far away from each other. He lives in the city, and I live in a kind of isolated town, so I couldn’t drive back and forth to record. “Ghostly” sounds the way it does because of Chris.
5. Who are your musical inspirations, and how have they influenced your work on “Ghostly”?
A: My musical inspirations are Evanescence, Paramore, The Holy Trinity of Emo Music–Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance–just a whole bunch of singers and bands. Evanescence was my biggest inspiration for “Ghostly”–the piano as the base and the ethereal sound, that’s very Evanescence-like. The lead singer, Amy Lee, has a way of writing lyrics that tells a story but sounds like a poem. I look up to her in terms of my writing style.
6. How do you see your music evolving over the next few years? Any genres or styles you’re excited to explore?
A: I’m excited to explore rock and dark pop music. For rock, I love the band Skillet, especially their 2006 album Comatose. Now that’s a band that I’d love to analyze and learn from more. I don’t know beyond that how my music will evolve over the next few years–hopefully it’ll be better! I’m really going with the flow here. laughs
7. What’s next for you, Emilia Christine Russo? Can we expect more music in the same vein as “Ghostly,” or will you be exploring different sounds in your upcoming EP, “Two Rights Don’t Make a Wrong”?
A: Two Rights Don’t Make a Wrong EP will have more songs similar to “Ghostly” in terms of music and lyrics about real things that happened in my life. There is also one cover song. The album after that, though, will have a bit of a different sound, but that’s a topic for another day.
Enjoy listening to “Ghostly” by Emilia Christine Russo here.
Check out our Spotify Playlists.
Check out our YouTube channel for music reviews, playlists, podcasts, and more!
Promotional Disclaimer: The content in this post has been sponsored by the artist, label, or PR representative to help promote their work.
