Ella Eyre Reveals Why everything, in time Is the Album She Was Always Meant to Make

Thus far, Ella Eyre's musical career has been a bit of a roller coaster. She was just 17 when she was signed to a label, quickly dominating the charts and collaborating with major artists thanks to her irresistibly soulful vocals and bold charisma. Still, something was missing.

During pandemic lockdown, she underwent a vocal surgery, forcing Ella not just to learn to speak again, but to sing again. Eventually, Ella also parted ways with her label, taking her masters with her and realizing she needed to do things her own way this time around. That was just the beginning of her new album, everything in time, out today, Nov. 21.

Arriving a decade after her powerful debut album, Feline, everything in time is a raw and authentic showcase of Ella's evolution, both personally and artistically, at the age of 31. Its 15 songs are richly emotional and packed with a sense of self-discovery while also being some of her most achingly beautiful music to date, combining elements of soul, funk, R&B and pop to remind us just what Ella is capable of as an artist. It feels like all of her work so far has been building up to this moment, and yet that this is just the first step of what to come. We had the pleasure of hopping on a Zoom call with Ella to learn more about her story so far and why everything, in time is such a significant milestone for her. Read our full interview with Ella Eyre below.

Sweety High: Can you get us caught up on everything leading up to this album, and what now felt like the right time for it to happen?

Ella Eyre: It has really been a bit of a whirlwind. I started when I was 16. I'm 31 now. My first album came out when I was 18 or 19, and obviously it's taken a decade to get to this point. It felt like something that was always going to happen—I just didn't quite know when.

When I first joined the music industry, it was really evolving. Streaming and Spotify were still very new concepts. After my first album, my label was trying to figure out how to exist in the industry. Albums became less important, and it became all about singles. For 10 years, I've just been releasing, song by song. It reached a point in 2020, just before lockdown, where I just felt really unfulfilled, very lost, very purposeless, if that makes sense.

I had vocal surgery so I wasn't able to speak for a month, and I sat there listening to this new music that was going to release once I'd recovered from my surgery, but I was just like, I hate this. This isn't me. And if I'm ever going to be able to sing again and be on stage again and share my voice for people again, I want it to be something that I feel really passionate about. Even if it means being less commercial, even if it means not getting the big radio plays or chart positions. Ultimately, I think life is short. That's what lockdown taught a lot of us. I wanted to make sure that creatively, I'm fulfilled. It felt like the time to do that. It felt like a big shift in where my head was at, where my voice was at and what kind of person I was becoming. I've been in this industry since I was 16 years old, so I decided I'm going to start taking control.

(Photo credit: Kaj Jefferies)

 

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SH: What does the title everything in time mean to you? How does it tie into the themes you mentioned and summarize what the album's all about?

EE: Well, that's exactly it, really. The album was actually called something else for about two years. I had been working on the premise—that's what the album was about, that was the notion of my album—and I think that it's still that, to be honest, but I think by the time I finished it, my mindset had developed. The way that I wanted to be represented had developed. I felt like I'd outgrown that album title—exactly as I am—in the time that I'd made it.

The song I'd written that was called that was about accepting who I am, accepting the flaws, accepting that we're all just guessing in this life and it's good—I'm good, exactly as I am. The reason I started making the album was to sort of rediscover myself and reconnect with what I wanted and how I was feeling.

"everything in time" was the last song that I wrote. First of all, it's my favorite song of the whole album, and it was the last song that I wrote, and it came super, super last minute. But also I felt like the production on that song, and the meaning behind the song, really tied everything up nicely together in a bow, particularly because this is the 10th year since my first album. It's taken a long time. Fans been asking for a really long time when it's coming. It felt quite funny to me to call it everything in time.

Ultimately, the lesson I've learned making this album is that anything that's meant for you will come in its own time. Anything that's going to happen is going to happen when it's supposed to. And we're not always in control of that. What we can be in control of is how we're feeling and the energy that we're putting out into the world whilst we're waiting. It's about having some strength and patience, and being peace with that. The timeline of the album tells that story.

 

SH: What makes "everything in time" your favorite song on the album? What about it felt really special and helped you recontextualize the album after writing it?

EE: I love that record because I am talking very honestly about myself. One of the lyrics in the second verse is, "I'm an Aries, it ain't seasonal. Words, we don't put them gently." It's very honest about my personality traits—some good, some bad—but accepting that. That's just who I am, and you can't make everybody love you, you can't please everybody, but this is who I am, this is how I present myself. And I, myself, am very happy about that. I'm very proud of that. That's what I love that song. Not only do I love listening to it and singing it and it makes me feel good, but  I feel like it represents who I am today.

 

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SH: Can you talk about the album production-wise and how you went about bringing these stories to life?

EE: I think one of the biggest compliments I've received so far about the album is from people who are familiar with my first album. They say it sounds like Feline but from the adult version of me. That's exactly where my head was at. The whole reason I decided to even make another album was because I was listening to my first album thinking that I never quite got to release it the way that I wanted to, and it never ended being quite what I wanted it to be—and I'll be damned if I'm gonna be on this earth and not at least try and make that and do that.

This album is very much an ode to what the first album to me was supposed to be. It's very soulful, still very pop, but also it's a little bit more explorative, in terms of my vocals, my writing, my structures. I haven't gone for any sort of copy-and-paste, formulaic songs. I think I've pushed my pop girl era and challenged it slightly. It's a more grounded, mature, but also emotionally
secure sound.

(Photo credit: Troy Roscoe)

 

SH: What does it mean to you to be at the point in your life and your career where you can put your foot down and decide you're not releasing the album until it is exactly what you need it to be?

EE:  It's a lot of pressure, to be honest. I was saying recently that I feel like, after all this time, I've always been like, "Oh, the major labels, they're in my way. They're stopping me from doing what I want to do." But actually, in this process, I've learned that a lot of the blocker was me. I am a creative. I do have really strong opinions on how I want to be perceived and what I want to put out there in the world. But sometimes, that's my biggest flaw. It can stop me from putting things out, stops me from being creatively free, sometimes, because I'm overthinking it so much.

Now, I'm actually taking ownership of it. If it doesn't work, everyone will be like, "Well, you said this is your thing." But that is the risk that you take. I also believe that if it doesn't go as amazingly as it could, I know that I put in what I wanted to. I know I've ticked that box and I've scratched that itch. And now I can move on and continue to grow. I keep calling this album the era that always was, because I started making music at such a young age, but I really wasn't developed. My brain wasn't developed. Who I like, how I love, how I love myself, what kind of music I listen to, what country I want to live in. I never really got the time to develop before I was in the limelight, on the drum and bass record and traveling the world. I had to develop on the job. So I think this is a very freeing moment.

 

SH: How do you feel that the album represents where you are in life right now?

EE: If I could describe it in one word, it would be acceptance. This collection of songs is accepting a lot of hard moments. It's reflecting on the hard journey along the way. It's reflecting a lot of emotional mindsets that I've been in along the way. But also being aware of that and being able to go, sure, I'm in a s*** place right now, but that is okay. That happens. Everybody's there. And I feel like there's a song on the album for everyone, because ultimately, it represents the peaks and troughs of life, and of the last 10 years that I've had, really.

 

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SH: How do you think you've evolved, both as a person and an artist, since the release of Feline a decade ago?

EE: I've evolved ginormously. I've got a hell of a lot more patience. I'm a lot more empathetic. I like to take my time a lot more with things. I still am a hothead and I still can be quite impulsive, but I've learned the beauty of patience and taking your time and thinking before you speak and not always being involved in the gossip and not always being involved in the things
that are trending and cool. Ultimately, just owning my space.

 

SH: Is there anything else you'd like to say?

EE: I just feel so excited for this new run of releasing music. In the last 10 years, it has been quite an uphill battle to release consistently. That was one of my biggest bugbears about releasing previously, was that I would release a song and then six months later we'd release another one. By then, the momentum had gone, and it's a really exciting time to have momentum.
to have music, to be constantly feeding people and for the reception to be great.

This album might not change my life. It might not be a No. 1 huge, great world success, but ultimately I feel like I've achieved something. Like I said earlier, it feels like the beginning of an era that always was. It's very exciting.

 

For more insights from artists on their new music, click HERE to read our interview with Calum Scott on his Avenoir album.