INTERVIEW: Azure Ryder on her new single 'Angel': 'I was sick of painting on a smile just to make the people that hurt me comfortable when I should have been allowed to scream.'
Image: Sam Hiscox
Australia’s Azure Ryder has been creating her warm, organic indiepop music since 2020 and she recently released her new single ‘Angel’, her first new music since the end of 2021.
Written by Ryder with the song’s producer Jules Apollinaire, ‘Angel’ is a mid-paced, bluesy, indie rock track with Ryder’s voice sounding better than ever - rich, expressive and confident. Lyrically the song carries an empowering message on taking back the power from men when it comes to relationships.
“I see ‘Angel’ as kicking down the door on this reoccurring narrative that women particularly have had written for them: ‘Once Upon A Time’ - a fairytale romanticising the power position that men hold in love,” Ryder says. “They become an authority on something that they all too commonly reject, because they find it too much. So if you have ever been told to hide your heart if you have been made to feel like you are both not enough and too much for people, I say, they missed out on a goddamn ‘Angel’.”
Since her first release, Ryder has attracted acclaim both in Australia and abroad for her music, which over three previous EPs has covered a beguiling mix of pop, folk, indie and rock. Ryder describes this new chapter in her career as a ‘rebirth’ that has left her “the closest she has ever felt to herself.” A remarkable talent, ‘Angel’ is the first taste of the all new Ryder and it is shaping up to be some of her best music yet. We recently caught up with her to find out more.
Hi Azure! So good to chat with you, thank you for your time. How is everything in your world right now?
Hi ya ! Of course so lovely to speak with you again! Everything is feeling incredibly aligned and my insides are on fire in the best way!
New single ‘Angel’ is out now and is an incredible track with an incredibly powerful and important message behind it. Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind the track?
Thank you so much for being so loving! It’s a place I have always wanted to write from but wanted to make sure that when I did the words weren’t pulled from thin air. These words are lived, and I know not just by myself, but every single woman that is born into the Man’s world, seemingly from the dawn of time, or so we are taught. ‘Angel’ has always been brewing beneath the surface for me, there is no relief for Woman amongst this gender imbalance, it follows our every move, thought, and breath, and experience after experience I finally felt my tipping point. I was sick of painting on a smile just to make the people that hurts me comfortable when I should have been allowed to scream.
You worked on this track with Jules Apollinaire, can you tell me about the creative process for ‘Angel’?
I was actually talking about this with Jules today, that since we met and ‘Angel’ was created, the short time frame to now releasing is wild for the both of us! That never happens, but clearly this was meant too. Jules and I connected late last year when I was completely lost with myself, he very quickly re-sparked my sense of joy in creating again, he held the microphone to my voice and turned it loud and ultimately allowed me the space to fill the room with all the things I had always wanted to be as an artist, without judgement, without guidelines, with only pure freedom. I brought a voice note of the Chorus of Angel into our session, how you hear it at the beginning of the song is pretty much how I first sung it to Jules in his studio that first day. From there the world building began, with freedom we threw all the instruments and layers in front of us and then listened to what ‘Angel’ was simply and purely calling out for and eliminated the rest. Very quickly ‘Angel’ was born and we found her wings.
‘Angel’ is in many ways a ‘comeback’ for you, it is your first new music since 2021. How does it feel to be back, and do you feel the time away has reenergised your creativity?
I’ve described this as a rebirth for myself because it’s exactly the process I have wandered, tripped, twirled and stumbled through since my last release. Everything feels different to be back, my vision is clearer, my voice grittier, my heart louder. There is an active blazing fire inside of me where for so long it was struggling to stay alight, and I am more ready than I have ever been to reunite with the world in this way.
You have a beautiful video for ‘Angel’ as well. Tell us about that.
I do have a visual world to accompany ‘Angel’! This first song in what it is and stands for means everything to me, it’s the first piece of my purest self that finally exists and for that reason, I didn’t want to do anything complex, I just want simplistic classic natural presentation, just me. Just like my favourite classic timeless artist, what they shared was uncomplicated, and raw and to me that’s the most powerful, most human.
You have mentioned that ‘Angel’ seeks to tear down that romantic, once upon a time romantic fairytale narrative that women have had written for them for decades. We of course see that a lot in pop music, particularly in the early days. Who were the female artists that really inspired you growing up who pushed back against that narrative?
Stevie Nicks will forever be in my eyes the original wild heart, unapologetically both fierce and graceful. She is living and cosmic breathing truth that woman can push back and be successful in this industry no matter the odds written against us.
Not long after you were ‘discovered’ you were placed in writing sessions with some of the biggest songwriters in the business including Isabella Summers and Natalie Henby. You have spoken in the past about how you struggled being in the room with such established talents when you were essentially brand new to the industry. How do you feel you have progressed as an artist and your confidence in that creativity over the following years?
It took me honestly until the events of last year to understand that my struggle in those rooms in the past was not from a lack of ability, passion or worth, it was from an abundance of fear of others voices, which essentially lead me to fear my own. As I have taken the turn back towards myself, I feel like the confidence in my purpose, and my creativity has strengthened entirely. Now as I step into these rooms, I am still very much learning, we should never want to stop but I now know the sweetness beyond a stumble is growth, its only leading you closer to yourself and that is where the best more powerful art comes from.
‘Angel’, obviously, has a very empowering message for women. The music industry has never been a particularly welcoming or safe space for female artists, mainly because it has been run by older, straight, white men for decades. What are your thoughts on gender (in)equality and sexism in music?
The reality of the world is built on foundations of imbalance, so it’s no surprise this inequality is deeply imbedded in the DNA of the music industry, hell it thrives on it. It infuriates me that Woman have been fighting since birth for a right to simply exist in a harmony with Men, and I don’t know if there is an honest reality in this earth time of things changing but I don’t want to be where there isn’t hope, so if I have the privilege of speaking though my music I am going to howl. My duty as an Artist, as a female, is to shake things up, and I’m not scared of that because the Men who tie us to the stake, their power comes from fear our power comes from fearlessness.
And what advice do you have for young women who want to chase a career in the music industry?
This question overwhelms me because there is so much I want to say. Ultimately this industry is man leaning with heavy ego, they may hold a sort of outward power in our careers but what they don’t have is the inner wild, the inner instinct that woman were born with and the closer you hold that to your heart, the further your voice will travel into any room, any stage, any dream you desire, your place is your choice, and the only person you have to make believe in that is yourself.
‘Angel’ is out now, what else do you have planned for 2023?
I see ‘Angel’ as kicking down the door so I am hoping to move with you further and further into my new world across stories on sound waves and performing live in person, with eyes, heart, soul locked on each other!
‘Angel’ is out now. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Azure Ryder you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Listen to our 2021 interview Azure Ryder on the Women In Pop podcast here
