INTERVIEW: Carla Wehbe opens new era with new single 'You Make Me Sick': "I thought it would be kind of cool to write about anxiety but I didn't want it to be super straightforward."
Future superstar Carla Wehbe has been steadily gaining a reputation for one of the greatest young talents in the Australian music scene. After a string of singles and two EPs with soundscapes that range from 1980s inspired synthpop through to raw, heartfelt indiepop, Wehbe has opened the next chapter of her music career with the release of her new single ‘You Make Me Sick’
Written with and produced by Kon Kersting (Tones and I, The Jungle Giants), the song sees Wehbe return to the synthpop sound of her earlier releases, with a bright and perky beat straight from the early 1980s and dreamy, delicious melodies paired with Wehbe’s unique and beautiful vocals. Lyrically the song is an open letter to her anxieties - “You show up out the blue…why you here? / I got no clue / I didn’t invite you” - but, she says, will also resonate if you have a “really shitty person” in your life.
“’You Make Me Sick’ is fast paced. It’s angsty. You can dance to it, hype yourself up to break up with a toxic partner, go to a smash room and destroy things to it. It’s really quite versatile,” Wehbe says.
The release of ‘You Make Me Sick’ comes at a momentous time in Wehbe’s career, as she joins American music legends The Chicks as support on their Australian tour, after which she will launch her debut headline tour, with shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
Wehbe is an artist that goes from strength to strength and with her remarkable musical talent, charisma and dab hand with a pop tune, if she isn’t already she really should be your latest pop obsession. We recently caught up with Wehbe to chat all about the new single and her upcoming tour.
Hi Carla! So good to see you, how are things?
Things are really good? I'm very busy, but always in the best way. I’m loving it.
We were all over your last EP Jupiter and Mars, but I gotta say, as soon as I heard the intro to ‘You Make Me Sick’ I was ‘yes, she’s back in the arcade!’ Your songwriting and style goes with so many genres and soundscapes, but there's nothing quite like putting Carla Wehbe voice running through a synth arcade machine - I don't know what that is, but its absolute paradise! What brought you back?
Thank you! I don’t really know, it was just a happy accident. I was with Kon Kersting, we had a couple of days together and I’d never worked with him or met him before. I don't usually show references in writing sessions, but I showed him a song I had been listening to by Holly Humberstone. She's not really that 80s kind of vibe, but there's something about the beat that I really liked, it just drove the whole time. Kon started playing stuff, we started mucking around with some chords. It's taken a little bit from my older stuff that I released, but it still felt like new Carla Wehbe. It's really cool to explore that again.
That's the thing, It's a banging pop track, and we have that reminiscence of Half Past Nine, and then that bridge really takes a turn, and I get the Holly Humberstone reference as well. It feels like this is the baby of these two things - your older work and your newer references.
Exactly, I agree.
It's really cool. Talk to me about the track.
Sometimes when I travel by myself, I get really anxious. It's not that I'm scared to travel, I can take care of myself, but for some reason, my body's just like ‘you’re extremely anxious and this one thought now has put you into a seven hour panic attack’. So it's quite frustrating. When we sat down in the writing session, I hadn't thought of the idea beforehand and I said it would be kind of cool to write about anxiety, but I don't want to write it about anxiety because it's been done so many times. I didn't want it to be super straightforward. So I thought what if I wrote it in a way that sounds like I despise this person, but I'm really talking to my anxiety. So we went with that concept and I think it worked out well.
I think that's beautiful. And it's so true, because with any song, whether it is a song about a relationship or about mental health, we the listener especially with lyrics, we still put our own interpretation on those lyrics.
Yeah, definitely. It’s cool to just leave it open ended, people are like ‘wow, who hurt her?’ But it's just my anxiety.
You've always said that melodies come incredibly easy to you, but you tend to block yourself a little bit with lyrics.
Yeah, in the past, but this was actually quite an easy song to write. I think just because it was something that I experienced. I found it really fun to make it sound like I'm talking to a person rather than my anxiety. The more I write the easier the lyrics come and I find when I'm really present when I'm writing, I just find it so much easier. When I'm trying too hard, I still get a little bit blocked every now and then.
Your videos just get more and more cinematic, and I'm really looking forward to what you're thinking about for ‘You Make Me Sick’. Can you give us any little clues, we will be getting a video?
We haven't actually filmed one for this one. There might be a visual, I'm currently thinking about that at the moment, But we kind of thought, let's just strip it back, just make it about the music for this one. I'm sure there'll be something to go with it. But no movie kind of video for this one, but something fun.
Gorgeous. Next can we just talk about the fact that you'll be singing with The Chicks? That's really amazing. You've got your headline tour too, as well as The Chicks. Talk to me about all your live stuff.
I haven't performed in a little while so I'm so excited to just get right back into that. I still am pinching myself at the fact that I'm opening for The Chicks, like that's crazy to me. I could never have imagined that it would be opening for them. And my first headline tour, which is so exciting for me as well. I've only ever had one little headline show a couple of years ago, so it feels like a new experience again. Whole new band, I’m really excited, new show new songs. I'm really keen for people to come and listen and watch.
I remember seeing your mum stage dive at one of your shows, do you think we going to get another occurrence of that?!
You know what, you never know with her. In the nicest way possible, she loves to be a centre of attention. So it was no surprise that at my show she would jump up! Actually, she's done that with a couple of my shows but you never know she she may make another appearance, we’ll have to see!
You've been doing some incredible live things, I saw clips of you singing with Teddy Swims at the Enmore, that was beautiful.
Thank you. That was a really special moment for me. And the way it happened was just so unexpected and unplanned. In the space of like two weeks, I had gone from posting just a little open verse TikTok challenge for his song, to filming stuff with him in the TikTok office and then onstage with him, the next thing I knew, singing one of my favourite songs as well, so that was really special.
I love the fact that you're just harnessing all these little avenues for your music, it’s incredible. Obviously, we have my new favourite song ‘You Make Me Sick, you got headline tours, you’re meeting and singing with The Chicks. What else you got going on Carla?
I’m pretty sure I've spoken to you about Space Cowboy in the past, the clothing line that I've been working on. It's finally at the stage now I've gotten all the samples, everything's done, all the shots and stuff for it. So it's very, very close now. That's something that has taken up a lot of my time. And more music. I've been writing a lot recently, so it's just gonna be constant music next year.
‘You Make Me Sick’ is out now via Warner Music. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Carla Wehbe you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
October 22: The Chicks Tour Support – Sydney
October 22: The Chicks Tour Support – Brisbane
October 27: Headline Show – Melbourne
October 28: Headline Show – Brisbane
November 9: Headline Show – Sydney
Tickets and more information here
