At just 16 years old, the Sydney-born songstress has created an impressively complex body of work.
Packed with full-blown pop songs and textured vocals, Irie’s soulful lyrics present the “ideas and emotions of a 16-year old girl in this world trying to be seen.” The artist candidly shares her perspective with raw emotion, universal stories and messages, and offers a glimpse into her life during a tumultuous time.
The EP takes its name from the life changing five-week period that saw Evie work alongside fellow Australian, producer Michael Fatkin. “It was a strange start of emotions and stores of how I was feeling at that point in time,” Irie describes.
In the EP’s opener ‘Bitter’, Irie learns to not let her own insecurities hold her back.
Wise beyond her years, the artist explains, “I’m judging myself and I’m thinking everyone is judging me, when really I’m my own enemy. The song is me escaping that mindset.” On ‘Stupid Things,’ we hear the desires of a teenaged Irie as she navigates adolescence with restrictive parents. The track playfully reveals her impulses to get in trouble, waste her money, make mistakes, and discover who she is in her own way.
In a market saturated with negativity, Irie chooses happiness on ‘The Optimist’, which involves the artist chanting “I could be happy all the time.”
Irie explains the inspiration behind the track, “When I went in to write and was listening to the radio, song after song was all negativity.”
The anthem asserts that darkness is temporary. Irie finds strength in vulnerability on the penultimate track ‘Vulnerable.’ The down-tempo ballad features the Sydney-native singing “don’t think I’m not strong when I’m weak.” On the EP’s final song ‘Sink Swim,’ Irie accepts the turbulent nature of her life as a young creative, repeating “if you ain’t fallin’, you ain’t tryin’.”
A self-assured Irie declares that she has found her sound with 5 Weeks in LA. “I’m just so lucky that I found it so early on in my career.”
The sixteen-year-old pop prodigy has produced an unpretentious pop record that echoes Lorde’s earlier sound, with a contemporary, unique spin. 5 Weeks in LA reveals Irie’s sense of confidence and maturity that very few sixteen-year-olds possess, and sets her up for a successful career in music.
Watch Evie Irie’s debut single ‘Bitter’ below: