Q&A: Felicity Delivers an Unflinching Look at Heartache in Debut EP
FROM TENSE CONFESSIONALS TO SOUL-SOAKED ANTHEMS – Nashville based-Australian singer-songwriter Felicity has released her debut EP of stripped-back pop rock anthems You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul, via East Music Row Records. Her new EP encompasses the full spectrum of emotions from heartache to empowerment.
You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul opens with the tense and painful confessional “I Prefer You In My Head,” where Felicity’s evocative lyrics and haunting melodies create a vivid portrayal of longing and emotional conflict. This track sets the tone for the rest of the EP, establishing Felicity as a powerful storyteller unafraid to confront her vulnerabilities.
In stark contrast, “There’s Been A Lot Going On” is a fed-up and soul-soaked anthem that channels frustration and empowerment. The song’s gritty instrumentation and Felicity’s dynamic vocal performance make it a standout, resonating with anyone who has felt overwhelmed by the complexities of life and relationships.
However, the real gem of the EP is “Lovebomb.” This track showcases Felicity’s raw and growling vocals, perfectly encapsulating the emotional turbulence of being in the throes of a classic love bombing situation.
The music video for “Lovebomb” visually brings this theme to life. Felicity’s vision of capturing the peak of a love bombing experience led her to depict herself left at the altar, spiraling in a bathtub with a cocktail, still in her wedding dress. This imagery powerfully conveys the disorientation and heartbreak of being love bombed, making the video an unforgettable visual companion to the song.
“We really wanted to capture the feeling of the emotional turbulence that comes with being in the throes of a classic love bombing situation – a song that violently builds to a fever pitch with an almost one word chorus you can scream,” Felicity says. “For the ‘Lovebomb’ video we really wanted to capture the feeling of being love bombed at the highest level and nothing screams being love bombed like being left at the altar, am I right? So we took that concept and went one step further – what would the aftermath of that feeling look like? We decided it would probably be spiraling in a bathtub with a cocktail, still in the wedding dress of course.”
Throughout You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul, Felicity’s ability to blend stripped-back pop rock with deeply personal storytelling results in an EP that is both sonically engaging and emotionally resonant.
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
FELICITY: Thank you very much Luna for having me first of all. Second of all, I would say I started to really find my footing when I got into more 90s pop-punk music, mostly pop with a little bit of punk and a little bit of anger behind it. I listened to a lot of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple; just a lot of angry femme pop with lyrical depth. When I moved to Nashville in November of 2021, I fell in love with the musicality and the production style here. I don't do country, but a lot of people here do country and just have such an amazing instrumentation capability that I didn't find anywhere else and that definitely inspires it.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
FELICITY: I want everybody to feel a little less lonely. I feel like some of the thoughts I have, I'm just like, ‘wow, why do I think this way?’ Let me write a song about it. I think there's nothing more special than when someone says this spoke to me, ‘I've been through exactly the same thing and thank you for putting it into words.’ I don't know what else to do, like my trauma response is songwriting.
LUNA: You just released your debut EP You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul and a huge congratulations is in order. What is the inspiration behind the project and how did the title come to be?
FELICITY: Thank you. I always wanted to put out a larger body of work, of course. I created this project with the help of my friends and what I was writing felt true and it was what I was going through. Once the songs started to take a sonic shape and they started to make sense together, that's when I really started to hone in on them as one body. Every time I would perform, I prefer “In My Head” live because that first line of the bridge, ‘you take me to dinner, but you'll never feed my soul.’ That speaks to me, and it's definitely one of my favorite lyrics that I've ever written. In my experiences in love and in my career thus far, I've sat at a lot of tables and never really been fed. I think it was a metaphor for everything I've been through throughout the process of creating this record, which is funny because now I feel quite satiated.
LUNA: Was there any intention in the way you structured the songs in the way you did with “I Prefer You In My Head” being the opener and “So Called Rich Man” being the closing track?
FELICITY: “In My Head” was the first single that we released off the EP and it was also the first single listening-wise that you're going to hear because I want it to be a straightforward introduction to me, my voice and my lyricism to my potential audience. I wanted to put it out because it felt very raw and very authentic.
LUNA: What is your favorite song from You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul and why do you love it? Is there a certain lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
FELICITY: I love them all for different reasons. I wrote “There’s Been A Lot Going On” because I really needed to write it at a time in my life when I needed to put what I was experiencing into work. I was working a bunch of random bartending jobs and office jobs randomly to finish my record. I was so burnt out. I'd be driving home at 3 a.m. and I’ve got a session in six hours and my voice is shot because I’ve been slinging beers all night. I was working so much that I was losing sight of reality, and then the news was really heavy and there was just a lot going on. I had a session the next day and I was with my producer Austin, who I did the whole record with, and it just spilled out. I couldn’t handle my back breaking trying to hold myself up and be there for everything else. My mom always said there's been a lot going on. Whenever I was growing up, there's too much happening in your life and things start going wrong but it isn't necessarily your fault, there's just far too much for you to carry as one person.
LUNA: What was the hardest song for you to write, either lyrically, emotionally or sonically?
FELICITY: All my songs write themselves because I like to get them out if they're worth it. I prefer “In My Head” which is actually not about me, but instead it’s about my best friend and she was helping me write. She was going through a really bad relationship and breakup. It was just an emotionally difficult write because it was so honest, brutal and visceral, and it was hard to see her go through that but at the end of the day, we got a beautiful result that brought us closer and it helped her process it.
LUNA: One of the EP’s standout singles “Lovebomb” has an accompanying music video. I love how raw and in-your-face it gets. I would love to hear anything you would like to say about its inspirations and your experience filming it.
FELICITY: It was the first song I ever wrote myself in Nashville. Dylan Taylor and I wrote it together on her guitar. We always knew it was one of our favorite songs. It was just really fun to sing live and people are singing it with you in the audience. It was a really special moment. We knew that we wanted it to be the feature track for this EP. The music video came together really quickly. I came back from a short stint of shows on the East Coast and we had to turn this video around and my best friend and I were brainstorming ideas. She had the idea to pick out a wedding dress and film it in a bathtub. We drove to every Goodwill and secondhand shop in Nashville and couldn't find the right dress and finally landed up at this outlet. I bought the dress and it fit me perfectly.
LUNA: Did you have any personal breakthroughs or lessons while creating You Take Me to Dinner But You’ll Never Feed My Soul?
FELICITY: Some of these songs have been sitting on for two years. There was a point in time where I was wondering if this music would ever come out. Now that I'm working with creators around me, I've just learned that you can trust and be a little more laid back in your approach and just surround yourself with people that you know are just as in love with this project as you are. I made this whole record top to bottom visually and sonically with my friends, and they all believe in it, and I believe in it. It's been a really beautiful process. I think it's taught me that you really can fall in love with every element of making a record, even the things you might not feel are your strong suits.
LUNA: What messages, emotions or story do you hope your listeners can take away from the project?
FELICITY: I just hope that when people listen to “There's Been A Lot Going On” and “So Called Rich Man,” they put their shoulders back and walk into a room and own it and stick to their guns. This is a real coming of age record for me. There's tales of some of my first heartbreaks and some of the people I had to withstand in my career to be where I am now and write this record and have it out. I think it shows a lot of things that I had to go through in order to gain strength to overcome those things. I hope it's a safe space that leaves people feeling a little more empowered to be authentic to themselves and do what they want to do.
LUNA: Since it’s your debut EP, how did you celebrate and how has the support been from fans and loved ones?
FELICITY: It's been amazing. My cousin sent me a really nice bouquet of flowers that I get to look at everyday. We threw a little get together when the EP dropped. I performed the whole EP one time acoustically one more time before it was released into the world. It's just been amazing to have everything out and to have something to talk about. For the longest time I have had all these songs and I couldn't talk about it, and now I have songs and they're out and you can listen to them and tell me what you think.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would like to share with Luna?
FELICITY: Pretty unstoppable. Feeling pretty good. I have an amazing team behind me and the feedback of the music has been really surprising and lovely. I've got a lot more shows to play this year and then we have four more songs to come out before the end of the year.
