Q&A: Embracing and Taking Charge of the Clouds and Silver Linings in Gretta Ray’s Newest Album ‘Positive Spin’
REALISTIC OPTIMISM LOOKS GOOD ON AUSTRALIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER — Gretta Ray. Her recently released sophomore album, Positive Spin, displays an array of matured emotions. In it, she processes grief while still finding the light at the end of the tunnel. Through upbeat and light pop instrumentals, Ray tackles her emotions in an effortlessly unique way, hoping to connect and send a message to her listeners about the ups and downs of pain and heartbreak.
A critically acclaimed coming-of-age record, her debut 2021 album, Begin to Look Around, was an instant hit with listeners, leading to a sold-out headlining tour, along with support shows to arenas across Australia. Most recently, Ray supported Sam Fender at his Australian stadium stop in July.
In “America Forever,” Ray’s most recent single prior to the release of Positive Spin, she collaborated with singer-songwriters Maisie Peters and Carol Ades. After only listening to a demo, Peters was immediately on board with the track and agreed to lend her vocals. The song is inspired by a trip to LA and Ray’s longing to stay in America, as a result of the overwhelming feeling of creative liberation she received while spending time and writing with Ades.
Luna sat down with Ray to discuss the creative process of writing Positive Spin, how her influences from Australia and America combine, and how her sound has evolved since her debut project. Read the interview below.
LUNA: I’m interested in learning more about where your love for songwriting came from and what inspired you to get to where you are now.
RAY: It’s hard to remember a time when songwriting wasn’t on my mind. I grew up listening to a lot of music because my parents always played it around the house. There are a lot of musicians in my family and in my community in general, so I’ve been in touch with songwriting forever. The more I started to adopt artists into my life [of] my own accord, the more inspired I was to create something of my own. I pretended to be an artist, sketching designs of potential album covers and writing tracklists, so it’s crazy now that it’s my actual job.
LUNA: Tell me more about your new album, Positive Spin, and how it builds inspiration from your debut album, Begin to Look Around.
RAY: Begin to Look Around was my first full-length record, and I had been working towards that for a long time. It was very much a coming-of-age record, and in hindsight I do believe there’s a fair bit of naivety in that record. I’ve come to own that because I talk about realizations and immersing myself in my emotions and then being led by them. Whereas, with a record like Positive Spin, I feel like I’m much more in control of my narrative, rather than just following the ups and downs. I suppose that probably just came with growing older. With heartbreaks and things like that, it’s no longer my first rodeo — I have more experience in this topic now. I also think it’s less innocent than Begin to Look Around, but there’s still a lot of fragility in Positive Spin.
LUNA: Has your sound evolved or changed in any way since Begin to Look Around?
RAY: This is my seventh year of being in the music industry, and when I started with two EPs before my debut album, they were more country-folk–oriented, with very organic instrumentation. Then with Begin to Look Around, I committed to transitioning into pop territory. It was a learning experience when it came to finding what authentically was me and balancing it out. I wanted to bridge the two worlds in a way that made sense to me. With Positive Spin, I feel like we’ve been able to delve into pop further, and it’s been a good journey so far getting to where I am now.
LUNA: What is the most important message that you’re hoping to get across to your listeners from Positive Spin?
RAY: I’ve written a record that lives in a very sunny, yellow, and uplifting space. Despite that aesthetic and general energy, I would never want it to be interpreted as toxic positivity. I want my audience to be able to recognize that the themes of this record still address the clouds while focusing on the silver lining as well, rather than just suppressing the bad and only addressing the good.
LUNA: How has being raised in Australia played into this album, on top of the taste of “America magic” that you’ve experienced?
RAY: Great question. We finished all of the production and vocals properly in Melbourne, where I live, and I love it here. I’m fortunate to have wonderful friends and collaborators on this record, and it was just a beautiful summer in Australia. The city of Melbourne is just as important as all of those international influences — I’m such a Melbourne girly, and my whole audience knows that I’m so grateful to have made this album here.
LUNA: What have been some of your favorite experiences so far in America?
RAY: I’ve had so many. The first time I traveled to America was when I was 15. I used to be in this community choir and we went on tour in America. I have a lot of fond memories of being in New York for the first time. It was humid and we were jet-lagged, singing “Party in the USA” in the staircase of the hotel. We were so overwhelmed and excited, and I feel like that almost childlike approach to perceiving America has stayed true to me working in this industry, as well.
LUNA: Did you run into any roadblocks while creating Positive Spin?
RAY: The largest one was the pandemic. Despite having put out my debut record in 2021, when we were starting to see signs of things getting better, Australia was still in a very strange position with the pandemic, and I was already writing for the next body of work before I released that album. The way it was presented as an obstacle ended up serving the album in a strange way: I just wrote a lot more because I was stuck inside, and I was even collaborating with the main producer of the record online. It was an obstacle, in a sense, but it also made the album what it is now.
LUNA: In your years of experience in the music industry, what are the biggest lessons or takeaways you’ve learned so far?
RAY: Writing a lot of songs was probably the biggest shift for me. I went from not writing many on my own to writing dozens and dozens of songs while working on a project. Something else I have to remind myself is not to worry too much about the world of social media. It’s a tool to share your music, but the real core of the project is the music itself and how much time I spend working on vocals, instrumentals, and writing. That’s what’s going to carry the project — not just how viral a TikTok goes. I think a lot of young emerging artists think that’s the most important thing, when that’s not true at all.
LUNA: What are you most excited about going back on tour this fall?
RAY: I’m most excited to see my beautiful and loyal fans who have been such champions throughout this project. They’ve shown up for me since day one and they’ve been anticipating it for so long. I can’t wait to see how they bring the songs into their own lives. When I see them in the crowd, they’ll be hearing those songs as their own stories rather than mine, and that brings me a lot of relief and excitement. I’m also really excited because I recently announced that my friend Cate will be opening for me. I met Cate through my wonderful friend, Maisie Peters, and everyone is so excited to hear that she’s coming to Australia.
