Ebony Day is one of music’s rising stars. She became the first unsigned act ever to win MTV’s Brand New Artist award this year and released her debut EP ‘The Beginning’ earlier this month. To think it all started when the 20 year old singer/songwriter decided to share her music on YouTube. Her channel now boasts over 100 videos, 20 million views and 170’000+ subscribers. Ebony even performed with Conor Maynard on her channel before he achieved his worldwide status. But as her career goes from strength to strength it proves she is more than just a YouTube sensation. Flavourmag sat down with the young talent for a brief chat to discuss her new music, her thoughts on YouTube and what fans can expect next.
What was it like winning the MTV Brand New Artist of 2013?
Crazy, it was so strange. I really didn’t expect it. I didn’t think it would happen. I was big fans of everyone in the competition and I thought someone else would definitely get it. When I won it was incredible!
YouTube essentially broke you, without this platform do you think you would have been noticed by the music industry?
No, not at all. If I didn’t do YouTube I’d be living at home, doing a normal job. Before YouTube I used to clean my school, everyone would go home and then I’d hoover the classrooms. It was the most unglamorous thing ever, everyone would ask do you wanna come out and I’d say nope gotta hoover (laughs).
You did a duet with Conor Maynard covering Chris Brown’s ‘Next To You’ a few years ago on YouTube, are you happy for his success?
I’m just so happy for him because it is really hard to break away from the whole YouTube thing..people always see you as a YouTube artist and not a regular artist. I’m just really happy that he his known now for his original music and people take him seriously.
Do you still speak to him?
We’ll bump into each other and we’ll say hi but he is very busy. We don’t text or anything.
So will there be any future duets with Conor Maynard?
Hopefully, it would be really cool if it went from doing that cover on YouTube to an original song so maybe in the future…
What would you describe as your style of music?
I would say pop music for the girls and quite acoustic.
You’re known for the covers but what can fans expect from your debut EP ‘The Beginning’?
Just songs that you can relate to, they are songs about relationships. Hopefully it can help people get through things or make them a bit happy.
Why did you decide to go with ‘Brush You Off My Heart’ as the first single?
It kind of stood out to me, it is about a boy that is quite recent. It’s quite fresh and new, so I wanted that to be the first single. Also I think the song is very catchy and more of the fun ones’ on the EP.
Do you think after hearing the song he might want to get back together?
No way! I’m glad that’s out of the way (laughs)
So you use your relationships as inspiration when writing songs?
Yeah but sometimes my friends will tell me a story,they’ll be really happy or upset about a relationship they’re in. So I use them as inspiration too. Sometimes I get inspiration from films or books but mostly it’s drawing on things I’ve been through.
Before the interview started we found out a random fact that you like watching Nickelodeon, why that channel in particular?
I like just sitting down and putting on the TV and either watching Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel because it is the easiest thing to watch. It just like watching Jeremy Kyle (laughs). But Kenan and Kel was my ultimate favourite show!
You’re an independent artist would you like to one day sign to a major label?
Hopefully, I’ve got this far but now I need a little bit of help going further in my career..so eventually. It doesn’t need to be right now because I’m having a good time and doing gigs. I want do an album and a tour so a label would be quite helpful.
Is your future album going to have the same musical direction as now?
Well I want to experiment a little bit more because I have more time to find the songs and take time writing them. But I think it will pretty much be the same style.
So apart from a possible album, what is next for Ebony Day?
I’m hoping to go on a tour, either a small one of mine or a support tour and then releasing some more original music. But we’ll see where this EP goes and we’ll take it from there.
Anything you would like to tell the Flavourmag readers?
My EP ‘The Beginning’ is out now and it’s on iTunes. It would awesome if they could get it, please! (laughs)
For more follow Ebony Day on Twitter @EbonyDay1
Download ‘The Beginning’ here: http://tinyurl.com/EbonyDayEP
