SEPTEMBER 2024
Words by Vasili Papathanasopoulos
Photographs by Cybele Malinowski.
Since the release of her ARIA #1 sophomore album, Cry Forever, a lot has happened for Amy Shark. Mammoth tours that hit major cities and regional towns, a handful of ARIA nods, a spot on the panel of Australian Idol and even a Logie award. “There's been a lot of new things added to my life, which has been fun. Sometimes that's inspiring, especially with Idol,” she replies after I ask how these new facets of her career have contributed to her evolution as an artist and songwriter when working on her third studio album, Sunday Sadness. She notes in particular her new role on Idol has prompted an almost compartmentalised divide within her career, that resembles life before fame. “It feels like having like this weird job that then makes writing music fun again because it feels like my previous life where I'd go to work and then find a pocket in the day or evening to write songs. So I've really enjoyed that balance.” Shark took home the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent at the 2023 Logie Awards for her role on the singing competitions eighth season; the show, returning from a fourteen year hiatus. With this new duality within the day-to-day life of her career, Shark says she was able to focus more on the music and create art that left her feeling proud. “I feel like I've just gotten better at being able to articulate the story and setting the scene in every song lyrically, and also just the production of it - like what world it needs to sit in.”
Amy and I meet over zoom, merely days after Sunday Sadness has made its way into the world. “I’m seeing a lot of people using Babe on their stories, which I kind of thought they would,” she says when I ask her if she’s been surprised by which songs fans have initially resonated with. “My diehard Sharks that I monitor, they've been saying Babe is what they're really feeling. A lot of people like Slide Down The Wall. My Only Friend is what I'm hearing. And that's what I mean, it's been a really nice experience to see so many different songs getting a spotlight. So I think that's cool.” The varying selection of songs she’s listed is a testament to not only the albums versatility, but its universal nature. On her third full-length outing, Shark dances with the uncomfortable as she recalls on moments throughout her life. With time having passed, she is now able to look back with a clearer viewfinder and treat past relationships and situations with a newfound respect. “It's not like things that have happened today or even yesterday or even this year. It's things that I feel like I'm in a sweet spot in my life now where I can articulate the past and I can really look back on it and give everyone a fair go. I'm not bitter about everything and I'm not as jealous as I was, or selfish as I was. I can really just look at every situation that happened, and there was so many situations that have happened in the past for me to cherry pick from.” This approach allows for a more conversational and nuanced take on love, heartbreak and the age old friends-to-lovers trope, deriving from a place of closure and fulfilment. There’s more security and confidence when telling the story, and being able to see it from all perspectives.
Conversational lyricism unfurls throughout, with Shark painting vivid vignettes of her own life experiences to create shared moments with her listeners. Beautiful Eyes and Our Time Together touch on her upbringing, she battles unrequited love on Babe and Two Friends, explores the effects of life in the spotlight on I’m Sorry, and falls head over heels on Can I Shower At Yours. “There's such a buffet of topics… There's a lot of discussion around friends becoming more than friends, which I may have experience in. I kind of really like to set the scene with everything. I like everything to feel like a mini movie. There's so many beautiful things I've experienced and there's so much ugliness as well and so many feelings that I kind of let myself feel now. I don't let it overtake me.” Solidifying her place as one of the nations most engaging pop songwriters, Sunday Sadness is an eclectic mix of intimate vulnerability led by an internal monologue, paired with big brash moments. But Shark never dwells on the emotions she’s selected to create the record - she addresses them all with understanding and care, and allows them to remain as glowing moments of the past. The albums nostalgia-leaning thematics are represented in its sonic palette. Crafted with collaborator Dan Hume, the album brings together sonic threads of indie-pop, emo-punk and folk to create a genre-bending realm of delights. “I probably have to give some snaps to Dan Hume for that, just because in the mix process he really brings it back to my sound and really balances it out nicely. So nothing feels too out of place.” The album shines in its pacing. From laid-back soundscapes to high energy moments, Sunday Sadness captures a spectrum of emotions through its sound that further prompts its relatability. Shark sets the pace for me, sharing “I really feel like from start to finish it's like, you know, just before you start crying you feel a bit energetic. And then just before you start running, it's like you are laughing at a more playful song and then there's a bit of rage in there with Gone and then so many emo moments. And then that 'Sarah told Becky' bit, there's so much colour in it. There's so many bits I look forward to. That's what I loved about this album.” She goes on to call it a ‘no skips’ album, noting how her previous records would house a song or two that she quickly grew tired of, or would find herself unenthused by, by the time she reached the second verse.
The albums emphasis on melody and guitar riffs rings throughout, with each song effortlessly flowing to create a curated and considered listening experience. “I wanted it to be a complete body of work and from start to finish. I didn't care if one song didn't necessarily sound like a single as long as it made sense. Like, 'oh, okay I think this song fits beautifully here and this song really makes sense to be on the album because of this reason.' I really gave that a lot of thought this time.” Shark has previously stated that this album was born on Sundays. She cites a number of reason for this; she would be home on Sundays, it was an easier day to work with collaborators who were based overseas, emotions would rise towards the end of the week and it became the day when neurotic and adventurous thoughts took over. “It's just a bit more emo and a bit more, you can make the most neurotic, crazy decisions on a Sunday. Like Sundays I'll be like, 'we need to move to, we need to go live in London,' or 'we need to go and live in New Zealand,' or 'I've made a horrible decision, let's redo everything.' You know what I mean? And then you wake up the next day and you're like, 'life's fine, everything's good,' [laughs]. 'Why are we moving again? [laughs].” With this almost schedule-like approach to finessing the record, the road to Sunday Sadness also saw Shark work on the record in a number of settings - most notably at Peter Gabriel’s New World Studios, a location recommended to her by Hume. She notes The 1975 had just wrapped up a recording session prior to her arrival. The studio boasts its own on-site living quarters, allowing its inhabitants to completely immerse themselves within their work without distractions from the outside world. “You're locked in this world and you can get so much done. And that's all I cared about. I was like, I want to go there and I don't wanna waste time going out to dinners or going to the pub or playing pool. I've got so many songs, I've got so much to do. I felt sorry for Dan Hume because he suggested this place because he lives over there now. I was like so raring to go and just really put him to work. We just got into it, and the more hours that passed, the more songs we got into, the better they were. They were really coming to life like really quickly… Sometimes you can have demos and they just die in the studio, but nothing was dying.” It was here the vast majority of the record was born, before a final few tracks tied it all together. “Slide Down The Wall was one of the last ones. It's Nice To Feel This Way was one of the last ones. Two Friends really came together when I wrote that bridge, and then the Tom [DeLonge] thing came off. I was like, 'oh, this album's so good [laughs].”
Throughout her career, Shark has established herself as one of Australia’s prime live acts. Sold-out headline shows, festival appearances and world tours have all contributed to her success. In 2020 she won the ARIA Award for Best Australian Live Act - a category she has been nominated in five times. I ask her of the importance of live music and the impact its had on her life, to which she responds, “It's like the payoff for the years of work, and putting the album together.” As for what fans can expect from her upcoming Australian tour; “Well, I love pyro, so I think there's some moments in this album. I feel like being a little ballsy with the arrangement of the set list and I also feel like bringing back a couple of deep cuts from the catalogue. There's some wild ideas of how the show's gonna run and just placements of people and there's some really cool ideas happening. So I think it's gonna blow some minds when it comes to life.”
When speaking of the albums evolution, she shares this record began as puzzle pieces that she kept close to her chest. “My manager gets really frustrated because I don't really write anything down and I don't keep anyone across anything. It's all up here [points to her head]. So I'm like, 'yeah, I've got Gone, that's gonna be a good one. I've got, Beautiful Eyes.’ I've got this collage in my head of songs that I think are gonna be good.” Shark shies away from examining trends and buzz topics when it comes to songwriting, instead she leans into examining and dissecting universal emotions and topics. “I just feel like it's a real life album… It's shit we all say, it's shit we all feel I think it's shit we all care about [laughs]… It's always just a bonus when there's bullshit in there that I can make TikToks with or that's got a cool beat or whatever. But that's nowhere near on my mind. Everything's just, 'does it make me feel something? Is it just honest? Is it telling the story?' The rest is just a bonus.” With each album, it’s the pairing of the singers inimitable vocals and honest story telling that ties all the elements together. Across the record, the maturity of Shark’s vocals take centre stage. Many listeners may have first heard the singer due to her 2017 breakout hit, Adore. It’s interesting to trace how her vocals have gone from strength-to-strength over the past seven years, with Sunday Sadness capturing the light and shade of her voice. There's a formidable force within her performance, that is juxtaposed by the albums more tender moments, yet always retaining Shark's zesty spirit.
Focusing on collaborators, Shark has assembled her own Avengers-like lineup; Kid Harpoon, Matt Corby, Sam DeJong, Dann Hume, Jon Hume, Joel Little and Aaron Rubin. “I really kind of sought out the right people I thought for the right songs. I don't think I got one wrong. I did my research on everyone.” Shark has been working with Dann Hume since the release of her EP Night Thinker - a creative relationship that has blossomed as the years have passed. She breaks down for me what drew her to the remaining artists, “People like Matt Corby, I was like, 'well, I want Slide Down The Wall to be the opener for the album, and I want it to sound just other worldly and magical and beautiful.' And Matt, I've listened to his records and he manages to find those worlds. So that made sense. Kid Harpoon, I was just happy that he even knew my name. I was like, 'fuck okay, let's do it. Sure. Okay, man.' That was really a different way of working and I was just happy to throw myself in his universe and learn and write a cool song with him. So that was awesome. And then John Hume, I had a lot of acoustic stuff and I've heard a lot of stuff he's done with Dean Lewis, so I was like, 'he's gonna be perfect for Babe and Beautiful Eyes.' I kind of just got my stalk on. I kind of looked at it like a classroom. I was like, 'okay, this skillsets there, skillsets there.' In my head it makes sense. We'll see if it works on paper.”
Of course, there is one collaboration that stands out as the most anticipated. I tell her that with each album she seems to be collecting infinity stones, and with My Only Friend her gauntlet is complete. Working with blink-182’s Tom DeLonge on the track, the song follows Shark’s collaborations with DeLonge’s bandmates, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker. Interestingly, DeLonge was the first member of the trio Shark met, which she thought would have resulted in a collaboration earlier. “I was a big Blink fan. I went to heaps of Blink shows. Then really loved Angels and Airwaves. Flew to San Diego and went and saw an Angels and Airwaves show, went and did the VIP, met Tom gave him an EP. It was a really bad EP, it wasn't even under the name Amy Shark. It was horrendous. Can't believe he even cared. Then his assistant sort of kept an eye on me, and when everything sort of started happening, Tom came to my first San Diego show which was in 2018. Which is weird that he's the last one because I thought that he would be the first, but I did approach him and he was so busy with movies and he was doing so much with the government with, you know, UFOs, and he was writing books and he was so, so busy.” As she inched closer to working with the famed frontman, the reunion of blink-182 almost thwarted her plans. “The band weren't together, the band weren't even talking. Tom said, 'hey, I got some good news, but you can't tell anyone. The band's getting back together,' and I was so happy. But I was also like, 'they're going to be busy. They're gonna be writing out an album and I'm not gonna get Tom on my third album.' Because that's where my mind went straight away, I was like, 'I'm gonna get the Holy Trinity here, I'm gonna do it.' And then I was like, that's gonna create problems, and it really did. I had to work really hard. So many people to talk to. So many things for people to sign off on. And then it was off, then it was on, it was off, oh God. Then I sent Tom the song because I messed with it so much, like the production and it was really heavy for a minute. Then I turned it, stripped it back and I really loved that guitar riff that I wrote. He loved it, and then we all signed off and then the next minute, was done. I was like, we did it.”
With each album, the singer further cements her status as one of Australia’s most notable contemporary artists. One might think with that feat comes the pressures of outdoing each record, but for Shark that is not the case. “I don't know if I've got any of that in me. I think who I am is who I am. I think I'm only capable of just writing.” She tells me she has learnt that the pressures of success don’t hold any weight in the grand scheme of things, finding that the main lesson is to learn from the past and focus on creating art that makes you proud. “I just try and make it as good as I can and just, like this one, you just make something that you'd love and you've learnt from the last album. So it's like, 'oh, okay, cool. Yeah, I won't do that again.' Or I won't just be lazy and be like, 'yeah, that'll be fine. Just sign off on it.' I really went deep on it. I also never really cared much about the order [laughs] like I did on this one. I really was like, 'okay, does that fit?' It was like a real thing I wanted to nut out.” That meticulous attention to detail paired with her personable lyricism and beguiling performance is what makes Sunday Sadness Shark’s most captivating and engaging body of work to date.
Sunday Sadness is out now!
AMY SHARK THE SADNESS TOUR
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 2024 Presented by Mellen Events
SUPPORTED BY CULTURE WARS^, COAST ARCADE+, HUTCH* & FOOL NELSON#
TOWN HALL, AUCKLAND+
SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER
SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL, MELBOURNE^*
FRIDAY 18 OCTOBER
MAC 02, HOBART^*
SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER
ICC SYDNEY THEATRE, SYDNEY^*
FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER
RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE^*
SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER
AEC THEATRE, ADELAIDE^*
THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER
KINGS PARK & BOTANIC GARDEN, PERTH^#
SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER
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