Central Coast NSW country-pop artist Ella Powell has been evolving her sound and storytelling over her last few singles, and her latest, ‘Hate My Clothes’, has the most intriguing title yet.

As Powell tells me in this new interview, the song began as a feeling rather than a concept. She had a verse and a chorus and took those to co-writer and producer Ben Horsley, who has worked on her last two singles.

The title of the song was Horsley’s suggestion, and it is not a song about Powell needing a new wardrobe but, rather, about finding an identity – something that most humans go through in their teens and early twenties, and which can be more pressing for artists in an era when brand is so important and artists are trying to, well, make art.

Powell started performing at eight and released her first proper single, ‘Paper Town’, in her mid-teens – it’s a song she tends to keep in her set, despite releasing several singles since, because it brought many fans to her for the first time. She is now in her early twenties and, for the first time, says she knows exactly who she is as an artist and exactly what she wants to make.

A year or two of releases are already mapped out, writing sessions are ongoing with Horsley, and production on new material has begun. At the core of Powell’s songwriting is a drive to tell stories. As she tells me, she writes several songs simultaneously to reduce attachment to any one, and is comfortable abandoning material that isn’t working, which is a discipline she has developed over years of writing. Her ideas come from overhearing conversations, scrolling book titles online, and using random word generators as prompts – I hadn’t heard of anyone using that last one, and am now intrigued!

It’s always exciting to see what Powell comes up with next, and also lovely to talk to her, so I hope you enjoy this conversation.

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