Throwback Recap: Episode 6

Emma Elizabeth Steen. A name that everyone must recognize. That is the name of a woman who pushed through to become an incredible singer/songwriter of the band “Prophet’s Guild”. When I first interviewed her, I had to admit I was impressed. She showed the resilience, dedication, and talent in her craft that brought her a long way. That said, Episode 6, I feel, is an underrated gem amongst my roster.

My favorite part of the interview was when I asked her about a low she was grateful for. It started when Emma was at Purchase College. She’d gotten into the school for theater but felt out of place in that field, and instead found her true passion in music. Therefore, she decided to apply for the music conservatory. Spending her entire paycheck from a job she had for the audition, she wrote her music, recorded her demo, and sent it to the conservatory.

After patiently waiting for some time, the head of the conservatory finally told her the worst possible news: “I’m sorry, no one even got it. We had so many applications.” She applied too late for her demo to be heard. Needless to say, that was a crushing blow, but not crushing enough for Emma. She went back and asked about the next deadline. After two more rounds of auditions, she finally got in. “I think if I hadn’t’ been rejected so hard after so much work, and then bounced back, I wouldn’t have known music was for me.” Her passion gave the strength to keep moving forward.

I asked this one question that every artist should think about. “Music is always changing, and change is unpredictable… What do you want the changes to be?” In her opinion, the evolution of music technology has made production and recording even easier, and this offers an opportunity to make music more collaborative. Technology has brought more people together through outside platforms, like social media. Why wouldn’t people want to connect through collaboration? Music is what brings people together after all.

There’s so much to unpack in the interview with Emma Steen, but I want to end on this: anything she wants to do, she’s proven she can accomplish. Emma, if you’re reading this, keep doing your thing with Prophet’s Guild, and always take lows in stride.