A raw, vulnerable reckoning, Emily Wurramara’s fiery “Midnight Blues” is achingly intimate and all-consuming: A cathartic eruption from her innermost depths that grows from the most tender sonic seedling into a dramatic explosion of pure passion and visceral pain.
follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist
Stream: “Midnight Blues” – Emily Wurramara
It’s precious to show people why this life is beautiful and worth sticking around for; being vulnerable in itself has so much strength and staunchness.
Sometimes our pain comes out of us through shouts and cries, and other times it’s more like an exhale; a soft whisper on the wind, felt in the gut more than in the ears. For singer/songwriter Emily Wurramara, you could say both of these happened at once. Her latest single is achingly intimate and all-consuming: A cathartic eruption from her innermost depths that grows from the most tender sonic seedling into a dramatic explosion of raw passion and visceral pain.
Throughout that musical and emotional journey, Wurramara wears her heart unconditionally on her sleeve, dwelling in her darkness and finding strength in sharing her truths – as though the very act of singing them, and speaking them aloud, is in itself a form of reclamation and empowerment. This is her cleanse; this is her reckoning; these are her “Midnight Blues.”
See the things they seem to grow,
beckoning you show me oh,
I can’t really tell the truth,
where is all of this to lead?
I don’t think that,
that is gonna change your mind,
The things all I’m saying
My love, my love
For once in my life I choose,
there is nothing here I’ve proved,
Can’t ya take the things I win?
Begging and beckoning,
begging and beckoning
How was I supposed to know?
How can we ever grow?
There is all these things I’ve seen
What am I swallowing?
– “Midnight Blues,” Emily Wurramara
Released April 3, 2024 via ABC Music, “Midnight Blues” is the beautifully vulnerable, brutally honest upheaval of a heavy heart and tormented soul. Emily Wurramara’s breathtaking second song of the year arrives just two months after the ARIA-nominated, multi-award-winning Australian artist returned to the spotlight with “Magic Woman Dancing,” a spellbinding, provocative mystic folk song “that builds a fire within,” as Atwood Magazine wrote upon its release: “A powerful and profound seduction, ‘Magic Woman Dancing’ inspires us to dive into ourselves, do the dance of self-expression, and discover our inner light.”
A passionate songwriter, storyteller, and performer based in Nipaluna (Hobart, Australia) and hailing from the Warnindhilyagwa tribe, Emily Wurramara has emerged as a singular voice in the Australian music scene since her debut just eight years ago.
She takes pride in her ability “to evoke feeling via intimacy and the appreciation of life’s subtleties,” and just as she did on “Magic Woman Dancing,” the smoldering “Midnight Blues” sees her building another fire – albeit one of a slightly different nature from its predecessor. She comes alive in an emotionally charged and churning chorus, pounding drums and thunderous guitars building a wall of intense energy around her charismatic, aching voice:
I’m singing, singing
Midnight blues, midnight blues
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Midnight blues, midnight blues,
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Like midnight blues, midnight blues,
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Midnight blues midnight blue blues,
Midnight blue, I see you too
“Midnight Blues” is the product of intense inner pain and reeling – there’s no doubt about that – but for Wurramara, this song also proved to be a kind of salvation.
When we pour those heavy feelings out of ourselves and into something else, especially our art, that action is a form of cleansing and catharsis. That’s not to say she won’t ever have those midnight blues again, but this song is a testament to her lived experience, and in a way, she’ll never be alone in those feelings again.
“It’s precious to show people why this life is beautiful and worth sticking around for; being vulnerable in itself has so much strength and staunchness,” Wurramara tells Atwood Magazine. “I want to help people to release, cry, and let it out – this is normal because we live in a f**ed up society, of course we feel shit – I want ‘Midnight Blues’ to be a safe space to feel.”
“I look at [my daughter] Kiki and think, how can I make this place better, safe, and peaceful? When I wrote this song, I had just spent New Years watching Electric Fields with my mum, gagu Shellie Morris, Toni Childs, and a couple of other friends at Woodford Folk Festival (2017/18). I got separated from the crew and ended up down at the lake. 2017 was a big year for me – I had Kiki, I tried to commit twice that year, I drunk myself silly, I had bad postpartum and was trying to be a mum and a good person. I sat there and cried my eyes out. There was this fulla who came up wearing this weird looking octopus hat and bright flowy clothes, he asked me if I was alright and I turned around and reckoned “oh you know brother, midnight blues.” I went home, I was so sad, so lost, laid down these keys on GarageBand, just pressed record and sang whatever came out.”
“The lyrics haven’t changed since then – they don’t make sense, but it’s a reflection on my life, my truth, my pain. The phrase “singing with me, perplexing me with this tune” implies that the blues is both comforting and confusing at the same time; things are happening within you and around you, immersed in your emotions, perhaps finding solace in music, but also struggling to understand the source or meaning of your own feelings, how growing is uncomfortable but living your freedom is worth that. At the same time, I was getting my tattoos done; the way this song was made was just as chaotic as my journey, but I’m still here, still a great mum, and look at all the things I’ve done.”
There are all these fancy things we’ve been all accounting in,
I’ve been there, we’ve all been there before
Fairy lights under balloons, glad I spent this New Years with you
There are things that I’ve been lying too…
But you don’t know me, know me, know me best
I don’t need to distress how I feel around you
And these midnight blues…
Wurramara was in a painful place when she brought her “Midnight Blues” to life, and yet when we hear this song, we don’t just feel her darkness; we feel her light as well.
As her musical fever dream reaches its fierce crescendo, Wurramara is no longer numb, no longer aching, no longer drowning in sorrow; she rises and roars with the heat of the sun, shining a bold, bright energy out into the universe as if to say, “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere: I’m sticking around.” What began as a beacon of sorrows ends in a blaze of glory as Wurramara invites all to join in her euphoric revelry, “Hey Jude”-style.
And just like that, we’ve all got the “Midnight Blues” in the very best of ways.
Midnight blues, midnight blues
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Midnight blues, midnight blues,
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Like midnight blues, midnight blues,
Singing with me, perplexing this tune
Midnight blues midnight blue blues,
Midnight blue, I see you too
— —
:: stream/purchase Midnight Blues here ::
:: connect with Emily Wurramara here ::
Stream: “Midnight Blues” – Emily Wurramara
— — — —
Connect to Emily Wurramara on
Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore
© Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore
:: Today’s Song(s) ::
follow our daily playlist on Spotify
:: Stream Emily Wurramara ::
