Emma Blackery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Emma Blackery
Blackery, looking at the camera
Blackery in April 2016
Background information
Birth nameEmma Louise Blackery
Born (1991-11-11) 11 November 1991 (age 30)
Basildon, Essex, England
OriginBrighton
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • author
  • YouTuber
  • record producer
Instruments
Years active2012–present
LabelsAntiFragile, RWG
YouTube information
Channel
Genre
  • Music
  • comedy
  • health
Subscribers1.31 million[1]
Total views144 million[1]
Catchphrase(s)"Catch ya later!"
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2013
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2015
Updated: 29 May 2021

Emma Louise Blackery (born 11 November 1991) is an English singer-songwriter, YouTube vlogger, record producer, and author.[2][3][4] Active since 2012, Blackery has released EPs, singles, and Vevo music videos. She has toured with Busted, and headlined tours for her debut studio album Villains, released on her RWG Records label in 2018.

In 2015, Blackery's main YouTube channel had over one million subscribers.[5][6] She performed and was a panelist at YouTube events (including Summer in the City and VidCon),[7] and has contributed twice to the YouTube Rewind video series. Blackery's book, Feel Good 101: The Outsiders' Guide to a Happier Life, is based on her 2013 Feel Good 101 video series.

Music career[]

Debut and early success (2012–2018)[]

Blackery released her debut EP, Human Behaviour, in early 2012[8] followed by her second EP, Distance, in July 2013. A music video for the lead track, "Go the Distance," was produced by Arthur Walwin.[9][10] Her third EP, Perfect, was released on 11 November 2014.[11] Its title track topped the UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart for one week, and entered the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart at number eight.[12] In 2015, Elle included Blackery on its "30 Women Under 30 Who Are Changing the World" list.[13]

Jason Perry produced Blackery's fourth EP, Sucks to Be You, which was released in 2016.[14][15] Its title track peaked at number 85 on the Scottish Singles Chart.[16] On 4 April 2016, Blackery announced that she would join pop punk band Busted on their Pigs Can Fly tour.[17] "Sucks to Be You" was the runner-up for the first Summer in the City Song of the Year award.[18] After touring with Busted, Blackery toured on her own and performed her music at other YouTube events.[19]

She released her fifth EP, Magnetised, on 26 May 2017.[20][21] It charted at number 63 on the UK Albums Chart,[12] and peaked at number five on the UK Independent Albums Chart and number two on the Official Independent Album Breakers Chart.[22][23] On 6 August, Blackery received a Summer in the City Song of the Year award for "Nothing Without You".[24] The cover art for Magnetised was featured at the Apple Keynote event for the iPhone X in September 2017.[25][4][12]

Villains (2018–2020)[]

Blackery founded her independent record label, RWG Records, in 2018 and began work on her debut studio album Villains.[26][27] On 16 March 2018, she released the lead single "Dirt", produced by Toby Scott.[27][28] The song, on Spotify's New Music Friday UK playlist,[29][30] was described by Record of the Day as a "slick combination of Scandi-pop" and "sassy American pop";[27] Blackery described "Dirt" as "best served cold".[31] On 3 May 2018 she released her second single "Agenda" along with a lyric video.[32] On 22 May 2018 she released the music video for "Agenda" followed by a lyric video for "Icarus" and a music video for "Take Me Out".[28][33][34][35]

Blackery, with a tattooed arm, holding a guitar
In Brighton, 2018

Blackery released Villains, on 31 August 2018.[36][37] The album contains songs written in collaboration with Toby Scott, Maxwell Cooke, and Peter Hutchings.[38][39] BroadwayWorld noted that "Petty" "flirts with tropical house",[28] and the Express & Star cited elements of power pop.[40] Lisa Hafey, praising "Third Eye"'s "upbeat disco sound" and "nice ABBA-y vibe", called Villains "a bit of a feminist album".[36] In June Blackery performed "Third Eye" live at the 9th VidCon Night of Awesome.[41] Blackery then partnered with HMV for a UK tour. Villains reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart and number 18 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.[42][43][44] Thomas Smith noted in an NME blog how Apple events helped Sofi Tukker, Emma Blackery, and Odesza in their careers.[45]

The European Villains Tour, planned for March 2018, was postponed until October.[46][47][48] London based singer-songwriter Lilly Ahlberg was the tour's special guest.[49] The three-week tour began at Oslo's Parkteatret on 4 October, followed by performances in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Sugarfactory (Amsterdam), Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Academy 2 (Manchester), O2 Institute2 (Birmingham), The Garage (Glasgow), and Tramshed (Cardiff) before ending at KOKO in London on 25 October.[50][51] A Never Enough Notes reviewer at KOKO saw "angst, passion, and energy in every word" and wrote that Blackery has "a knack for live shows; full of attitude, high energy and a phenomenal vocal performance".[52]

Blackery released "Cute Without You", produced with Toby Scott, in April 2019.[44][53] In July 2019, she performed at the Evoke festival in Brentwood and for BBC Radio 5 Live, where Nihal Arthanayake interviewed her for his Headliners series.[54][55] In December 2019 she performed an unreleased song titled "Plot Holes" at SitC Winter Edition at the NEC.[56]

Sixth EP and Girl In A Box (2020–present)[]

Blackery released her sixth EP, My Arms Are Open, on 15 May 2020.[57] The lead single "Wolves' was released on 2 April 2020 ahead of the EP.[58] She went on to release lyric videos for songs "Plot Holes" and "History Of Touches".

On 10 December 2020 Blackery released a standalone single titled "Blossom"[59]

On 22 November 2020, Blackery announced during a YouTube video that her second studio album was in production, due to be released in 2021.[60] On 9 June 2021, Blackery revealed her second album's title, Girl In A Box, through a series of tweets, where she posted the album's cover art, alongside the release date of 27 August 2021.[61] These tweets include the full tracklist, revealing a total of ten songs, which includes the previously released singles "Crying", "Brutus" and "My Terms",[62] as well as the announcement of a UK tour to promote the album, which is scheduled for February 2022.[63]

Other work[]

YouTube[]

Blackery was initially inspired by Shane Dawson, Smosh, Dan Howell,[6] Phil Lester and, in 2017, by Troye Sivan.[37] In 2018, Blackery had three active YouTube channels; other channels have been deleted,[6] re-branded,[64] or left inactive.[65]

  • Emma Blackery – Blackery's main channel, created in May 2012, on which she hosts vlogs, music videos, comedy sketches, and other content.[5] Although she began to develop a following by reading excerpts from Fifty Shades of Grey on her channel, the videos were removed due to copyright complaints.[64] In 2018, the channel had nearly 1.5 million subscribers.[66]
  • EmmaBlackeryVEVO – created to upload her Vevo music videos, including "Nothing Without You", "Magnetised", "Don't Come Home" (lyric video), "Dirt" (acoustic version), "Agenda" (lyric video), "Icarus" (lyric video), and Take Me Out.[67]
  • Vloggery – dedicated to vlogs, including her IPOAD series of longer videos and other content not on her main channel.[21] Blackery presented Summer in the City 2017 in three videos. EmmaBlackeryVEVO, Vloggery, and the Topic channel have been closed to subscription since May 2019, and all videos are on the main channel.[68][69]

In 2013, Blackery participated in YouTube's Geek Week,[70][71] and Grace Helbig featured her in a Not Too Deep podcast the following year.[72] She received a Gold Creator Award for having over one million subscribers in 2015,[6] and joined PewDiePie's now-defunct Revelmode network,[73] won on Tom Scott's Game On show, was spotlighted by YouTube as one of 18 #MadeForYou UK YouTubers,[74] and appeared in the Red Bull TV documentary Kings of Content with Louis Cole the following year.[75] She expressed her unhappiness with YouTube Rewind after two appearances,[76] and The Guardian cited Blackery as one of three case studies of pressure and YouTube burnout in 2018.[77]

Some of her most-viewed videos are "If Tampon Commercials Were Honest",[78] "The Sims in Real Life",[79] and "If Websites Started Dating".[80] Blackery's "My thoughts on Google+" video went viral in 2013,[6][81] after Tubefilter featured it as the best reaction to a new YouTube comment system.[82] Blackery sang it again in November 2018 to celebrate the end of Google+.[83] In December 2016, TenEighty included her "YouTube Heros (Parody)" as one of their "Five of the Best: Parody Videos".[84]

Writing[]

Blackery wrote Feel Good 101: The Outsiders' Guide to a Happier Life (based on her 2013 Feel Good 101 video series),[6] addressing depression, self-harm, anxiety and other issues.[85] The book was published in September 2017.[86][87][88]

Personal life[]

Blackery grew up in Basildon, Essex, finished sixth form at Bromfords School in Wickford,[89] and currently lives in Birmingham.[90] Her half-sister was born in 2007.[6] Blackery worked as a waitress before beginning her career as musician and YouTuber.[37][66]

In 2015, Blackery disclosed that she had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome[91] and supported Liberty in North Korea.[92] She is a WWE and Zelda fan with a Triforce tattoo, often visible in videos and images.[72][93] TenEighty interviewed Blackery and noted that she admits "her flaws and lays her damages out for everyone to see".[6]

Her music is influenced and inspired by Blink-182, Green Day, Tessa Violet, The White Stripes, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Avril Lavigne, Placebo, Nine Inch Nails, Twenty One Pilots,[94][95] and Taylor Swift.[93] On #WomanCrushWednesday 2017, The Daily Dot quoted YouTube's Culture and Trends team lead Earnest Pettie as calling Blackery "a thoughtful, funny, ferocious feminist unafraid of having an opinion".[21]

Discography[]

Albums[]

Title Peak chart
position 		Release details
UK
[42]
Villains 24
Girl in a Box —
  • Released: 27 August 2021
  • Label: AntiFragile Music
  • Formats: Digital, CD, LP

EPs[]

Title Peak chart
position 		Release details
UK
[42]
Human Behaviour —
  • Released: 17 May 2012
  • Label: Independent
  • Formats: Digital
Distance —
  • Released: 16 July 2013
  • Label: Independent
  • Formats: Digital, CD
Perfect —
  • Released: 11 November 2014
  • Label: Fireflight[96]
  • Formats: Digital, CD
Sucks to Be You —
  • Released: 27 May 2016
  • Label: Independent
  • Formats: Digital, CD
Magnetised 63
  • Released: 26 May 2017
  • Label: Emma Blackery Ltd.[97]
  • Formats: Digital, CD, LP
My Arms Are Open —
  • Released: 15 May 2020
  • Label: RWG Records
  • Formats: Digital, CD

Singles[]

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK Sales
[98] 		SCO
[16]
"Go the Distance" 2013 — — Distance
"The Promise" — —
"My Thoughts on Google+" — — Non-album single
"Perfect" 2014 — — Perfect
"Next to You"
(feat. Arthur Walwin) 		— —
"I've Been Worse" 2015 — — Non-album singles
"Your Own Shoes" — —
"Sucks to Be You" 2016 — 85 Sucks to Be You
"Nothing Without You" 2017 — — Magnetised
"Magnetised"[99] — —
"Don't Come Home" — —
"Dirt"[27] 2018 47 56 Villains
"Dirt (acoustic)"[100] — — Non-album single
"Agenda" — — Villains
"Icarus" — —
"Take Me Out" — —
"Cute Without You"[44] 2019 — — Non-album single
"Wolves" 2020 — 98
[101] 		My Arms Are Open
"Blossom” — — Non-album single
"Crying” 2021 — — Girl in a Box
"Brutus” — —
"My Terms” — —
"Shadowplay” — —
"Ridicule" — —

Bibliography[]

  • Feel Good 101: The Outsiders' Guide to a Happier Life (Sphere, 2017, ISBN 978-0751569230)

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ Emma Blackery [@emmablackery] (4 March 2014). "My middle name is Louise. LOUISE. LIKE EVERY OTHER EMMA ON THIS PLANET" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 26 August 2015 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Emma Blackery (2012). "Emma Blackery FAQ". emmablackery.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013.
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  5. ^ a b Emma Blackery's channel on YouTube.
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  7. ^ Summer in the City (8 August 2014). Becoming YouTube Panel – #SitC2013 on YouTube.
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  9. ^ Emma Blackery (21 July 2013). Go The Distance (Official Video) on YouTube.
  10. ^ "THE UPLOAD TOUR 3 – Emma Blackery, BriBry and Dave Giles". theacademydublin.com. 2014. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014.
  11. ^ "Perfect EP by Emma Blackery". iTunes Store. 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014.
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  13. ^ "30 Women Under 30 Who Are Changing The World". Elle. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
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  28. ^ a b c TV News Desk (22 June 2018). "Emma Blackery Releases New Single 'Icarus'". BroadwayWorld. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Emma is forced to consider her own part in her downfall
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  31. ^ "We Talk Music in Our EXCLUSIVE Interview With Emma Blackery!". TrendingAllDay.com. March 2018. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. The cover art of you holding a lemon is honestly iconic
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  40. ^ Leigh Sanders (18 September 2018). "Emma Blackery, Villains – album review". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. The big synths and invasive percussion in the chorus are enough to get anybody flailing limbs in a dance frenzy.
  41. ^ Hailey Mim (3 July 2018). "Girl Report | VidCon 2018". GSSGC. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
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  45. ^ Thomas Smith (12 September 2018). "Who are Odesza? Meet the electronic duo featured in the new Apple advert". blogs. NME. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
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  52. ^ Amy Butcher (19 November 2018). "LIVE | Emma Blackery at KOKO, London | 29 October 2018". neverenoughnotes.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2019. Emma Blackery's live performance delivered intoxicating synth melodies and passionate vocals at London's KOKO
  53. ^ Verity Harris (11 May 2019). "Emma Blackery on Cute Without You And Taylor Swift's New Cat". UnitedByPop.com. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  54. ^ Nihal Arthanayake (31 July 2019). "Headliners – Emma Blackery". BBC Radio 5 Live. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  55. ^ "Brentwood Festival presents evoke – day-by-day lineup". JamBase. July 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  56. ^ Poppy Dillon (6 December 2019). "Our 12 Favourite Moments From Social in the City: Winter Edition 2019". TenEightyMagazine.com. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  57. ^ Blackery, Emma [@emmablackery] (14 May 2020). "EP is out at midnight! As is a lyric video for Plot Holes. I wanna do a livestream at 11.30pm counting down to the release (I'll be shouting out everyone that's sent over a screenshot of their pre-save!) Pre-save here: t.co/6jEujfRQmu Physicals: t.co/nUG0Sn8h0F" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  58. ^ Blackery, Emma [@emmablackery] (2 April 2020). "WOLVES is now available to stream/download! I hope you love it.