Musician Emma Louise is best known for her 2011 song Jungle, which was inspired by a former love.
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which → inspire → love
Here, the 35-year-old explains the story behind the song, as well as discussing the other significant men in her life, including her son, Ellsworth.
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old → explain → son
He came from a big family and worked on trains and steam engines.
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He → come → trains
He was a storyteller and a creative spirit who loved poetry and played the violin.
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who → love → violin
He passed away when I was young.
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I → pass → ?
My paternal grandpa, Arthur [Ted], lived in Brisbane.
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grandpa → live → Brisbane
He would get me and my cousin to sit on his lap while he’d sing Irish folk songs like Danny Boy.
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he → get → Boy
His breath smelt like whisky and cigarettes.
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breath → smell → whisky
He passed away when I was in my mid-20s.
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I → pass → mid-20s
I’m a daddy’s girl – we have always been close.
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we → ’m → ?
He was a fireman and used to work night shifts.
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He → use → shifts
He would iron our clothes before school.
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He → iron → school
I have a memory of us on a swing set when I was four.
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I → have → set
We developed our sense of humour together.
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We → develop → humour
He is very sensitive and knew early on it was OK for a boy to have feelings.
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boy → know → feelings
My first kiss was with a boy called Neil in grade 1 or 2.
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kiss → call → grade
We’d write notes to each other, and one day we agreed to meet behind the toilets after school.
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we → write → school
He came around the corner and at me so fast it was like a kiss-and-headbutt situation; it was terrifying and I felt butterflies.
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I → come → butterflies
I was obsessed with Missy Higgins, Pete Murray, Ben Lee, and especially Josh Pyke – I was a big fan and got to support him in Cairns when I was still a teenager.
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I → obsess → Cairns
Josh responded to my music and always respected me.
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Josh → respond → me
I met veteran musician Terry Doyle in Cairns when I was playing gigs three times a week.
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I → meet → gigs
He took me under his wing, taught me how to set up my own PA, how to talk to a crowd and how to roll up leads – all that functional stuff that comes with gigs.
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that → take → gigs
My first manager, Rick Chazan, nurtured me as an artist.
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manager → nurture → artist
He invested in me in the hope I’d become
successful.
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I → invest → hope
It was only when I moved out of home at 17, moved to the USA and lived in LA that gender came into play.
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gender → move → play
I didn’t fall in love until I was 19.
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I → fall → love
It felt like there was nothing in between me and Tom; then we became one and it was magic.
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it → feel → me
We dated until I was 23, when my career started to take off.
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career → date → ?
I was being pulled between exploring this bigger world and being in a relationship.
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I → pull → relationship
Ultimately, I chose the bigger world.
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I → choose → world
But I do think this soft starting place with Tom acted as a bit of a placeholder for me.
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place → think → me
He inspired the song Jungle.
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He → inspire → song
I dated a guy called James – he was fun and we travelled the world for a year.
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we → date → year
I met my ex-husband, Tobias [Jesso], through music.
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I → meet → music
We started talking on Instagram and I sent him some of my songs.
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I → start → songs
He produced my 2018 album, Lilac Everything.
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He → produce → album
We got married at my property in Australia in 2019 and had a child in 2020.
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We → marry → 2020
I think if you love someone and want to celebrate it, that’s great.
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that → think → it
Marriage creates stability in a way, and it’s difficult when you get divorced.
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you → create → way
I was diagnosed with ADHD 10 years ago, and autism after that.
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I → diagnose → that
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
