We are very excited to interview Peyton Gilliland and be premiering her new song Frantic today! The 17-year-old alternative pop singer already is making a name for herself with hundreds of thousands of listens on Spotify, two songs named as finalists in the famed John Lennon International Songwriting Contest.
Peyton, along with her production team are working on her upcoming EP, which we chat about in our interview below! The EP is headed up by Cage The Elephant founding member Lincoln Parrish.
Take a listen to her new single, Frantic and let us know what you think! Read on to hear more about Peyton Gilliland!
Congrats on the release of Frantic! Talk about the song, meaning behind it and what made you want to release it?
Peyton Gilliland: “Thank you so much! The song was written by myself and Craig Wilson from Sony Skyfall. It’s about feeling someone start to slip away, and knowing there is nothing you can do about it.
I wanted to record this one because I love ballads, but don’t have many in my catalog yet. But there’s another one we’re recording at the end of this month with GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist Lincoln Parish (Cage the Elephant) called Empty. So, stay tuned for that!”
Your upcoming EP is being mastered by GRAMMY-award winning engineer, mixer and producer Ryan Hewitt, talk about what we can expect from the EP?
You can expect a lot of raw emotion and maybe a few new flavors of music <3
How did you or how are you deciding what will make the cut on the EP? Is that a tough process for you to narrow down the song selection?
We have a ton of great songs because our team is full of amazing writers, so the process is challenging when it comes to picking favorites. What seems to work for us so far is to bring the whole catalog of raw and voice memo songs to Lincoln – we usually go in with about 25.
I have my top 5, Lincoln will pick his top 5, and then we’ll compare our picks. They are usually the same 5. From there we come up with a plan for production. We pick what we love first, then how we think it will be received. Last, what we feel my catalog needs.
For those who are new to your music, how would you describe your sound to them and who would you say your musical influences are?
My sound is a huge mashup of my favorite artists – Amy Winehouse, Cage the Elephant, Alabama Shakes and some modern pop influences, like Julia Micheals and Noah Cyrus. If you listen close enough you can hear a little of all of them.
From any of your songs you have written, what’s been the most meaningful or most powerful line — and what song is it from?
This is such a tough question. If I had to choose, it would be ‘They think that I’m a delicate soul, but you can’t draw blood from a stone…’ from Ones that Leave. I’m tougher than I look.
Love your little French Bulldogs! Have they been keeping you company while being in quarantine?
They’ve definitely been loving it more than we have! 🙂 Frenchies are such lapdogs. Having everyone home 24/7 is like a dream come true for them.
Something fun we have been asking lately, what’s the most random thing you have done while being in quarantine?
I haven’t done much out of the ordinary, really… We live on a farm, so isolation is kind of the norm. Well, I take that back, I have been cooking. Maybe not well, but that has NEVER happened before.
Where is the first place you want to go when you are able to hang out with your friends and family again?
My friends have property that has a bunch of miniature ponies and a tiny cabin in the woods that we have to cross a creek to get to. That will be the first place I go, and the more friends the better!
What advice do you have for someone younger who is trying to make it in the business?
Find your people and get a great team! I love everyone I work with. If you love your people, it takes a lot of the stress out of it. You also have to have thick skin and learn how to handle rejection.
What else would you love to work on in this next year or what do you have that you can share with us already in the works?
Other than the two songs we are releasing this week, we have a song I love called Dangerous it will probably be released in about a month.
We’re in the process of recording three more. Can’t Talk Me Down, is an upbeat and really fun song. Empty is a ballad. Spoonful is about the ‘other girl’ being the spoonful of sugar and me being the medicine. Good for the guy, but not the one he wants. I’m really excited to share these songs with everyone!
