Hollie Gautiér on Change, Inspiration, and Being Grounded (Interview)

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Hollie Gautiér is a songwriter with a lot of promise. With inspirations such as Katy B and Chase & Status, it is clear that she has a varied understanding and appreciation of pop, jungle, and electronic music.

Her latest single, ‘All Night‘, demonstrates her ability to combine Drum and Bass with a powerful atmosphere and singing voice. She sat down to chat with us about the latest release, her musical influences, and upcoming live performances.

Where did your love of music and music creation begin?

I think it’s quite hard to pinpoint to a specific time. I think when I was younger, I was quite an emotional child, and I used to love watching films. I’d love the Disney channel, that kind of thing; I was a big dreamer. So, I think music ended up being a way for me to channel how I was feeling.

I used to listen to lots of different types of music. My dad listened to a lot of rock stuff, my mum listened to a bit of everything mainstream. I think I was exposed to a lot of different types of music. When I was younger, I started writing poems, those quickly turned into – I guess, songs? Then I started to learn to play the piano, I think I was about seven years old at the time, and I just never stopped since.

No one in my family came from that kind of (musical) background. However, my dad played the drums in a band years ago, I found out later down the line. But it was something that just felt really natural to me.

It’s cool about the poems. I liked watching Disney shows as well!

Yeah, I feel like it was such a nineties kid thing. We got the good stuff for sure. I think the first poem I ever wrote – which was so random – I drew out the pictures and stuff for it as well. I think it was about a robot. I don’t know what was going on in my head that day! But I properly illustrated it and presented it to my mum like ‘Woah, look at this’ – thinking I’d written like a novel or something. I think that was the first sign of me being creative that I can remember.

When I was younger and I used to go to my grandparents’ house, I always used to set up a stage at the end of their kitchen and pretend I was performing. I was really into the arts, so I think I used to imagine a lot, and I still do, to be fair.

Where did the lyrical inspiration come from for ‘All Night‘?

I hadn’t, with that particular session and with most of my sessions, (planned) too much before. This other guy who I made the song with, he’s called Sam Berson, and this was our second session. So, I just went into it very much like, (let’s) see how we’re both feeling that day.

The lyrical inspiration was actually struck off the melody that he was playing. I’m quite visual when I’m hearing sounds, and when he was playing the chords, they were quite jazzy. I think I wanted to then combine a jazz theme with this electronic side. With the lyrics, I wanted to make them quite sultry in the beginning.

They really came from my own experience of working. I have a full-time job as well as music, doing something totally different. So I think escapism was the theme. The lyrics came from me visualising myself in the streets of London. Like, no one else is around, a smoky scene, and then finding myself in a club with my friends or on my own. I think the lyrics just came from that feeling of wanting to escape. I wanted it to be quite platonic.

In both ‘All Night‘ and ‘Lost and Found‘, I kind of thought they seemed perfect for a dance floor kind of environment. I could imagine them doing really well in a club setting. I wondered if you write with a vision of where your songs are gonna end up?

Yeah, so I think when I write, I usually try and think about the feelings that I’ll feel when I’m singing the songs or if I (were) listening to the songs, when I would want that song myself. So yeah, definitely had that thought process. For this particular song, it was more about the journey to the destination and then extending that. Going all night.

Are there any standout artists that you’re loving in the Drum and Bass scene right now?

So many. I feel like every day I’m discovering someone new. I think there are so many talented producers, vocalists, and DJs, you know? So talented and so underground, but I’m sure will come through, like myself.

(As for) the bigger names, K Motionz. I’d love to do a song with him someday. He and Songer have a song called ‘Beamin’‘ which is sick. Sub Focus, obviously a massive name, but he’s put out some amazing tracks recently, so again, manifesting for one day! Pola & Bryson, very similar.

I think vocalist-wise, Emily Makis has the most insane voice. There are so many up-and-coming. Like Conni‘s unreal, Niall T‘s a great producer, and Waypoint too. Yeah, I think I’m quite lucky that I’m well in the Drum and Bass scene now with these people who are up and coming. New names (are) coming every day, people who I think are sick.

It’s such a varied scene to get into.

Totally. I think what’s really cool about Drum and Bass and electronic music is (that) there’s so much collaboration. What I’ve noticed coming up is that it’s felt easier. Even just bouncing ideas off other people. With Drum and Bass, from the outside, people might (think) that there isn’t much movement with it. Maybe. But there are so many different variations of beat, lyrics, of how you can approach a song, how it’s remixed. So I think that gives space for there to be opportunities for so many people to have their say in this space.

The vocals on your ‘Left on Read‘ EP reminded me of Amy Winehouse. I wondered if she’s been an inspiration to you?

Totally – she still is. When I mentioned earlier (that) I played piano growing up, I always just pictured that I was going to be doing acoustic music. I’m in London now, but I grew up more on the outside, in the countryside. The electronic scene was something I discovered more recently.

But for that EP, I was kind of exploring what this music thing was, going forward. The whole process of recording something for the first time. Amy Winehouse, I mean, she is such an inspiration to so many people, even just creatives in general. I think she inspires me still because of how vulnerable she was, and still is, with her words. But (also) how powerful and direct she was in her songs. As a woman growing up, I appreciated that nuance between the soft side and the hard side, and how you can be both at the same time. And that’s okay. I have a little plaque of her CD ‘Back to Black‘ in my room. She’s still a massive inspiration for me.

What do you enjoy about the process of creating a new song?

There are different things, it depends on how I’m creating. If I’m on my own, I love that feeling of when I create, it comes from a place of needing to offload something. I can come sit down and try and write, but the best feeling is when I’m not thinking about it and it just comes out. That’s probably my favourite, when I create something and I’ll listen to it back about ten minutes later and think ‘where did that come from?’.

When I’m on my own, it feels like a bit of a purge. When I’m creating with other people, and even on my own to be fair, I just love the idea that there was nothing, maybe four hours before, and then you’re walking away with something that has just come out of (the) pure feeling in the room. Particularly, when you work with somebody new for the first time. It’s just completely full of unbiased energy from both people, or how everyone’s feeling in the room. I think that’s so special, to be able to create something with no prior judgment of what it should sound like.

Have you noticed AI’s impact on music creation, and is this something that worries you?

To be honest, I’m quite uneducated about this kind of thing. I try – maybe this is wrong – but I try not to think about it because I generally don’t want to think about it. I understand that it’s happening and that it will happen, but I think for me, because creating comes from an honest and authentic place, I just can’t wrap my head around AI. I haven’t seen it with friends, but I’m probably not looking in the spaces that it might be as well.

Yeah, that’s a good point. It is probably nicer not to think about it!

Well, I think as well for me, and for a lot of creatives, we do this for ourselves first. Whether that’s in your bedroom or (elsewhere), and if that then turns into a career, amazing! But even if AI took over everything, I think I’d still be making songs. That’s important to remember the reason why we’re doing this in the first place.

Any upcoming gigs that you’re particularly looking forward to?

I haven’t got dates set, but I will definitely be performing over the summer. I’m planning to release something around July, so I’m planning a little launch event for that, which will be fun. It will be nice to meet new people coming through for ‘All Night‘ who may (not) have heard my music before. So I’m excited for that, and I should be opening for a couple of people too. There should be a few different opportunities to catch me.

How has London and the artists that have come out of it inspired you?

I think it’s inspired it loads. For Drum and Bass, I didn’t even know that was a genre really until a few years ago. I got into Drum and Bass music without even knowing what it was! Like, (I was) listening to the next up playlist, shuffling through. Meeting different people from different backgrounds with different perspectives in life and how they want to create has been massive.

Generally, just going out in London has been massive for me. (Whether that be) the dance scene, the music. I remember when I went to a festival a couple of years ago, and I just absorbed Drum and Bass from different angles, and that was when I really started liking how that music made me transcend. It’s maybe a mixture of different events (and) people I’ve worked with.

In London, people are a lot more honest. There’s more perspective, whereas in the countryside it’s a bit more sheltered. You take what you’re told as, kind of, that’s all there is. London helped to break down where I felt my music could run to.

In London, because the music scene is so great, I like a mixture of genres to and (it helps me) understand better how different sounds can actually blend and work well to create your own path. It’s been amazing.

Looking back to the beginning of your career, how do you feel your musical style has evolved?

Yeah, so I guess kind of a similar theme. I think it’s just become a lot more expansive. I’m still doing the same things; I am still songwriting, I play piano a lot less. I’m doing more of the electronic side now. But I think that the values of music, lyrics, and deeper meaning are still (there) from when I was younger. But now it’s more electronic. I’m really into Drum and Bass, garage, and started exploring some house stuff recently. I think I’m just a lot less boxed in mentally with where I feel I can go with this.

From listening to your earlier stuff, you can hear an evolution in sound. I feel like with a lot of artists you don’t necessarily hear if they evolve so much.

Thank you. Before I released ‘Lost and Found‘, I was so close to deleting the earlier discography. I’m proud of it in the sense that it had to happen to get to now. But obviously, it’s not my best work and I’m actually happy that I didn’t (delete it) because, like you say, it shows a journey and there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. The journey is essential, and if anything, it’s nice to look back at. Hopefully, in five years time, if there’s people who are listening to me and I have a larger following who are looking back at my earlier music, they can think you know, ‘That’s as good as what I’m making.’, or ‘She’s done it, why can’t I?’. It is important to be grounded and human about it.

I think it’s important to show you cannot be boxed in, and you don’t have to be one way forever. Always explore.

Totally! It’s never too late to change. You gotta do what feels right for you at the time, and that’s the cool thing about art or anything. You have the power to change whatever you’re doing at any given moment. I think people forget that.

Hollie Gautiér is on Instagram and TikTok. You can stream her music below and read more interviews here.

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