Featured Photo Credit: Demarquis McDaniels
On the latest episode of ECHO – The Podcast, we chatted with singer/songwriter Annika Wells.
Over the past few years, Wells has penned tracks for popular artists including Noah Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, and Illenium. Now the California native is making her major-label debut with Vol. 1 and Epic Records.
Her first single, “Fuck Being Sober” introduces listeners to Well’s unapologetic songwriting and encourages disrupting the status quo in order to live life to the fullest.
We chatted with Wells about the single, her homemade music video, and what is up next.
Excerpt from the podcast:
What was the inspiration for label debut single “Fuck Being Sober”?
The inspiration for “Fuck Being Sober” – I feel like it’s just my outlook on the world in musical form. I actually wrote that song after I went to a Thanksgiving and I saw my aunt that I don’t see that often. We sat next to each other at the table and she like ‘when are you going to get a real job.’ And I was like ‘what are you talking about.’ I had just got off this arena tour with Illenium and had just performed at Madison Square Garden. I feel like I worked really hard to get where I am and I feel like I’m picking up traction in my career. She was like ‘No, no, no, but when you’re done playing with all of this, when are you going to get a nine to five?’ I was like ‘oh my god.’ I came back to LA and I was so frustrated and I was just like screw the nine to five, unless the nine to five makes you happy. Why conform to what society thinks you should do if it’s not going to bring you joy? The song just came out of that sentiment.
What was the writing process like for this song?
Ha! It was fun. I wrote it with two of my best friends and we honestly just got drunk. I remember we were just sitting on the floor of the studio just really kind of vibing and all the melodies just pouring out. It was just one of those days when everything is clicking. We were having such a blast. All the little foley effects that you hear like the beer clinking and all that stuff was just us in the studio having a blast. Then we ended up doing this writing camp. I host this writing camp with a group of 15 of my friends a couple times a year. We’ll go get an airbnb in the woods and we will all just make a ton of music together. All the gang vocals you hear in the post chorus are just us being drunk and having a blast dancing and screaming and singing. I just wanted the song to remind everybody of just wrapping their arms around their best friend and I thought no better way to do that then have my friends in there screaming in the background.
Listen to the rest of the interview here!