We’ve all heard the age-old adage that we are often our own worst critic. So many of us agonize over our perceived flaws and crave being anyone other than ourselves.
Vancouver-based rock singer Charlie PS recently recognized this chronic overthinking in herself. However, through a lot of self-work and reflection, she made peace with that inner critic.
Her single, “Even If It Kills Me,” is a gentle reminder to fellow overthinkers that it’s okay to just be you.
We chatted with Charlie PS about the single, her upcoming EP dropping in October and more!
What inspired your latest single, “Even If It Kills Me”?
The urge to remind people to be 100% yourself and not care about what other people think.
I wrote “Even If It Kills Me” in August of 2022 when I was in a place of complete peace with who I am as a person, and I wanted to write a sort of anthem to remind myself and others what it feels like to be confidently you because there are days where that feeling isn’t so prominent, where I’m second guessing every move I make as a human and as an artist and “Even If It Kills Me” brings me back down to earth to remind me that I am who I am and I am capable of great things and I hope it helps listeners feel that way too.
There are lots of layers on this track, including live horns. What was the production and writing process like for this song?
I wrote “Even If It Kills Me” in one session, already having the song’s idea and theme in my head and ready to spill onto paper. Once that was finished, I took the idea to my band, and we jammed the song a few times to tighten it up structurally before taking it to my producer David Ziehr. The studio process was every musician’s dream. We had the pre-production finished and were ready to record all of the instrument parts and then add ideas for additional production as they came, and everything we added just seemed to fit into the song perfectly. David’s fiance and multi-instrumentalist ‘Chersea’ came in and recorded horns, which helped the chorus immediately come to life, and then the 6 of us jumped into the live room and added the gang vocals, singing the chorus at the top of our lungs over and over until we got those big, unified sounding chorus vocals that felt like they tied it all together.
How did you come up with the concept for the video?
I got the initial video idea from The Beaches music video for the song “Grow Up Tomorrow.” I just found it really enjoyable to watch them be themselves with a group of their friends and thought that really encapsulated that carefree feeling that “Even If It Kills Me” is about and wanted to do something similar. Additionally, if I’m honest, being on camera isn’t my favorite, and I wanted the selfish opportunity to be completely myself around a group of people who make me feel the most comfortable rather than having to play a part and be the sole focus of the video.
What was it like to include all your friends in the filming process?
It was honestly pretty smooth sailing. There was a moment before everyone arrived where I thought, “a big group of people, a fridge full of free booze and a camera crew… what could go wrong?!” But everyone showed up, had a blast, and it was great to see people comfortably being themselves on camera, which ultimately made me loosen up more as well. I felt so incredibly supported by those closest to me and it was a day I wished would have never ended.
This song can be heard on your upcoming EP by the same title. What can fans expect from that project?
They can expect to hear the same blended rock sound that they heard from “Revival” ( May, 2023) and “Even If It Kills Me” (August, 2023) throughout the 5 song EP. Each song is a bit of a snippet from certain periods of my life over the past 3 years, and recognizing things I need to work on, in the songs “Raw” and “Down To The Devil” and celebrating moments of personal growth in “Revival” and “Even If It Kills Me”, with the final song “Slow Burn” focusing on everything that I’ve been wanting to vent about regarding the music industry over the last few years and underlining my intentions in moving forward at this stage of my career.
How do you feel the title, ‘Even If It Kills Me,’ best represents this body of work?
“Even If It Kills Me” feels like it ties the rest of the songs on the EP together by taking all of the hard times, personal insecurities, and frustrations featured in the other songs and banishing them into the past, bringing forth a new me and a fresh start.
What did the making of this EP, and especially this song, teach you about yourself and how to think less and persevere?
It taught me that things always work out the way they’re supposed to, whether you stress or not, whether you’re in control and prepared or not. I used to let overthinking and the fear of failure control how I made music and this time around I just let things fall together however they wanted. By this I mean that in the past I would quit the making a song if it felt ‘too rock’ or ‘not rock enough’ or anything in between, me being extremely focused on creating music right in the middle in the genre of ‘rock’ music because that was how I thought I would get more people to accept my music. But it only led me to agonize over everything I made and release less music because it ‘didn’t sound right’ in the end. Now I make music that I don’t worry about whether it fits into one certain genre or not, as long as I think it sounds good, work hard to put it out there for people to hear, and focus on what I can control, everything else will happen the way it’s supposed to.
If you could set fans up in the perfect environment to listen to the song, what do you imagine it looking like?
Even If It Kills Me is:
- Your anthem on a morning where you wake up with just a little less pep in your step and need that extra reminder that it’s damn great to be you.
- A road trip jam where the windows are rolled down, the volume’s turned up, the air is warm and you’re heading somewhere that makes your heart happy.
- Getting your night going, you’re having a shower beer, and you’re ready to let loose.
What do you hope people will take away from this song?
Being comfortably ‘you’ is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. <3
What can fans look forward to next?
My Even If It Kills Me EP is set to release on October 27th!
What is one song that you have heard or that you go by that you want to ECHO out to the world?
“HBIC” by Gin Wigmore! #GRLPWR