With her first track for 2023, Melbourne, Australia based singer-songwriter, Karen Harding unveils a metamorphosis, moving away from her previous emotional ballad releases of 2021 and 2022, with her catchy indie-pop single ‘Devil In The Mirror’. In our modern world, we are constantly faced with images of what we should look like, how we should behave, who we should be and a bar of impossible ‘perfection’ that society expects us to live by. Karen’s self-written, recorded and produced track, ‘Devil In The Mirror’, mixed and mastered by Edwin Kraus, dives into the way that many feel when they don’t see themselves as measuring up.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Karen Harding, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. How has the time gone for you since our last interview?
Hey! Thank you so much for having me and it’s so nice to chat with you too. Our last interview was at the end of 2022 and I can’t believe that we’re already in April!!
2023 has been a great year so far. Music has always been an exploration for me, however my music has begun to move in a whole new direction and I am so excited to watch it’s evolution.
Beyond music, I just had the honour of being a groomsman and singing for my brother’s beautiful wedding and gained a new sister in the process.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year unfolds.
What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
This is a hard one to answer.. I have a lot of great memories from my childhood. One memory that came to me recently was when I was about 6, I had just been to a fete and had brought to school one of those foil windmills for ‘Show and Tell’.
During our break, I was so proudly telling one of my friends about it and one girl wanted to see what I had brought.
When we were having break, all the kids had to be outside and you were not allowed inside, so we came up with a plan to sneak into the classroom to get this windmill.
We believed (from watching movies) that if we were on the floor and commando crawled down the hallway, then teachers wouldn’t see us, so we laid on the floor and began to slowly and quietly crawl down the long corridor. I think we made it a couple of meters before the booming voice of our teacher made us look up. I remember seeing her angry red face staring down at us and realising that we had been caught in action.
I learnt that day that commando crawling does NOT make you invisible.. It was a valuable life lesson learnt!
Your latest song is 'Devil In The Mirror'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
‘Devil In The Mirror’ is a song that I am really proud of, as it’s a change in direction for me.
The concept of this song has been with me for a little while.. I had the image for the cover and the name of the song in my mind for months before the song was even created.
I, like many people, have spent years having difficulty with self-perception and the way that I see myself in the mirror and in photos. It can be something that at times can be really debilitating as you can be really consumed by it, leading to a lack of self-belief.
What lies behind the difficulty is a stream of negative thoughts.. of judgement. By naming the maker of the judgements as ‘The Devil In The Mirror’, I was able to separate these thoughts and allow myself to see that it’s not ‘who I am’ and just my thinking.
After creating the name, the cover and then putting together the lyrics, I began to create the music.
I wanted to have fun with the catchy vibes of the song because it’s like poking fun at the devil.. telling him/her that they are no longer going to be taken seriously here.
I am really proud of this track, as it’s completely self-written and produced. I had the help of Edwin Klaus with mixing and mastering the track and I am really happy with how it has all come together.
What’s your most embarrassing moment?
I regularly embarrass myself.. I am very clumsy and have a serious case of foot in mouth disease.
That being said, it’s hard to pinpoint one particular case of being extremely embarrassed.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
I am really fortunate to have a great group of fans that interact with me over social media. I regularly have great one on one discussions with so many amazing people from all over the world through social media channels.
For me, connecting to fans shows me that people are appreciating my music and that they are connecting with me and who I represent.
I really value each and every one of them so much and I learn so much from all of them.
What is your dream project?
At the moment, my dream is to create a project that moves across different mediums.
When I wrote ‘Devil In The Mirror’, I actually began to write a book to go with the release.. I love to write so it was an idea that made sense to me at the time. However, I seriously underestimated the work involved in completing a book so it wasn’t ready for the release of the song (It may still be released in the future!).
I believe that a song is a story, and that the story can be built up so much more than just sharing the song itself, and I would love to have a release that encompasses a song, a book, maybe a game, film.. who knows!
What inspires you as an artist? Could it be the sea, the weather or something else?
There is inspiration everywhere! I absolutely love nature.. I love the ocean, forests, the bush, rivers and they definitely inspire me. However, I feel like you could be locked up in a room and see an interesting bug walk past that sends your mind into a world of imagination, and you have inspiration.
I feel like inspiration comes from within. I have a very vivid imagination and inspiration for a song can be born out of a single thought, or a feeling, or a simple action that I am completing. Where it becomes a song, is when that thought, feeling or action forms a word or series of words.. or they become a melody.
Do you think it's easy to become established in the music world, or is it difficult?
I think that it depends very much on what you believe being ‘established’ in the music world means to you.
If your goal is to be signed by a big label, find fame or to be the next Beyonce or Taylor Swift, I truly believe it’s incredibly difficult, and there is a lot of luck involved, as well as networking, branding and finance.
That being said, we are in a time now, when the music world is wide open, and being an independent artist allows you to find your people. If a record label says no.. it doesn’t mean that you won’t connect with people who appreciate and love your music, but.. you have to work really hard for it.
Every person in the world is different, and that means that they all have different musical tastes. It means that not every artist has to create the latest top 40 hit in order to do well with their music. Through the power of social media, streaming platforms and the internet, you can find your people who will be loyal with you.
For me, being established means that you have a loyal following and that you’re making an income from the music you create through different income streams and it is extremely hard to do both, but if you put the work in as an artist and you are committed daily, you can definitely get there.
Can you reveal the recipe for a musical hit?
There are so many books and courses written on writing a hit song! I believe that a real hit song comes when there is a real combination of talent, relatability and connection to the song.
A hit can come in so many shapes and forms.. it could be a catchy upbeat song that makes you want to dance and sing along, or it could be a deeply emotional ballad, but the artist makes you truly believe what they are saying in the song and it stands out above the rest.
What can we expect from Karen Harding in the near future?
I have some more music in the works, which I really look forward to getting out there. My next song is quite upbeat, very rhythmic based and a little experimental.
I really want to take the time to focus on a lot more writing and build an album.. so that will be the next project on the cards.
Be sure to follow my socials, to stay up to date with what’s going on in my world of music 😊
https://www.instagram.com/karenhardingmusic
https://www.facebook.com/karenhardingmusic1
https://twitter.com/karenhardingmus
https://www.youtube.com/@karenhardingmusic1