Songwriter Emily Falvey signed her first record deal before graduating from college.
Imagine being a 26-year-old songwriter sandwiched on a glittery stage between two Songwriter Hall of Fame recipients who wrote chart-topping hits for Garth Brooks. But if you are Emily Falvey, this is what your life has become.
It is a well-earned status carved out by diligently working on her craft before she could even write cursive. So, when asked to perform at the gorgeous Fisher Center for the Performing Arts alongside country legends Pat Alger and Kent Blazy, like all high achievers, she feared not trying more than she feared failing. As I interviewed Emily Falvey, her song Alabama Nights was performed on the Today Show by country star Tiera Kennedy. Just another day in the young life of Emily Falvey.
Embracing being different
Emily has been writing songs since the age of nine, inspired by Taylor Swift, Carole King, & The Beach Boys. She’s known about songwriting as a career since she was in sixth grade and became fixated on that goal. She learned early on that Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is now on the Board of Trustees, has a songwriting major, and she set her sights on gaining admission.
Emily Falvey believes songwriting is a muscle which must be worked every day.
Emily is different and learned to embrace that as her strength. “I didn’t fit the typical songwriter archetype. I wasn’t free-flowing and type B like my classmates. I sat in the first row of class with my notebook open, ready to learn and absorb. I am a nerd.”
Songwriting is incredibly competitive, and the chances of making it are bleak. Emily was unsure if she would ever make it and considered pursuing a career supporting other creatives as a music publisher. However, while lamenting her future, one of her professors and mentors, James Tealy, told her that she could be the champion of her artist friends and colleagues in the writing room. Those words confirmed for her what she was meant to do. Writing songs, after all, is a team sport.
“I quickly realized that songwriters give life to songs. A songwriting professor of mine referred to us as the battery to the lightbulb.” As a result, Emily comes ready for every writing session, armed with ideas and background material on the performer or topic.
Playing the odds
In college, Emily was an intern at SMACK, a top Nashville-based music publishing powerhouse. As is often the case with internships, it opened doors for her (Read my Forbes article on the benefits of internships). Like many interns, she was running errands for executives, and someone casually asked her what her goals were, as clearly it was not fetching coffee. Instead of playing it small, she spoke her truth and announced she wanted to be a songwriter. She gave them her demos, and the executives were impressed. She landed her first publishing deal before her college graduation.
Emily Falvey comes prepared to every writing session and writes songs five days a week.
Emily works at her craft. She writes every day. “It’s like a muscle. I want to play the odds. The more I write, the greater the likelihood that one of my songs will make it.” She partners with different people daily, ideally in rooms flooded by natural light, as she starts to write and get into the rhythm.
Emily Falvey has the incredible distinction of having 70 songs recorded within the first five years of her publishing deal. She wrote 800-900 songs to get this many published. She averages writing six songs a week.
Emily was her worst enemy growing up, thinking she had nothing to contribute to the songwriting field. It took others to see it in her and convince her of the magic she had to offer. Emily Falvey has incredible mentors who interceded and helped guide her. Today, with her head held high, she can walk onto every stage and into every writing session, knowing she has a unique fingerprint and can impact the world through her songwriting. Emily Falvey brings an authentic vibrancy to songwriting which makes her song sticky — the kind you can’t get out of your head.
To learn more about Emily Falvey, listen to her music or follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
