Heartbreak is traumatising, and there’s no hiding that. But it’s also a key part of your coming-of-age years, and can teach you so much about yourself. “You’d rather love someone and go through all the emotions than not, and restrict yourself” Australian rising pop artist Charley admits while pondering how heartbreak has impacted her as a musician and as a human.

Her debut EP “Timebombs’ (out now) is an honest, raw, confident, and bold body of work which freely tells her story as a young queer woman. It captures some of her darkest moments, but turns them into strong self-assured anthems and helps her find a confidence within herself to appreciate and acknowledge the things she’s learnt.  From the sassy “Worst Taste In Girls” and the punk-pop attitude of “Heartbreaker” to the intimacy of title track “Timebomb” and “Stupid Thing To Say”, she takes listeners on an entire journey of the feelings she’s experienced.

Following her recent tour supporting Stephen Sanchez, I sat down with Charley to explore the honest themes behind “Timebombs”, discussed the processes and stories behind each track, and looked towards her forthcoming headline tour. Check it out BELOW;

THOMAS BLEACH: Your debut EP “Timebombs” is a queer, heartbreaking, confessional body of work that feels like a true coming of age for you. When you listen back to the EP now in its entirety what emotions do you feel? 

CHARLEY: I feel like I’m still going through the exact same emotions again, and again, and again with each song, so it still really hits. So singing them live is really quite difficult at the moment. So I hope one day that I’ll be able to just sing the songs or listen to them and be able to disconnect. 

TB: This EP feels like it’s going to become a soundtrack to so many people going through the same motions. So what were your go-to soundtracks during these heartbreak and coming of age moments personally? 

C: The stuff that helps me get through breakups and difficult times is anything that’s like Julia, Michaels, FLETCHER, and also a lot of stuff that just makes me feel empowered. So I’ll just go and listen to someone like Cardi B. 

I’m going through some of the similar emotions to this EP right now, and I honestly haven’t been listening to any music yet. I haven’t really had time to process anything yet with music because I’ve just been learning my own songs in my head and practicing them. So right now the only music I’m listening to is my brain *laughs*. 

TB: Okay, this is gonna be an interesting flip side of the question. Are there any songs that you’ve written that you’re performing live that are helping you right now with where you’re at by realising you can actually get through this as you’ve already got through it before.

C: Yeah, in a way, “Worst Taste In Girls”. I just have to accept the fact that stuff like this happens and you just need to move on and be strong. Also whenever I sing “Since You’ve Been Gone” live, that makes me feel so empowered and like a heartbreaker. So those songs are really fun to sing live and just release the energy, and get the angst out. 

TB: Lets begin with the opening track and the lead single for this EP, “Worst Taste In Girls”, because this was your first openly queer song that was about your queer experience with dating. I’m assuming there was a lot of anxiety surrounding putting that song out, so how liberating was it to see everyone embrace you, and that song with such open arms?

C: It was wild. There’s definitely people in my life that are still working towards fully accepting me. So that was one factor I was really worried about. And then obviously my fans, as it’s a whole new type of music. Some people might not support a lesbian queer singer, but they did. I tried to prepare people on my Instagram and on my TikTok in subtle ways to say that I’m gay. So it was the most liberating thing seeing that everyone was really supporting me and being able to help younger people and everyone who’s coming out feel confident in their sexuality.

TB: And then to get even more camp the music video feels like a homage to movies like Scream and Heathers. What references did you have for the stylistic of the video?  

C: At first I decided I wanted a music video where it was just like the most stereotypical worst people ever. And that is obviously serial killers. And I’ve been obsessed with Scary Movie so I wanted to draw inspiration from that, as the song is very eighties and 2000’s at the same time. So we meshed all of those elements together and got a whole bunch of queers. I’m pretty sure 99% of the cast was queer which was incredible and made me feel so comfortable. And it’s so cool to do an all female and non-binary cast in a music video. I just feel like that hasn’t really been done much, and definitely like a queer side of that as well, which is awesome.

TB: “Burnout” is an interesting perspective on a timeline of a relationship and hears you singing “keep me running, make me hot as hell until we burnout”. Are you someone whp is always waiting for the “but”, and anticipating the end to try to stop yourself from being heartbroken? 

C: No, I’m very toxic in that realm as I don’t stop when it’s bad for me. I will keep going. I’m just such a lover. I just love people really hard that I find it really hard to let go. So I may as well just go full force in a relationship and keep going until it literally just stops. “Burnout” is quite similar to “Timebomb” as I just tend to blow up in the end as I don’t stop it when it needs to be stopped. I like to see the best in people. I always think I can change them or help them. That’s just me. 

TB: “Heartbreaker” then comes in heavy with these hard hitting synths that play a vibrant juxtaposition to the vulnerable lyrics. How many versions of this song did you go through to get it to where it’s now? 

C: Oh my god, so many. I first wrote this in Nashville with Jonathan Capeci and that was the quickest session we ever did. I just wanted to get out the fact that I was really hurt, and they were just a heartbreaker, and I was fine without them and they don’t get to fucking make me cry anymore.

It took a little bit because we had to get it reproduced by Styalz in Melbourne, and then we just kept going back and forth. I feel like the hardest thing about this EP was having to do most of it over Zoom sessions. I had to listen to the songs as we were making them and write down what I wanted to change about it without even hearing any references. I love working in the studio and being able to listen to a song and be like, “okay, maybe that isn’t it, but let’s try this. Okay, that’s not it. Let’s try this. Oh, that’s great.” 

TB: This song hears you getting angry. Does it feel like a confident song for you to perform now and channel almost the heartbreaker role energy compared to when you wrote it?

C: I want to channel being confident. Like, “You’re just a heartbreaker. Fuck you. You just walked in the room and fucking set everything on fire. But I’m fine now. I’m fine by myself.” That’s what I want to come across and channel when I perform it. 

TB: “Running Wild” is a big pop song that feels very nostalgic, and there’s what feels like a lil reference to Sugababes – “About You Now” in the chorus. What were you inspired by sonically for this track? 

C: I didn’t even realise that in the moment *laughs*. It was definitely sub-consciously. When we were writing it, I just started singing that melody, and singing the phrase “about you now”. We were like, “what is that song? We’ve heard this before”. So it wasn’t even a direct reference to Sugababes, but my brain knew it, and it was a reference to SugaBabes *laughs*. 

For this whole EP I was really inspired by country music, eighties, and pop music. So I feel like every song is either a really synth driven thing or a guitar led production thing. Mimi Webb was a big reference for this particular song sonically, and so was Charlie Puth. They’re my favorite people, so I really wanted a song that was like a crying in an eighties club vibe.

TB: Okay now it’s time to talk about the title track “Timebomb” which I’m gonna go ahead and say is hands down your best song to-date, and it’s an emotional moment. Can you talk me through the creative process behind this track?

C: I wrote it in Sweden last year while I was on a writing trip. I met this girl and it was like nine days of just falling in love, and at the end of that I had to leave Sweden. And let me tell you, that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I just knew that we only had a couple days left, so every single time I kissed her, I could barely stop myself from crying because I was like there’s only gonna be a certain amount of times left.

I think a lot of people can see when a relationship’s coming to an end, when it needs to end, or when it’s about to end. You’re just like counting down. You’re just waiting there like a fucking sitting duck. Then I named my EP “Timeombs” because I just felt like all the songs pointed back to that thing of everything ending, and was ending at Heartbreak, and that’s just like a big blow up.

I was actually really sick when we made that song and all the vocals that you hear are me very sick, and it’s from the day of demo. And that’s the same as “Hard For Me”. All the vocals from the second verse onwards, I was like full fever. I was nearly vomiting and my voice had nearly gone, so that’s probably why I sound a bit crispier on “Timebomb” and “Hard For Me”. 

TB: “I hate that we had the right amount of time it takes to fall in love” might just be one of my favourite lyrics of the year. The FEELINGS!

C: I wish I could be more positive about it, but I’m a bit of a pessimist when it comes to relationships. I just wish that a lot of relationships didn’t happen, so that I wasn’t so hurt. And I’m sure a lot of people are like that. 

TB: I feel like it’s kind of the older sister of “I Suck At Being Lonely”, as it’s kind of like in that same sort of world. 

C: Oh, sort of. I just wish I had a song that was in the same realm, that was like “I Don’t Suck At Being Lonely”. Like, I’m fine, we’re gonna get through this. I need to learn from Greta Ray. We were comparing our albums together and I realised that every song she does is positive. This was before she even came up with the positive title, “Positive Spin”. I was just like, this is so embarrassing, I need to get a fucking grip, honestly. I need to learn a little bit from Greta when she comes back from America. I just wanna write with her and get her gauge and everything. That would be so special. 

TB: The EP closes with this country inspired track “Stupid Thing To Say” which to me is reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves meets Billie Eilish. What inspired you to go down this lane compared to the full blown pop you’ve released to-date.

C: I’ve always loved country music. This song was actually made with my friends Cyrus, Janeva, and Jim Alexander. We had dinner one night around lockdown two years ago. They came over and it was around like 12am and Cyrus pulled out a guitar and just started playing those chords, and I was like, “That is stunning. What is that?”. And then we just wrote it there. It was based on something I was going through in my life. I hate doing jams. But we did it and we just thought it was so special. We wanted to keep it as real as possible so that’s why it’s very stripped back. 

But also when you listen to it on Spotify, “Timebomb” merges into “Stupid Things To Say” if you can hear the clicks. And then it starts again, and the tape recorder starts. They’re very similar songs, but they’re also like two years apart.

TB: You’ve just been on the road with Stephen Sanchez which has doubled as your first tour. What is something you’ve learnt from these shows and touring that you’re going to take on board for your headline tour?

C: There’s a lot of things I’ve learned actually. I haven’t performed many times, so I’m still getting a handle on the speaking aspect, which is the hardest part I think. Right now in-between the tracks we have a certain amount of time and I think I need to change that so I can just speak freely and then start the track whenever I want, and just have Cam playing the guitar in-between while I talk instead of the time as that stresses me out. 

TB: In July you’re embarking on your debut headlining tour. What are the feelings you want people to walk away feeling from this show?

C: I want people to feel empowered. And I think the main thing is dealing with the heartbreak and just knowing that everything’s gonna be okay.  Heartbreak is going to happen so many times, but it’s just a part of life. You’d rather love someone and go through all the emotions than not and restrict yourself. Like it would be boring, and you’re not living. I just want people to feel confident and love. 

“Timebombs” is out now!

Charley Australian Tour

Thursday 6 July – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane

Saturday 8 July – Popchops @ Rubix Warehouse, Melbourne

Saturday 15 July – The Lansdowne, Sydney