Emily Estefan On New Album ‘Take Whatever You Want,’ Mom Gloria Estefan [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Emily Estefan on ‘Take Whatever You Want,’ New… by Uinterview

Emily Estefan, the daughter of Gloria & Emilio Estefan, recently released her first studio album, Take Whatever You Want. She spoke about her process, what the album means to her, and the variety of instruments she plays in an exclusive video interview with uInterview.

EMILY ESTEFAN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW

Estefan is often asked about the genre of her music, but has trouble coming up with a comprehensive answer. “I think for me to be able to answer that, I need help from listeners. When I sit down to make it, I’m not thinking about a specific genre or anything, so whatever you recognize in it I think is valid.

While it seems entirely fitting that the daughter of musical powerhouse Gloria Estefan would go into the music industry as well, he style is completely different from her mother’s. While Gloria is more Latin pop, Emily defined her style as something else. “I would say, safely, fusion… Yeah, just a little bit of everything I guess.” When listing various genres that could be found in her album, she cited, “you know, R&B, jazz influence, heavy metal, no,” she joked.

Estefan is a talented musician as well as singer, and actually played all the parts on the album, except the horns, which she lamented, she never learned. “I don’t master any instrument, that’s why it’s difficult to hear people call me an instrumentalist ’cause i see them as, like, vocabulary. True instrumentalists I respect a lot, and drum set is my principal instrument, but yeah, I wish I could play horns but I just don’t have that in my tool belt.”

Estefan then revealed to us that she didn’t even set out to make an album, initially. “I didn’t know I was making an album when I wrote these tunes, and then I hit 13, which is my lucky number, and it was like ‘whoa,’ I have a collection of songs here that is very indicative of a pretty important time in my life, so I put them together… this was three and a half years ago.” She began the work just to get out some creativity, and eventually she had enough for an album. “I was just alone, I as isolated, I was up in Boston in college and it just kind of exploded out of me. I wasn’t really thinking about the technicalities that went into me, it just kind of came out.”

The musician explained the meaning behind some of her tracks, specifically the first on the album, “Ask Me To.” “It’s kind of like the song that opened the door for me to be able to write the rest of the album, and shed this rotting skin that I had and become this new person, so it’s written from the perspective of my old self to my new self.” Writing music, for Estefan, is a personal experience that allows her to go into depth about her emotions and self discovery.  “It kind of allows to give myself permission to explore who I really am, and then the rest of the album is that discovery,” she told uInterview.

Despite the personal connection to her songs, Estefan admits she can hardly stand to listen to her own music. “I’ve gotten the question recently, ‘Oh what’s your favorite track,’ and first of all, it’s brutal for me to listen to. You know, the whole artist thing.” The album to her though, is “just little pieces of” herself. “When I hear a certain song, I’m like, ‘Oh, that was this day or this story or this intention.’ …Another reason it’s called Take Whatever You Want is because whatever it is that my intention was, I would love for it to equally be [the listeners]. So whatever you relate to, whatever you feel a connection to, you’re not wrong. It’s definitely just as much yours as it is mine.”

As for the rest of 2017, Estefan just wants to spread the love. “I have a band, there are 9 of us, we’re going around, we’re playing a couple shows here in town now, just trying to create an energy in a live setting that can’t be captured in an album, and just try to spread good energy and love and music in the world as long as I can,” she said. “I’m really blessed to be able to be doing that, so I don’t have any expectations other than just enjoying the ride and trying to put good vibes in the world.”