Abbie Ozard is a girl who likes to write tunes, sing loads and likes to pet as many dogs as she can. Since the release of Abbie’s debut four-track EP “Growing Pains” in 2019, the Manchester-based artist has been gigging a ton, which has been super fun, Abbie self-proclaimed to Eat This Music. Abbie admits that she has also been writing a shed load, in fact, Abbie always wants to improve her creatively in between tours and releases, so sitting in her room for ages and twiddling on a guitar or writing mad weird songs with her friends pretty much sums up what Abbie has been up to.
Eat This Music has been a fan of Abbie Ozard since the release of her single “Heartbreak Radio” in July 2019, however, last week Abbie released her latest single “Crocodile Tears”, a song about someone who continues to pretend to cry when you know they’re not really that bothered at all.
“It explores someone at peak frustration levels and delves into a very messy and confused brain that hopefully others will be able to relate to!”
Speaking to Eat This Music on the release of the single, Abbie revealed that pretty much all of it is based on experiences from her own life. Abbie finds it really difficult to write songs that aren’t about what she has experienced herself, or that don’t really mean much. It is cool to have tunes that represent little bits of what’s going on in your life at that moment, kinda like a memory box but in song form.
Abbie wrote the song with Rich Turvey and to be honest it was well fun, Abbie expresses. The duo started with a melody and Rich went away and Abbie bashed some lyrics out and they both went from there. Abbie and Rich don’t like to spend too much time on one song as Abbie thinks songs always come out better when the lyrics and melody are more at the moment, that way you’re not overthinking too much, which Abbie is very prone to [laughs], so writing with Ruch has always been really helpful.
Making singles is always gonna be important to Abbie. Abbie thinks that if you carry on making songs straight after another, you’ve got more of a chance to improve creatively. Abbie expresses that she wanted to have fun and make a whole concept around the song (hence the [Crocodile] costume), having a “whole creative vision around a tune as well as having the actual song will always be just as important to me.”
On the timing of the release, Abbie explains that she wanted to leave a bit of time after the release of her “Growing Pains” EP to fully decide where she was going to take her musical journey next. A new year is always really helpful in doing that, as it is kinda like a big fresh start, so Abbie dropping the single in February 2020 seemed like the perfect time for her.
To coincide with the release of the single, Abbie released a music video – which you can watch above – in which she worked with one of her best friends Charlotte on the creation, and they were super inspired by the colours artists like Gus Dapperton and Petra Collins use. Abbie wanted to continue the coming-of-age theme she wanted to achieve, so mixing a lonesome picnic for one in a croc costume with deeper lyrics seemed like a cool juxtaposition.
However, Abbie reveals that the visuals aren’t as serious as the lyrics, in fact, the visuals do have a much deeper meaning than what you might see on screen. Abbie wanted to replicate what was going on in her head in the song, so going mad and battering a picnic with a rolling pin pretty much visually explains that [laughs].
“I’m a huge film fan so I’d say story-wise they’re [visuals] relevant to the lyrics and they all match well. I think having a story in a music video is always really cool and interesting, almost like a short film. That way everyone can envisage the whole creative concept by listening to the tune and watching it as well.”
Music is an important aspect of Abbie’s life, in fact, she reveals that she is actually not good at anything else [smiles]. However, with all that said, 2020 looks to be a busy and creative year for Abbie Ozard, as she is currently working on a load of different things at the moment, Abbie is trying to explore more genres so she can push me as much as she can as an artist. Definitely “more singles coming your way, so wait and see what I have in store!!!!”
