Paige has graced us with her highly anticipated debut album, ‘King Clown.’ The album is a showcase of Paige’s musical style and establishes her as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. “It feels so good,” Paige expresses to Eat This Music about the release of her album. “I feel super proud of this album, feel super proud of myself, and I’m so excited to see what people think of it!”
‘King Clown’ is mixed with ingredients of R&B, Pop Punk, Electronic, Soul, and acoustic influences. Paige – who wrote most of the album herself – takes you on a captivating journey through twelve tracks that explore the nuances of the human condition. The album, produced by Simon Gooding offers a dynamic and genre-defying delicious experience.
“King Clown as a whole is about embracing all your good and bad qualities,” Paige says about the story of her debut album. “Sonically I took inspiration from Joel Little and his ability to use minimal production and focus in more on the song itself (e.g Royals) was something I had fun experimenting with.”
Paige’s pop influences shine in tracks like ‘Miles Away‘ and ‘Loyalty.’ These favourites showcase her ability to craft infectious melodies while blending elements of electronic music. When reflecting on the album to Eat This Music, Paige says that she learnt how impatient she is when going through the creative process, “When I finished this album I wanted to put it out the day it was done,” she adds. “I learnt that I probably have strong potential to be a music producer which felt really exciting. I also learnt more about where my weaknesses and strengths are as an artist.”
At the time of writing her debut album, Paige “was struggling a lot mentally and was having a lot of different feelings towards things in” her life that she now made peace with. Paige continues, “So many personal experiences influenced this album and it’s such a beautiful thing to be able to write about it and use that as a healing process. I feel like I’m in a really different place now compared to where I was when writing the album.”
“All I wanted to do with this album was have songs that speak about myself proudly and take accountability for the darker sides of my soul.” — Paige
Paige wrote some songs off the album with her producer Simon while also in her own time, where she found herself writing more personal songs: “Simon was great to work with and it was fun to experiment more with new sounds and ideas whereas when I was writing myself at home I could go towards sounds that my audience have heard from me before,” Paige emphasises to Eat This Music. “This was a great way to make the album feel like a new side of me but also having that familiarity.”
The album’s title, ‘King Clown,’ stands out as showcase of Paige’s multifaceted artistry across the 36-minute runtime, delivering energetic Pop Punk that leaves a lasting taste. Accompanying the album is the visually stunning music video for the single ‘Carousel.’ The video, a visual feast, complements the song’s electronic beats and showcases Paige’s commitment to delivering a complete sensory experience for her audience.
“I’d recommend my song “Carousel” to first time listeners,” Paige says. “I feel the songwriting in this song is quite vulnerable which is my style of writing! I also think it’s super fun and playful which is always fun!”
Paige’s debut album comes off the heels of her successful EP, ‘Always Growing,’ which dominated the NZ Official Charts and achieved Platinum status in Korea. The artist’s international appeal has been further solidified through collaborations with Norwegian pop artist Peder Elias on ‘When I’m Still Getting Over You‘ and a successful Australian tour supporting Odette.
With this album, Paige hopes people can listen to this and understand that they have glory moments but also deal with moments where we aren’t the greatest person in the room. “I think it’s important to give ourselves grace and be kind to ourselves and essentially that’s the message I want to convey,” Paige adds.
Paige has not only delivered an impressive debut album but has crafted a piece that navigates through diverse musical influences, artistic vision and musical depth.
