Nashville-based singer-songwriter Julia Adrian’s latest single “Potential,” out Friday, Aug. 30, is a quirky, bubbly pop number about falling for the idea of something over reality, that follows in the footsteps of contemporary pop’s tongue-in-cheek tendencies.
The up-and-coming songwriter first began performing in her high school and college theater productions, but that was all put on pause when she decided to pursue policy and law. After graduating college and spending two years in a paralegal program, the singer realized she wanted to give music a fair shot — realizing that the option of law school would always be there, but music may not be.
After several single releases, Adrian continues to infuse her music with a cheeky wink of sarcasm and humor in an effort to allow listeners to get to know her better. As she prepared for the release of “Potential,” Adrian chatted with Melodic Magazine about leaving law school, songwriting and keeping the humor in her work.
Was there any internal pressure leaving law school to make music work?
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a very difficult thing to do to leave stability — I’m pretty much living the opposite lifestyle. It was a very painstakingly made decision but I’m someone who likes to think think things through and really try to prevent things from going wrong, but the bottom line is that you’re not going to be able to predict everything and at some point you just have to do it and try it. In coming here [to Nashville], it’s been a really interesting mindset shift. Here, you can never get too comfortable and [have to] keep leveling up. There’s a lot of having faith that things will work out in the end. It’s a lot of really being in tune with yourself and your gut, and trusting yourself because there’s so much [external] noise. It was definitely a really scary change, and it wasn’t just a move, it was a mindset shift, it was a restart of meeting people, it was all of those different things.
Walk me through how “Potential” came about.
I love to see the best in people, it’s an advantage and a disadvantage, you know? I wanna see the best in people, I wanna believe they’re gonna make it work, but it can also get you into some sticky situations. It’s a real message and sometimes you know, you’re kind of like, “I know maybe this isn’t my person,” but I’m falling for the potential and sometimes that can be charming too. I have a playful tone in a lot of my songs and I kind of kept that here.
What’s your hope that listeners take away from this song?
I feel like there’s definitely gonna be people who hopefully laugh a little bit, you know, see the humor in it but also just kind of relate to that concept like, “Aw man that’s me I prefer to see the good in people.” But for the most part, it’s just kind of a chill, vibey song. My hope is that vocalists enjoy what I did with this, people who relate to the message enjoy it, people who are driving in the car, people who are listening to it in the shower, at the gym, wherever. It’s just kind of a vibe.
What’s your creative process like for a song like this? How do you take it from an idea to the finished product?
So far a lot of my topics have leaned toward the fun side just because I love having humor in my lyrics. For this song I had the idea for a while and I knew I wanted it to be a more upbeat, fun, happy kind of song. I had some ideas of what I wanted the bass to be like, I wanted a really bouncy bass line and a really consistent kick and snare. I wanted a guitar riff that was just kind of consistent throughout the whole thing. I tend to have very specific opinions about production and I have really been trying to learn more and more about how to communicate my ideas [with producers]. We started with that guitar riff, and that bouncy bass line, those other elements, and built it from there.
What’s next for you?
I have these next few singles and I’m very, very excited about them. Mostly, I want to start doing live shows. I want to create a live show that fosters community, that people can come to and just — in an ideal world, I would really want people to say, ‘Oh, Julia Adrian, I wanna go to her show.’ I want it to be kind of a cathartic experience, I want people to be able to have fun and dance around and have a lot of energy. Really, creating a live show that’s just fun for people to come to.
