Amy SharkAmy Shark’s sound is one that audiences around the globe have come to love over the decade she’s been releasing music under that name. But, the release of her new single The Biggest Dick sparks a new era for her.
Shark is no stranger to success with three studio albums to her name, all of which at one point reached the top of the charts in Australia. Her debut Love Monster, achieved platinum status in Australian and gold in New Zealand.
She has also locked herself in as an Australia Idol judge for the last four years running, imparting her industry know-how and songwriting prowess onto another generation of singers and musicians.
And if that wasn’t enough, she’s recently added another layer to her creative pursuits, having been cast as an ex-MMA professional fighter turned coach in Russel Crowe’s latest movie Beast, set to be screening in cinemas around the country on April 23rd this year.
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Having released Sunday Sadness, her third full-length LP to much acclaim, and amidst all else Shark is engaging in she is preparing to release her fourth album in July. The album is entitled Soft Pop, with the first single, The Biggest Dick having dropped on Wednesday, March 11th.
“The Biggest Dick is about celebrating all the little wins you have when you’re feeling low,” Shark states. “Things like coffees and blue skies. It’s the ultimate breakup song. A little bit sad a little bit vulnerable, a little bit uplifting but mainly a big F U! You big dick."
Accompanying the release of the single is a lo-fi music video that features Shark in a baby blue, fluffy bikini riding her bike with the camera situated at POV on the handlebars. Thematically the fluffy element is a component to the concept of Soft Pop that underpins the album.
Yet, most importantly the song itself acts a stepping towards an evolution of Shark’s sound. She approached the writing and recording process of this album very differently to the records she has released gone by.
She stowed herself away in her home for a month, incrementally but consistently chipping away at the songs. From there she travelled to small town Barry, Wales to record with ARIA award winning producer Dann Hume.
The result is a stripped back album that involved utilising innovative ways to punctuate its sound. The album is absent of drums, but focuses on Shark’s lyricism, voice and elements that juxtapose the at times melancholy lyrics with a more positive sound.
“Yeah, I love that juxtaposition because my sound has always been a little melancholy,” Shark outlines to The Music. “The trick was to just turn The Biggest Dick into a banger somehow. I wanted it to feel fun.
“I wanted it to be like, ‘this looks lo-fi, this looks like she's having a good time,’ because I am. And that's the whole feeling behind soft pop. It's a really solid, strong album and beautiful to listen to start from finish, but I'm just having fun with the whole process now.”
Being on the precipice of releasing her latest music, Shark is excited, all the while being aware of the risk involved with certain decisions made regarding the project.
“I'm stoked,” exclaims Shark. “I think I've been teasing the shit out of [The Biggest Dick] for a while because I love the song so much and I know what's yet to come as well. I’m just really proud of the next era as a whole and this is a really fun one to kick it off.”
The project has certainly been a progressive move in relation to the sound of it, but that’s also come with a sense of growth for Shark. An emergence that has brought about a greater acceptance of grief and disappointment.
“I've been through so many eras where it's been such a sad girl time for me,” acknowledges Shark. “That has resulted in really struggling to perform the songs and think about the songs, whereas now I feel like I've processed everything.
“And as much as there's still emotion and heartache in the songs, I'm happy to talk about it and sing it because I can remember how shit it all was, but I am at a place now where it's like, ‘oh, I can write about it these experiences and I can be honest about them, but I'm not going to die in it,’ you know?”
This is especially represented in The Biggest Dick, where the lyrics traverse the joy in the simplicity of daily coffee routines and blue skies, amidst the moving through of grief and sadness.
“The opening line of the song literally says, first morning in months/didn't think about you once/got coffee on the way,” she explains. “That was my life at the time, waking up, and there were so many personal situations I was going through, but getting coffee in the morning and celebrating just having a blue sky and looking to any sort of positivity in the day got me through.
“But I also wasn’t scared to be like, ‘I'm tired and I'm angry and I'm in love and whatever.’”
Ultimately, from start to finish, and the journey that Shark has been on emotionally and in her personal life, to how that’s informed the moulding of the album, it’s been a process that’s only induced excitement and pride for her.
“To see it all come together, like the furry album is now gonna be a real thing,” she says eagerly. “It looks amazing. The bikini looks epic. I'm just really proud of everything and it's all come together nicely. It’s just been so fun and ultimately, I'm pumped. I'm really excited about the whole chapter.”
The Biggest Dick is the first release of a new era for Amy Shark. One that honours the legacy of her sound up until this point but allows for the stepping into a new chapter for her.
Amy Shark’s The Biggest Dick is out now, with new album Soft Pop available to order now.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
