"Stop Reading Minds, You're Sh*t At It": Georga Raath On Debut EP 'Manipulation Is A Skill'

Georga Raath says the title of her debut EP, Manipulation Is A Skill, was chosen due to “how confronting it was”.

“All but one of the songs touch on themes of manipulation, whether it’s feeling manipulated by other people, manipulating them, or even manipulating myself. I liked the idea that the EP’s title served as a reminder to me that manipulation is a learned and honed skill, which means you can also unlearn it.”

The Perth (Boorloo) based singer-songwriter’s debut EP is out today (27 September), and is not only strikingly intimate in content, but strikingly diverse in sound.

Raath describes it as alternating between “bullish and delicate, tying together themes of power, guilt, love, hope, and fear”.

In terms of sound, it’s “eclectic yet cohesive,” with Raath exploring new genres and new inspirations.

“During its creation, I was introduced to an alternative hip hop artist named 070 Shake, and I’d say her work has definitely influenced a lot of the sounds used. I am also really inspired by the work of Angie McMahon, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, so the EP has ended up being this really interesting blend of genres.”

Raath’s longtime collaboration with partner and fellow artist OJC43 (Oskar), also guides the EP’s sound and shape, with a creative process that saw the pair record, mix and produce the entirety of the EP from their home studio in Fremantle (Walyalup), with assistance from good friend Matt Walker.

“It’s mostly just a process of play,” Raath says of the EP’s formation. “Trial and error, experimenting with different sounds and ideas until something sticks, or feels right. I often struggle to fully grasp or understand my emotions until I write about them, and in the process of producing songs, that’s generally where I start to understand. That’s one of my favourite things about having the studio at home and writing with Oskar, there isn’t the stress or worry of limitations with time, we can just have fun.”

The creation of the EP has also been “the best form of catharsis” for Raath, with each song holding “valuable lessons” related to what Raath was navigating in life at that time.

“I have grown so much since the beginning of its creation and have proved so much to myself. Manipulation Is A Skill is a reminder to me of where I was, compared to where I am now.”

To celebrate the EP’s release, and ahead of its launch party, Raath has shared a breakdown of each track, offering a glimpse into the inner workings of Manipulation Is A Skill.

Spilt Milk

Spilt Milk started as a poem I wrote after a fight with someone I loved very dearly. At the time I was really struggling with an eating disorder, and I thought I had it under control but the reality of it was that I was just lying to myself to justify my unhealthy habits.

The thing with eating disorders, they’re generally a symptom of something much bigger and deeper. In my case, it was a complete lack of self-love and self-worth which resulted in me doing anything and everything I could to present myself as someone else.

I was donning mask after mask and as each one inevitably cracked, I had the next ready and waiting. I never felt like I could be honest about what I was experiencing, mostly because I didn’t want people to see the person I was trying so hard to hide, someone who was flawed, and human.

As a little girl, I used to dress up in my parents’ clothes and play pretend that I was an adult. Clomping around in mum’s heels with her makeup smudged on my face in all the wrong places, I felt important, I felt big. Now as an adult, I look back and see what everyone else would have seen - a kid playing dress up.

Writing this song, I felt like that little girl again, just now with the sudden awareness of what everyone else was seeing. A huge part of that was how I felt as a musician. I was very insecure, and convinced myself that my talent wasn’t real.

Spilt Milk was always an opening song to me. It feels like an introduction, the setting of the scene, it’s a reminder of who the narrator of this story is. It’s the pretext and backstory for all the other songs, and also the beginning of my truth. 

MEAT

MEAT is a song that I wanted to write for a long time. After turning 18 I started working in a pretty high-class restaurant where a lot of people with money came to eat and drink.

Being a young girl, I received a lot of attention from older men and whilst a lot of the time it was fairly tame, it still bothered me. I hated how little I felt in the face of these men and their condescending, dismissive behaviour. I hated that the only time I felt seen was when I was being sexualised.

Even then, I generally felt like the punchline of some joke. It was funny to them. I hated their surprise when they realised I was intelligent, or ambitious, and I hated that their surprise should feel like a compliment.

One day, my friend and co-writer Matt Walker sent me a track he had been working on that he thought would really suit my writing style, and within 40 minutes MEAT was written.

The song came from wanting to have power in a situation where I felt powerless. I wanted a story where I didn’t feel small, where my gender and social standing actually gave me strength, where power doesn’t come from economic status or genitalia but rather from the character within. 

Puppet

I wrote Puppet after a huge explosion of change happened in my life. I was slowly peeling away the remnants of shattered masks, and starting to make decisions that served me and my happiness.

My co-writer and producer OJC43 who worked with me on the EP, was over east for music and he sent me a track which eventually became Puppet. It felt like fate. The night before I’d started writing a song and I loved the words but it didn’t feel right. As soon as I heard the track that Oskar had sent, I knew the words I’d written the night before were meant for it.

The voice of Puppet is dark, the song feels like a villain origin story. I was starting to realise how much I had been letting certain people consume me, how I’d been using their consumption as an indication of my worth. I didn’t feel like I deserved a lasting place in anyone’s life, I could only be there as long as I could entertain.

The song was a message to myself, that a puppet is loved for its entertainment value, but its substance and its story comes from the person pulling the strings and writing the script. A puppet doesn’t get a say in its journey, it just has to perform, and at the end of the night when the cheers of the audience ring out, it goes back into its box.

I didn’t want to feel like a puppet anymore, I wanted to set fire to the box, the stage, the costumes and the strings, and step out of the ashes as my own person. The line ‘I’m not a beast, it’s just a face’ I think talks about my wants and desires for myself. My ambitions, goals, wants and desires, felt dirty. To serve myself felt selfish and wrong, like I was neglecting those I loved in favour of myself. But there is freedom in letting go of people pleasing, in learning to serve yourself and your desires. It feels like villain behaviour, but it’s not, it’s actually just healing.  

Hard To Love

Hard To Love started at Rocco Mama’s Restaurant in Southgate Mall, Johannesburg, where I was catching up with an old friend named Guguletho. We were talking about life, the universe and everything (as you do after many years apart) and at one point she said ‘everyone loves a finished product.’ Immediately, I had my notes up and I was writing it down, I said ‘there’s a song in that’ and it ended up being that Hard To Love was the song.

The months after getting back from South Africa were really challenging, I was trying (and failing) to balance uni, work, music, friends, family, mental health etc. I felt like I was being crushed from every direction, I was really unstable and wanted to explode.

Hard To Love was pure catharsis. I still couldn’t tell you exactly what the song is about, there was so much happening at the time that fed into it. There was the realisation that I’d torn myself apart trying to be the perfect accessory to multiple people, to the point where I didn’t recognise myself. There was a need to drastically change my life in the hope of breaking free from all the things I felt caged by. There was this intoxicating sense of insanity looming over me that I just wanted to fall into and immerse myself in completely. Hard To Love was a means of escape.  

Christine

Christine is actually one of my favourite songs on the EP and was also one of the first to be produced. It marked a big change in the direction of my music towards a more electronically produced sound and at first I was quite unsure about it.

I caught up with my producer and co-writer OJC43 for a studio session back in March of 2023 and at the time we were both in a bit of creative rut. He made the beat and then song just happened. I was inspired by something my psychologist had said to me which was ‘stop reading people’s minds, you’re shit at it’ and I just thought that was hilarious (and very true).

I had been talking to her about my mistrust in people’s affections towards me and I had come to realise that I spent every day fighting myself. Oskar (OJC43) and I experimented with a lot of different sounds and ideas for this song, the goal was to recreate the mess and noise in my head in a way that could be understood and enjoyed without having to tame it. 

Jump

Jump is a song about falling in love, and the uncertainty and vulnerability that comes with it. It’s a song I actually wrote over three years ago, but I had such a strong, clear vision for what I wanted it to be, I just didn’t feel confident enough in my skills, words, or self to communicate that vision properly.

Over the last year though, I started investing more time into learning how to produce music myself and Jump was actually the first full song I recorded, mixed and produced almost entirely on my own. I was so proud of myself for what I had created, and it felt like pivotal moment in my growth as both an artist and a person.

When choosing the tracks for the EP, I wasn’t sure that Jump fit the themes driving it, but I couldn’t help but feel like it needed to be on there. Now the EP is almost out, I realise how right I was. Jump showed me how much I need to start trusting myself. It showed me that I am very capable and proved to me that I am doing exactly what I am meant to be doing. 

Georga Raath’s debut EP ‘Manipulation Is A Skill’ is out now. The EP’s launch party is on Friday 27 September, with limited tickets available here.

If you are suffering from any of the issues that have been discussed or need assistance, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.