2023-05-05 08:00:00
You know her from chart-ranking collabs with German rappers and from countless heartbreak songs – ESTHER GRAF has conquered the German-speaking music world like no other in the last two years. Born in Carinthia, she moved to Berlin in 2021, ended up on the Sony Music label and released her first EP a little later, in which she dealt with a breakup. She will release her second EP “nach den Schlechte tage” in spring 2023, thus ending her mourning phase musically as well. To mark the release of the EP, the singer will be going on her first tour in April, traveling through Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
A few hours before the tour performance in Vienna, ESTHER GRAF is sitting in the make-up, talking to Katharina Reiffenstuhl about which radio station she would be, which festival appearance has been on her bucket list for ages, how she felt entering the Berlin music world, and remembers towards the end in panic that the sound check still has to be done.
Your last mica interview was about 1.5 years ago, that was in autumn 2021. What has happened to you since then?
Esther Graf: At the time, I hadn’t released a bundled project. And it was before the first real festival summer. But actually everything felt like it came afterwards. I think that’s when the most important preparatory work happened. That’s when I thought to myself for the first time: “Okay, now it’s going in a direction that I can also make a living from it.”. 1.5 years ago I had just signed with Sony Music and that’s when things really got going. But I didn’t know then what to expect. A lot of stress for example. [lacht] But also a lot of good things. I am so thankful that I can play my own tour. That was something I could never have dreamed of. I played a solo show in Berlin about a year ago at a 250 store. It didn’t quite work out that way with the pre-sale and I thought to myself: “How the hell am I supposed to sell a tour?”. And now we’re sitting here. In the Scene Vienna. That’s awesome.
Your last EP was a lot about break-ups, the current EP sounds more like spring fever. Have you found hope in your love life again?
Esther Graf: Yes, absolutely, a lot of new things have definitely happened there. There are many artists who only write about break-ups and what I always find so sad is that many then stay in such a pattern and there is such a toxic rhythm. It was important for me that I went through it, but I also want to learn from it and not go into a new relationship with the same approach again. But I can tell you so much, I’m doing very well now. [lächelt]
There’s only one feature on the EP, that’s with FOURTY. How did that come about?
Esther Graf: The song was actually already a year old and was lying around in the Dropbox for a bit. I always explained to my team: “Guys, this song is awesome, why can’t you see it?”. [lacht] And then I thought to myself, to convince them, I’ll add a big feature, then nobody can say no anymore. I did it that way. Someone once rumored to me that FOURTY Bock would like to do something with me. I have FOURTY then just wrote, he answered me two minutes later, was right there and a week later the song was ready. He just came into the studio and had already written his part on the plane. He’s really cool both personally and musically.
“IT’S THE BIGGEST COMPLIMENT WHEN OTHER ARTISTS CELEBRATE YOU”
What people might not know about you right away: You also co-write songs by other musicians, including, for example Weather, Selmon or Katja Krasavice. How did you come to these guest appearances as a writer?
Esther Graf: It came about during the Corona phase because I was in the studio a lot then. I have a relatively large network of producers that I work with, who at some point simply brought me in because they needed help with the writing here and there. So I actually slipped into it quite by accident, which was really cool for me at the time, so that I didn’t just get stuck in my own artist project.
I also find it very healthy to write this first-person artist perspective for someone else and then be happy about their success. It’s just really nice to work together on things. I’d say it was probably just a mix of luck and good days – and maybe a bit of talent too [lacht] -, that in the end there were a few cool placements. I was then able to sign a publishing deal as a songwriter and I’m very grateful for that. That got me a lot further and it just seems to me that you make a name for yourself in the music industry, which is not unimportant to me personally. It’s the greatest compliment when other artists celebrate you and like the way you are and the way you write.
I don’t know if you hear that often, but the style is very reminiscent of Avril Lavigne – punk, rock and emotional.
Esther Graf: Ohh thanks! I’m an ultra.
Oh really?
Esther Graf: Yes. We always listened to them a lot at home. This whole punk-pop direction has been really big in America in the last few years and I’ve just always had fun singing rocky things. I’ve always thought it would actually suit my voice quite well, but it didn’t feel like the right time for a long time. At some point I had the motivation to be angry in my songs. So I wanted to try it. Then I happened upon this sound again, in the studio with Johannes Römer, with whom I wrote “Red Flags”. That was my first punk song. From then on I was like this “I think I just found something for me”. In any case, that opened a lot of doors for me – and it just makes me so excited to play live.
What sets you apart as a singer is definitely the attitude and the confident way you bang out your tracks. Where does she come from?
Esther Graf: I don’t really know. I have to say I love being a musician at heart, I love writing songs and I love being in the studio, but most of all what I love about being a musician is performing. A performer’s heart simply beats in me. I don’t think I’m that sure of myself, I struggle with myself just as often. It’s more like “I’m now in the mood to get people involved as best I can.”. If a song is sexy, I feel sexy too.
“BY MOVING TO BERLIN, I FIRSTLY LEARNED THAT I HAD TO MAKE SOMETHING MY OWN”
You live in Berlin now. How is life as a musician there, especially in comparison to Austria?
Esther Graf: In fact, I set up my whole team primarily in Berlin, where my publishing house, management and label are. I’m almost more networked there than in Austria. Musically, Germany and Berlin is definitely more my home, but I would like to make Vienna more and more my musical home. That’s why I’m always so happy when I can do something in Austria. Berlin is cool, there are so many possibilities there, but when I first came to Berlin for a session, I thought so in the end “Esther, you can’t do anything!”. [lacht] There are so many crass people there and the cards are simply reshuffled. But it was good to see that individuality is such a big topic. By moving to Berlin, I learned first and foremost that I have to do something of my own. I had to fight for my right to exist, and it didn’t help me to take more singing lessons, for example.
How was the start as a musician in Austria?
Esther Graf: At first I had the feeling that I needed to be classified better. I am Ö3 or FM4? I don’t do straight pop because I like to work with rock sounds. But songwriting wise I just love pop. I found it a bit difficult to get into at first. But I have to say, my home country loves it badly. They really celebrate and it’s so nice when a newspaper article is published somewhere or I’m played on the radio, every neighbor is happy too. The local pride is definitely there.
But to answer the question: you are Ö3 or FM4?
Esther Graf: I think more Ö3. Live maybe more FM4but on disk more Ö3.
What do you have planned for the time after the tour and the festival summer?
Esther Graf: I have to write an album, ey. [lacht] I’ve got a really awesome festival season coming up, but I’m out every weekend from May to September and I always have gigs. Now I have to make sure that I go back to the studio in between. In the summer I would like to release something again. But on tour it’s super difficult to throw in something in between and to be there in your head to be able to write songs. After the tour I’m in Croatia for a week at a songwriting camp, where other musicians and producers are too. In the best-case scenario, I’ll write an album this year so that I can go on tour again next year.
Is there any festival you would really like to be in the lineup for?
Esther Graf: Donauinselfest!!! I wait every year for them to write “Esther Graf, we want you at the Danube Island Festival”. And on the main stage. or on Frequency. But the day will come. I also have really cool festivals in Germany and such, but for next year I wish that I can play more in Austria as well.
How is your mood now so shortly before the performance?
Esther Graf: Right now I’m not that excited because I have so many things in my head that I still have to do. Oh god, I haven’t done a sound check yet either. But today there are a lot of family and friends there, I’m really looking forward to that. I lived in Vienna for a while, and many of my friends here don’t really know me as a musician. It’ll be fun when they see me in action.
Thank you for the interview!
Katharina Reiffenstuhl
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Links:
Esther Graf (Instagram)
Esther Graf (Facebook)
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