Since releasing her breakthrough album, ‘Seeking Thrills’, in 2020, the only way is up for Georgia.
This month, she returns with her third LP, the joyous ‘Euphoric’, but in the time between albums, she has rarely stayed still, and alongside working on tracks for herself she’s contributed to a number of high-profile projects.
Months after her previous record dropped, she teamed up with Gorillaz and Peter Hook on Ariez from the virtual group’s seventh studio album, ‘Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez’, and earlier this year she appeared on Shania Twain’s chart-topping ‘Queen of Me’ album, co-writing the track Got It Good.
“I don’t really decide upon them, the opportunities just arise and then I sort of think, ‘OK, people aren’t going to put these two together…’ – and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to work with Shania,” she admits in RETROPOP’s August issue. “I knew that people would be weirded out by the idea of Georgia working with one of the biggest pop stars of all time, but it was a great experience and I learned a lot.”
Opening up about her three days in the studio with the country-pop legend, she reveals: “She just had all these stories of her and Mutt Lange – who is obviously one of the most successful producers of all time – and it was really interesting to hear how they wrote all these big records with just the two of them in the studio.
“She would just drop in, ‘You know, when I wrote Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, it was because I felt like a woman in the studio with Mutt and that line just came out.’ It’s crazy, because that’s one of the biggest pop songs ever!
“But she also has this incredible work ethic; she was first in the studio and last out and our sessions lasted till about 1am. I had the chords and she took them and turned them into her own thing, then she was like, ‘Oh, and the lyrics are going to be like this’ – she was so fast and so professional, it was extraordinary and really educational.”
The process was slightly different with Gorillaz, she says, because Damon already had the track in place and the session was more about their vibe together. “He really bounces off other people in the studio, so the energy that you bring will completely inspire him.
“If you’re feeling a bit low, he’ll pick up on that, so you have to be really energised and that makes him want to experiment. But they were both amazing experiences in different ways and really interesting ways of working as well.”
Another big name collaborator is William Orbit; after featuring on his 2022 solo album, ‘The Painter’, Georgia enlisted him to work on her recent single, Give It Up For Love. “I was so inspired by the way he would add these ethereal synths in the background and samples from non-Western music,” she smiles.
“He pushed the realms of pop music and there’s not that many people these days that are doing that. I don’t think there are many artists that want to work with producers that are interesting and I thought, ‘If people hear this, maybe they’ll realise what an amazing producer William is and see where he took pop music in the nineties.”
The single follows a remix of the album’s lead track, It’s Euphoric, with Years & Years star Olly Alexander, and when it comes to reworking her current hit Georgia already has big ideas for a major overhaul.
“I’m gonna try and do one for Give It Up For Love,” she shares. “I’d love to do it with a proper soul singer, maybe Cleo Sol, and get some absolutely killer vocals on there.”
‘Euphoric’ is out July 28 on Domino.
Read the full interview in the August 2023 edition of RETROPOP, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store, use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist, or get Digital Copies delivered direct to your devices.
