Emma G Talks Wammie Nominations and the D.C. Music Community

This Sunday marks another year of The MusicianShip’s Wammie Awards, a 33-year-old award show that showcases the contributions and talents of the DMV music community. The awards honor the music, advocacy, venues, educators and more in the area, and also serves as a celebration of the resiliency the D.C. area music community has shown through the past year.

Musician, artivist, author and educator Emma G is nominated for five awards at this year’s Wammies: Best Hard Rock Song for “Save You From Yourself,” Best Pop Album for “Living Proof,” Best Pop Artist/Group, the Do Good Award, and the Educator Award. We caught up with her ahead of this Sunday’s awards to chat nominations, community support and what’s next for the busy artist. 

District Fray: You’re nominated for five different awards at the Wammies this year. Congratulations! What was your initial reaction when you found out?
Emma G: I mean, it’s always a blessing. Having released so much music last year and because I pride myself in being rather diverse in the content that I create, it is nice to be able to be recognized for that diversity. We live in a world where we’re so often encouraged to stick to one lane. And I’m like, “No, there’s more to humans than one identity.” So I’m just feeling gratitude, really.

You received a hard rock nomination, and two pop song nominations by way of genre specific awards. Last time we spoke you mentioned how you incorporate so many influences and into your music; does being nominated in multiple genre categories feel reflective of how you’ve set to make a lot of genre-defying music?
Totally. And it’s funny that you say that, because I don’t quite understand why my song is considered hard rock. That specific song, it was – you’re going to laugh – written in about 2004. And so that was a time in my life when I definitely was listening to Korn, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Metallica, Iron Maiden and such. I was in a hard rock band for five years. So for me, that specific song is my tribute to the person that I used to be in a lot of ways, which is funny to explore and also to be recognized for. It’s important, because we can’t know where we’re going, until we recognize where we came from.

Is there any particular award that you’re really proud of and hoping to take home with you?
I think the Do Good Award is valuable for me just because, again, as an artist, musician, mentor, and coach I am not here to just make music, I’m here to help people. And I just want to inspire people to use creativity in a healthy, productive way.

What are you most looking forward to about this Sunday’s awards?
I’m excited to celebrate. One of the things that has been my experience – and I know this isn’t everybody’s experience – but there is so much inter-musician support in this area that I don’t like I’ve never experienced in any other city. And I love how much support there is between artists, but also between artists and music professionals and I just can’t wait to celebrate everybody’s achievements.

Aside from celebrating your Wammie nominations, what else have you been up to lately?
Capitol Groove Collective are working on their next single. It’s a song called “I Don’t Have All the Answers.” I helped cowrite it, I’m not on the track, but I’m really excited for that. Beyond that, my focus is really is on my next single coming out soon called “Songbird.” And that will be coming out April 9, which I’m excited about. I’m just kind of taking things a day at a time. Between the coaching, my own writing and creation, working on my second book and the film [“Born in Crisis”], like I don’t know what else I can potentially do. Oh, although I am also helping out with coaching fitness and wellness through Krav Maga CDK!

For more on Emma G, visit her website www.emmagmusic.com. Follow her on Instagram @emmagmusic. 

The Wammies will air virtually beginning at 6:30 p.m. this Sunday, March 28th. Tickets range from $10-$20 and can be purchased here. Tune in to enjoy live performances, networking, a vendor expo, awards, and more. To learn more about the Wammies, visit www.wammiesdc.org and follow @wammiesdc on Instagram. 

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