“Emerald City” is the first track on my EP. I wrote the song back in 2018, at 3 am, sitting in my little college dorm room, just working through all of these big feelings about moving out, living alone, working through complicated relationships, toughing out the hard stuff, and being grateful for the good. The song is just piano and vocals, which lends it a really intimate and warm quality, almost as though I’m inviting you into the world of this EP, of these songs—of the story of a huge year in my life.

So much of this EP was written in the middle of the night, or at odd moments on the train, or in the middle of the party, when I would think of a catchy-hook mid-conversation, leading me to huddle in the corner, humming into my voice notes app. The rest of this EP was written as I showed songs to my friends. I’d take my notebook, I’d pull out memos of the piano or guitar I’d recorded earlier in the day, and sing the songs for my best friends, just us in a little dorm room. It was cathartic and it was a bonding experience. I wanted “Emerald City” to bring the listener, any listener, into that world, the secretive huddle that happened when I showed my friends any of these songs, basically inviting them all into my world.

My first year living alone was also one of big changes. I embraced my own identity, I understood new ways of living, I really experienced the wonder and magic that is New York. To me, it was like going to the Emerald City in the musical “Wicked”. It was this place I’d dreamed of moving to my whole life, but it is not an easy place to live, which was a lesson I quickly learned. It is, however, intensely rewarding, and it gives you back exactly what you put in—my own little Emerald City.

Written by Anjor Khadilkar

Vocals Performed by Anjor Khadilkar

Piano Performed by Christie Connelly