Piper Page On Her New Music, Songwriting, and Advocating for “Women Like Me”
Piper Page – Photography by Ashly Nicole
Based in New York City, singer-songwriter, Piper Page, has a lot going on. On top of the release of her latest R&B-pop fused single, “Breadcrumbs,“ Page is also a rising senior at NYU where she studies Music Business, Music Law, and Fashion Business. Informed by a diverse musical upbringing and inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, and Sinead Harnett, Page’s new music marks a shift in her artistic career, hinting at a world where she’s more herself in music than she’s ever been.
On “Breadcrumbs,” Page gets honest about the reality of relationships in the modern world and how much people want to keep going back to those who make us comfortable, even though love isn’t really there. Exploring the concept of “breadcrumbing,” the track makes a home for itself in the early 2000’s pop/R&B revival. “I wanted the relationship to be mutual and conversational because breadcrumbing isn’t always one-sided,” she says of the single. “We’re saying to each other, ‘Hey, I know it’s been three months, but do you wanna fill the space in my head for tonight?’ It’s toxic, and probably bad for both of you, but it’s honest.”
If there’s anything to know about Piper Page, it’s that honesty and authenticity fuels almost everything she’s doing whether it’s making music or pursuing a degree in music law. When she’s not focused on being an artist, Page is studying the intricacies of the legal side of music, making her the only one in her class relating lessons back to music. With a mission to advocate for Black female artists and songwriters on the legal side of entertainment, Page also aspires to show WOC lawyers that they can be in her position one day.
In an exclusive interview with Amplify Her Voice, Piper Page discusses the situations that inspired her latest songwriting, the sonic versatility she grew up on, and what to expect from her debut album, Based On True Events, set for release this summer.
Hi Piper! Thank you for speaking with us. Can you remember the moment you fell in love with music?
It was probably the first time I ever sang on stage. In seventh grade, I was in a school musical. It was the first time my parents ever heard me sing, and after I got offstage and I saw their reaction, I was like, “Oh, I like that.” I like the feeling that people liked what I was doing so that’s where it started for me as a performer. As a songwriter, it was probably many years later when I was writing my own songs and performing those. It was probably in high school where I felt that I wanted to do this forever.
Who are some artists that you loved in those high school years that influence your sound today?
Sam Smith and Adele were my two driving forces all throughout high school. I just wanted to write like them and sing like them, so they’re the ones who got me started and as I dove deeper into music, I definitely drew influence from Amy Winehouse. It was kind of like my inspirations’ inspiration, so the people who inspired Adele and Sam Smith, I would latch on to those artists.
“Breadcrumbs” is such a great song! I love how you address what it’s like to form connections in the modern world. Can you talk a little more about the song and how it came about?
The inspiration started with having an ex that’s not really your ex – the one you kind of dated but kind of didn’t, so it started with that, and our inability to let go of each other. We lived in two different cities, and both of us had kind of moved on, but every time something went wrong in another relationship, or we were bored, we would just come back to each other because there was just a silent agreement that we had. I was talking to my therapist about that situation, and she said, “Have you ever heard of this concept called breadcrumbing?” It was about just leaving bits and pieces of each other for us to find and follow for people who don’t want to let go and have that attachment still there. That’s where the theme came in. I started looking up articles on it more and then that’s when a lot of the lyrics really fell into place.
How do you feel you’ve grown as an artist since the release of your debut EP in 2019 to now?
I think I’ve grown so so much. I feel like as a person, I have actual life experience. When I wrote that EP, only one of the songs was a personal song. The other two were fiction. I wrote them when I was sixteen, and I was just trying to develop myself as a songwriter. I would draw inspiration from anything to get the creative juices flowing and develop a starting place. That’s what that EP was, my starting place, and then after I released it, I was just so shy about it. I don’t think I was as proud of my music then as I am now because I knew I was just starting out, but now I’m going to college for music, and I have this great team behind me, so as an artist, my career has grown in terms of what I know and how I can implement what I’m learning to it. As a person, not only am I getting more experience but I’m understanding what life is about and how I can turn that into songs.
You said you’re studying music in college right now? What has that been like?
Yes, I’m going into my senior year right now at NYU and I study Music Business, but I am a double minor. My first one is in Law and Society, and my second one is in Fashion Business. It’s so interesting being pre-law at NYU because in the majority of my law-related classes, I’m the only person in music so everyone’s coming from a more political, social-sciences-related background, and I’m the only person in the room who’s relating every single case to Britney Spears or Megan Thee Stallion. It’s fun for me.
What’s your mission behind wanting to pursue music law?
I am a performer and a singer, but at my core, I am a songwriter. There are always a lot of legal things that come with being a songwriter, with copyright and things like that, but I think my end goal is to be able to advocate for people like me, women like me, Black women, and people of color in the music industry, and there are never enough people doing that. There are a lot of people trying to amplify the voices of women in the music industry, but I don’t think there’s a lot of that on the legal side. We can promote POC on social media all we want, but at the end of the day, there are still some indescrepancies when it comes to the representation and recognition of POC in the music industry. A lot of the people writing these hit songs go unnoticed and nobody talks about them, and I would like to be a part of that change. So my end goal ultimately is to be that voice and help emphasize WOC, advocate for them, and be on their side from a legal perspective.
Have you ever come across roadblocks in the music industry as a woman of color, or even in legal spaces that you feel have affected you? If so, how do you keep pushing forward to just keep creating and staying true to your music?
Most recently, a lot of my roadblocks have been pertaining to the over-saturation of people in the music industry and how I’m able to make myself known and solidify myself as an artist when there are so many people who want to be singer-songwriters. It has been a humongous challenge. I think my roadblock has been trying to differentiate myself, but I’ve actually gotten really lucky, and I’ve built a team around me that I know won’t put me in bad situations. I purposely made my artist team all-women and it’s only been to my benefit. My managers, the people who do my PR, my marketing, and creative direction are all women, and I purposely made this circle for me so that I won’t put me in a situation that will compromise my ability to create. My team is really helpful and I’m glad that they’re all women because they get things done.
Your debut album, Based on True Events, is coming out this summer! What is something listeners can expect to learn a little bit more about you when they hear this album?
I hope that it’s versatility. I hope they can gather that it’s a very versatile album in terms of the styles of the songs because of all the genres that I loved growing up. I labeled myself an R&B/pop singer, but there’s a lot more that goes into that for me. I grew up playing classical and jazz music, I was jazz-trained in voice and piano, I played the viola, and I did musical theatre for years, so I want those things to be a part of this album because that was a part of me. I want it to be a mesh of all the things that I love and that made me an artist today. Lyrically, the album is very modern, very 2022, and I hope people can just relate to it.