EMMA Blackery is sitting cross-legged on Brighton beach in the boiling sun, surrounded by hundreds of tanners and swimmers, a jacket over her white trousers to keep them clean.

*Watch the full interview here: https://www.facebook.com/brightonargus/videos/10155783285696699/

Emma, who is three weeks away from releasing her debut album, Villains, talks openly about what has been a tough year.

As August 31 – the release date – draws ever closer, Emma admits she’s had a rather packed schedule.

“It’s a nerve-wracking time, and it’s really busy just trying to engage with everyone on social media about it. It’s really hectic but it’s good, I’m happy,” she says fiddling with pebbles in her hands.

“It’s such a relief to know it’s nearly here. I started writing for the album in September, so I’ve had this whole concept in my head since then, it’s been almost a full year.”

It is this jam-packed schedule that makes me all the more grateful that Emma has taken the time to talk to me.

The Essex-born, Brighton-based, musician and YouTuber comes across as down to earth and relatable.

There is a certain shyness that coats what is a vibrant and bubbly personality.

It’s clear to see why her fans find her so endearing.

However, like most people, Emma has also faced her share of personal struggles.

It is these struggles that she has chronicled and collected and make up the 11 songs that comprise Villains.

Listening to the album it’s apparent how deeply personal the lyrics are.

Ever word is sung with the raw emotion that can only come from experience.

Emma admits some of the songs on her record are so personal they may be tough to perform.

“There are some songs on the album that are hard to put out there,” she says.

“There’s one I’ve already put out there called Icarus.

“It’s about my own shortcomings and my own flaws and how I get involved in all this public stuff and regret it.

“There’s another song at the end of the album called Villains: Part 2 which is the most personal song I’ve ever written. It’s about mental health, things I’ve gone through, mistakes I’ve made, it’s very personal.

“I’m glad it’s on the album, but it’s going to be hard singing that one live.”

Today is the release date for Take Me Out, Emma’s fourth single from her upcoming album.

“It’s kind of a sad song but it’s got an upbeat sound to it,” she explains.

“The song is about not being able to trust people. Over the last year or so, I had a huge reality check.

“A lot of people who I thought were my friends weren’t really my friends, and it was a huge shock to me that these people, who I thought I could trust, would go behind my back and talk about me on podcasts, and not reply to my Facebook messages, and tweet me horrible things out of the blue.”

As Emma talks about the subject matter of her latest single it’s obvious to see why she would be so hurt, and where the pain behind the album would come from: “It’s kind of metaphorical but it’s like ‘how are you going to try and take me out?’, pull the rug from underneath me, like who is the next person that’s going to upset me.”

Throughout the course of the album Emma takes shots at a lot of people; former friends, people who she believed she could trust with the world, and while she doesn’t mention names, she says the people involved are likely to know which songs are about them: “They probably know, my lyrics are not very subtle, they’re quite aimed.

“If I really wanted to make someone feel awful I’d mention their name, but I wanted the songs to relate to everyone. “

This album has been a long time coming for Emma.

She first picked up a guitar at the age of 12.

She released her first EP, Human Behaviour, in 2012, before she’d even started her YouTube channel.

She has since released four more EPs, the most recent of which, Magnetised, threw her into the global spotlight when it was featured on the launch of the Iphone X.

But Emma says the reason behind finally pulling the trigger on making an album was because of the way she saw music as a child.

“I’ve always believed in the album, by which I mean growing up listening to music. A single would come out, then another single, then the album, then another single.

“An album was always so integral to an artist, having that catalogue of work. So I’ve always believed that releasing an album is a sign that you are an artist.

“Whether it’s right or wrong that’s how I feel.

She adds that, above all, the timing is now right for her debut album: “I realised this was the time to do it; I wanted to do it, my fans wanted me to do it, so I just wanted to do it whether it was independent or with a label, I just wanted to get it done, and now I’m so excited.”

The biggest theme in Villains in revenge. You can tell that from not just the lyrical content, but by the way Emma sings the lyrics that she carefully penned herself over the last year.

As it turns out the artist who inspires her the most, Taylor Swift, recently released an album with similar themes.

But Emma is keen to express that just because the themes of the album are similar it does not mean she’s trying to imitate her idol.

“When people think of influences they think ‘who is she copying’, but every single artist has influences. Everyone you look up to has someone they look up to.

“I just want to write and release music that I’m currently loving, music that gets me going. Often that’s what I’ve been listening to, otherwise why would I be listening to it. So I make what I love.”

As it turns out Emma actually started writing for her album before Taylor Swift had even released a song from 2017’s Reputation.

She says that as well as proving doubters wrong in regard to “copying” it really cemented her belief in what she was creating.

“I started writing Dirt two weeks before Look What You Made Me Do was announced, and everyone said I was just trying to be like Taylor, but apparently we have the same brain.

“I felt solidified in writing an album about revenge because my hero is doing it.”

Talk eventually moves on to Emma’s career on YouTube.

It still remains remarkable to me that people can make such great careers on the video platform.

Having seen her online presence sky-rocket, following the release of a stream of comedy-themed videos, Emma now has some1.4 million subscribers.

However Emma has said she has had to adapt her content-creating style due to the fact that not all her subscribers are interested in her music.

“It’s a hard thing to hear when people say they don’t like my music and feel I should go back to what I’m good at.

“That’s a negative example, but when you hear something like that it makes you question yourself. People don’t really remember that because I got known for being more controversial, and out there, and funny.

“So when you’re doing something that people aren’t necessarily there for, and you have to convince them you’re good at it, it can be very tough.”

She adds that there have been times throughout the process when she’s been quitting both forms of art she produces but continues to say she is just going with what feels right for her at this point.

Of course with any album, there is a tour to accompany it.

Emma hits the road in October, travelling across the UK and Europe, and you notice an immediate positive wave wash over her when she talks about getting back out on the road: “I haven’t been on the road since last May or June. It’s an entirely different sound. I’ll hopefully still be bringing my band and it will be fun to see how we adapt their sound to the music I’m releasing.

“But just being out there and performing for people and hearing them sing along, it’s the best feeling.

“I come alive when I’m out on that stage, I become this confident person that I wish I could always be.

“Hearing people sing these songs back to me, the ones I wrote in my bedroom on a guitar, is mind-blowing.

“I guess it feeds my ego as well, but music was that thing that I always connected to, so for me to be able to provide that outlook, and to see people connect with it, I see myself in those people.”

In 2016 Emma lived out the dream of every 90s teen when she supported Busted on tour.

While this made me insanely jealous, she adds that it is not the highlight of her live music career so far.

That moment came in the same year, at a headline show at the 02 Academy in Islington, London: “I performed the first two songs, and after that second song was finished I couldn’t get a word in for over a minute because the audience was screaming and cheering, before I was able to break it.

“It was the most overwhelming feeling.

“To hear that is still one of my fondest memories, a whole minute where I couldn’t talk.”

As we sit on the beach people pass us by and there is one group throwing water balloons on to their friend below – we’re both tempted to go over and get some water relief from the sun – and you can hear music playing from somewhere.

Brighton is a hub of weird and wonderful creativity that Emma Blackery now calls home, and she says that it is the feeling the city offers, as well as the friends she already knew here, that drew her.

She says: “I think creative people are drawn to this place because there’s already a lot of creative people down here,” she says.

“What I will say is that when you first come here it seems so big but once you’ve been here a while it’s not as big as people think.

“I love how easy-going it is down here.

“I’m very proud of being from Essex, but it’s an entirely different world.

“People are a lot more open down here and there’s so much more to do.”

Despite her hectic schedule – she is releasing an album after all – Emma still gives me an hour of her time for this piece.

Over the course of that 60 minutes I learn many things about this 26-year-old from Basildon; Taylor Swift is her goddess, despite living in Brighton for two years she’s never had an Uncle Sam’s (something I hope you have remedied, Emma?), and she does a mean cover of AJ Styles’s entrance music – we are both mad (WWE) World Wrestling Entertainment fans.

She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, and even she knows that can get her into trouble from time to time.

It is admirable to hear her talk so honestly and openly about her struggles over the last year – and it is what has inspired Villains and made it the gritty, hard-hitting, pop-fuelled album the world will hear on August 31.

Villains is 11 songs that prove you may be able to throw pain, insults and negativity at Emma Blackery, but you’ll have a tough time trying to take her out.