A Chat with Arabella (28.07.26)
With her deeply personal songwriting and fearless emotional honesty, Arabella is quickly establishing herself as one of pop’s most compelling new storytellers. As she closes the chapter on her debut EP People Pleaser and steps into a bold new era with her latest single ‘Designer’, she reflects on growth, vulnerability, and finding her authentic voice. We caught up with Arabella to discuss songwriting, touring, and the stories that continue to shape both her music and herself.
OSR: You have built your career through touring, live performances, and a very personal approach to songwriting. How has that journey shaped the artist you are today, and what have you learned from connecting with audiences face-to-face?
Arabella: Touring has taught me that there’s nowhere to hide. Seeing people’s reactions in real time is either terrifying or incredibly comforting – there’s really no in-between. I think that’s what I love most about it. You can tell when people are leaning in, when a lyric lands, or when something doesn’t quite connect. There’s no escaping it. You’re standing there watching every reaction happen in real time, and over the years that’s made me a much better artist. I’ve learned that people don’t connect with perfection – they connect with something real. The songs I thought were too vulnerable have often become the ones people hold onto the longest. That completely changed the way I write. I don’t remember a great show because I sang every note perfectly. I remember it because of how it made people feel.
OSR: Your debut EP People Pleaser explored themes of identity, expectations, and the desire to be understood. Looking back on that project, what parts of yourself do you recognise most clearly, and what parts feel like they belong to a previous version of Arabella?
Arabella: Looking back, I still recognize that part of myself that wants to be loved and wants to make the people I care about happy. I don’t think that part of me has disappeared – I just don’t give that part of myself to everyone anymore. That version of me looked for validation from almost everyone. This version of me has learned that the people who truly matter don’t ask me to become someone else to earn their love. My circle is smaller now, and I’m a little bit more careful about who I let in. The part that hasn’t changed at all is how a song begins. Every song still starts the same way: I’m alone in my room, going through something. Whether I’m heartbroken, seething, hopelessly in love, confused, or somewhere in between, writing has always been how I process my emotions. I hope that never changes, because as long as I’m growing, I’ll always have something to write about.
OSR: Your latest single ‘Designer’ explores a very specific emotional moment: seeing someone from your past and wondering how much of who they became was influenced by your relationship. What inspired you to turn that complicated feeling into a song, and what did you discover about yourself while writing it?
Arabella: I never really know how I feel until I write it down. That’s always been true for me. Writing isn’t just how I express a feeling – it’s how I figure out what I’m feeling. When I started writing ‘Designer’, I wasn’t planning to write about that moment or even trying to make sense of it. I just had this complicated feeling that I couldn’t shake. By the time I finished the song, I realized I was more irritated than heartbroken. I hadn’t known that when I started writing it. That’s what songwriting does for me – it tells me the truth before I’m ready to admit it. I’ve always believed I have these oddly specific emotions that I need to write about. Songwriting has always been my outlet. But the funny thing is, those feelings never arrive with a plan. They just keep showing up until I sit down, write them out, and finally see them on paper. That’s usually the moment I understand what I’ve been carrying all along.
OSR: One of the most interesting aspects of ‘Designer’ is that the song does not necessarily present the narrator’s feelings as completely correct, but rather as emotionally real. How important is it for you to capture imperfect or uncomfortable emotions in your songwriting?
Arabella: I actually think that’s one of the most important parts of songwriting. I’m never trying to write the “right” emotion or the most likeable perspective – I’m trying to write the most honest one. Sometimes that’s uncomfortable because you worry people will misunderstand it or think you’re defending a feeling when you’re really just documenting it. Songwriting is how I process what I’m feeling, so it’s important to capture a moment as truthfully as I can, even if, looking back, I don’t completely agree with that version of myself anymore. Emotions aren’t always logical or fair, but they are real.
The greatest compliment I’ve ever received is when someone tells me my songs feel like pages out of their diary. A diary is where we keep the thoughts we’re not ready to say out loud – the messy, contradictory, imperfect feelings we usually keep to ourselves. If my music can make someone feel safe enough to recognize themselves in it, then I feel like I’ve done my job.
OSR: Pop music often thrives on clear narratives of heartbreak, revenge, or moving on. Your writing tends to explore the grey areas between those emotions. Why do you think ambiguity and contradiction can create more powerful songs?
Arabella: People have been writing songs since the beginning of time because the emotions themselves never really change. People have always fallen in love, lost people, felt jealous, hopeful, or confused. What changes is the language we use to describe those feelings. I’m always looking for the emotion that’s a little harder to explain – the one that sits somewhere in the middle or contradicts itself. Those are usually the feelings we struggle to put into words. Most of us don’t live in extremes. We can miss someone and know they’re wrong for us. We can love someone and be angry with them at the same time. I love writing about those in-between moments because that’s where real life happens.
OSR: You have been compared to contemporary pop storytellers who blend confession with performance. Which artists or writers have influenced your approach to storytelling, and how have you worked to develop a voice that feels uniquely your own?
Arabella: I’m inspired by so many incredible women in pop. Taylor Swift’s attention to detail, Olivia Rodrigo’s emotional honesty, Sabrina Carpenter’s wit, Olivia Dean’s warmth, and Chappell Roan’s fearlessness have all taught me something different about storytelling. But I also think every artist reaches a point where they have to stop asking, “Who do I sound like?” and start asking, “What do I have to say that nobody else can?” That’s the question I come back to every time I write. I don’t want people to hear one of my songs and think, “That sounds like Taylor,” or “That sounds like Sabrina.” I want them to hear it and think, “That sounds like Arabella.” I think finding your own voice is less about trying to be different and more about being honest enough that nobody else could have written your story the same way you did.
OSR: ‘Designer’ marks the end of the polished pop era introduced by People Pleaser and hints at a new creative direction. What can listeners expect from this next chapter, and what inspired you to begin exploring a different sound?
Arabella: This next chapter feels like I’ve stopped editing myself. I don’t want to hold anything back or sugarcoat my experiences anymore. I want to write about the moments that shaped me – the beautiful ones, the painful ones, and the ones I didn’t fully understand until much later. If I’m asking listeners to connect with my music, I think I owe them that kind of honesty. More than anything, I hope people feel seen. Music has this incredible way of reminding us that we’re not carrying our stories alone. If someone hears one of these songs and realizes, “I’m not the only person who’s ever felt this”, then it’s done exactly what I hoped it would do.
Sonically, it will be different for a lot of my listeners, but it doesn’t feel different to me. It honestly feels like I’m getting back to the artist I was when I was fourteen. Before I was thinking about genres or where I fit, I was just writing the songs I needed to write.
OSR: Your songs often begin with very personal experiences but end up feeling relatable to a much wider audience. How do you balance writing something that is true to your own life while creating space for listeners to find their own meaning within it?
Arabella: For me, the most important thing is being open to people’s interpretations. A listener is never going to know every detail of what inspired a song, and honestly, I don’t expect them to. They’re bringing their own experiences, memories, and emotions to it, and I think that’s part of what makes music so special. When I’m writing, I start with something that’s completely true to my life. But once it’s out in the world, I don’t need people to see me in the song – I want them to see themselves. If a lyric reminds someone of their own relationship, their own family, or a season of life they’ve been through, then that song has found a new purpose. That’s one of my favorite things about music. It can start as one person’s story, but somehow it becomes everyone else’s too.
OSR: The music industry can often encourage artists to follow trends or recreate what already works. How do you stay connected to your instincts and protect your creativity while building a career in pop music?
Arabella: It’s important to know what’s happening in music because I love pop music and I admire so many artists. But I’ve also learned that chasing trends usually means you’re already behind them. For me, the priority has always been the song. If a song is honest, it has a much better chance of lasting than if it’s written just because something is popular at the moment. I try to stay connected to why I started writing in the first place. When I was fourteen, I wasn’t thinking about algorithms or playlists or what was trending. I was writing because I had something I needed to say. I think whenever I start overthinking, that’s the place I have to return to. I’ve learned that trends can introduce people to your music, but honesty is what makes them stay.
OSR: When people look back on this period of your career years from now, what do you hope they understand about Arabella the artist and the person behind these songs?
Arabella: I hope people look back on this as the beginning. The place where we all met. I don’t want my music to capture just one season of life. I hope I get the privilege of writing through every chapter, and that the people listening get to grow right alongside me. The songs I write ten years from now should reflect a different version of me than the songs I’m writing today, because hopefully I’ve learned something by then. More than anything, I hope people remember that I always meant what I wrote. Whether they were hearing me at twenty-three, or forty, or fifty. I hope they knew they were getting the most honest version of me I could give at that moment. I think that’s the beautiful thing about music. We grow, our stories change, but we always have those songs to remind us where we started. We’re never really done growing. I don’t want this to be remembered as a moment. I hope it’s remembered as the beginning of a conversation that lasts a lifetime.
Many thanks to Arabella for speaking with us. Find out more about Arabella on her Instagram, TikTok, and Spotify.
