Amy Shark, the Gold Coast singer-songwriter known for her breakout hit 'Adore', is releasing her fourth album 'Soft Pop' on 24 July. The album marks a significant departure from her previous work, ditching drums and big pop production for a stripped-back sound that she calls the best of her career.
From 15 years of struggle to major-label success
Before her rise to fame, Shark spent 15 years trying to make it in music. She worked as a video producer for an NRL team, wrote songs at night, and played cover gigs on weekends. In 2016, she considered giving up and buying a Subway franchise, but days later, 'Adore' was played on Triple J, sparking a major-label bidding war. The song went five times platinum, and at age 30, Shark achieved commercial success.
Now, a decade later, Shark faces a different challenge: 'No one’s the hot new artist for forever,' she says. 'Everyone wants to be famous, and everyone thinks being famous is amazing, and it’s not. Everyone changes, everyone expects things of you, everyone feels entitled and it’s quite ugly.'
Struggling with fame and finding new inspiration
Shark admits to struggling with her public profile. 'It’s a daily battle of keeping your head above water and being happy,' she says. She also criticizes the music industry's treatment of artists, particularly regarding copyright and AI: 'Musicians cop the shit end of the stick in every situation. We’re forever the ones doing the charity gig, and having to comment on things that we don’t really want to comment on.'
After three albums, Shark felt she had nothing left to say and stopped writing after 2024's 'Sunday Sadness'. To reignite her creativity, her husband and manager Shane Billings booked studio time with producer Dann Hume in the UK, giving her a month to write an album. 'That just made me angry, because you never want to be told to do something you’re not in the mood to do,' Shark laughs. 'But he was right – I needed to sink my teeth into something.'
'Soft Pop': A new direction and her best work
The deadline forced Shark to stop overthinking. She wrote songs about old flames, friendship fallouts, and her marriage. 'It’s not all smooth sailing!' she says. Working alone, she remembered that songwriting 'is, at my core, the thing I love the most in life.' In the UK, she stripped back the production, leaving little more than vocals and acoustic guitar.
The result is 'Soft Pop', which includes tracks like 'The Biggest Dick' (with the lyric 'Five, six, pickup sticks/ Fell in love with the biggest dick') and 'Not Old Enough to Drive'. The album closer 'Singapore Noodles' features a false start where Shark can be heard before Hume counts her in. 'I just needed it to sound different,' Shark says. 'I didn’t want it to be another Amy Shark album … I wanted people to second guess who they were listening to.'
Shark also took charge of the album’s aesthetics, designing the fluffy cover herself with fabric, scissors, and glue from Spotlight. 'I felt like an indie artist again – probably driving my actual label crazy, because I was acting like an indie on a major!' she says.
Looking ahead
Now 40, Shark feels reinvigorated. 'I don’t know where I lost my confidence … I’m not 18, I just turned 40, I’ve got so many stories; I’ve been through it all … what haven’t I got to write about?' she says. 'It’s definitely not as easy as everyone thinks, but it’s the best job in the world, hands down.'
