September 21, 2016

GG Magree has been a Sydney club staple for a few years now, with her fun-filled DJ sets ranging from super sexy R&B to headbanging bass. Now, she’s entering the next stage of her career with the release of her first single alongside production heavyweights Zeds Dead & NGHTMRE.

The collaboration named ‘Frontlines’ dropped four days ago, and has already racked up a colossal 170,000 plays on SoundCloud. The single marks GG Magree’s first foray into vocals, and the response has been huge – it sounds like a festival anthem in every aspect, and will have plenty of replay value over the summer – especially considering that Zeds Dead will be in Australia this December for the HARD festival.

Having just returned to Australia after 10 weeks of solid work in the UK, we spoke to GG about her evolution into making music, what the future holds and being the female equivalent of Craig David:

Having been a DJ on the Sydney scene and internationally for several years, how did you get into singing?

I would always be in rap-offs with friends and things like that, so I knew that I could do certain things vocally. NGHTMRE asked me one time when he was in Australia if I could sing because I have a really nice voice. And people always said I had a really good voice for radio, I don’t know if they were saying that because of the the way I look. So I told him I could sing, I don’t know why, and all of a sudden I started taking it more seriously. I sent him something and he thought it was incredible, and since that happened I got into vocal coaching and I’ve written so many songs, especially in the UK. The amount of stuff I have in the bank is super exciting.

How did that evolve into the collaboration with Zeds Dead?

NGHTMRE told me to give him the vocals, then he sat with it for a week and called me and said “GG, what do you think about linking Zeds Dead in?” I’ve been a fan of theirs for so long, so I was trying to play it cool. I got off the phone and called my manager up, and was like “Fuck!” That was it. We stayed in contact and they’re all really lovely and their team is incredible. The way that they operate has been super inspiring… It’s so good to see people excited about music. A lot of people – if it’s not gonna make it or it’s not poppy enough or cool enough – they don’t give you much.

Have you got any plans for solo material from here?

Yes, I’m pretty sure we’ll have something before the year ends.

An EP?

I don’t want to do an EP. To be honest, the only time I really listen to an EP or an album is if I’ve loved that artist for a really long time. For me, I don’t have music out, so I don’t think I need to do an EP – I just want to drop single after single until I’ve gained enough traction for myself and figure it out from there. I think if I dropped an EP, people would be like “Cool, here’s five songs we’ll listen to three times.” I wanna drop a single and have people listen to it a bunch and drop another one.

What happened creatively over in the UK?

I went over there to write and create my sound a little more. I think if I had gone to the States, the things I would have been making would be a lot different. I would have been making a lot of heavier bass stuff, whereas now my sound is more poppy. All my DJ sets are super heavy and super trappy, but the music that I make – I want it to be super diverse. I want it to be fun. Trap and bass-driven music – besides dubstep – it’s not in the UK. They don’t have RL Grime, NGHTMRE, Zeds Dead – it’s more about garage or house. I feel like if I went to the States, I would’ve gone straight into the super heavy stuff, because that’s what I like. The UK was good because it challenged me.

What’s happening with your Yeah Pussy label?

I’ve pulled back on that a litte, we did some really cool stuff over in the UK and we’re basically turning it from a clothing brand into a creative hub. We’re going to incorporate music and art into one, and it’s not only for girls. It’s female created, but it’s not just for girls. Guys can showcase stuff too, but it’s female driven.

Now that you’ve gotten such a huge response with the vocals, do you think you’ll spend less time DJing?

I’m going to incorporate them both. I’m never not going to DJ, because that’s what I love. This is going to sound wack, but I don’t want to be a singer. I still want to be a DJ, so I’m going to bring them both together – have live elements in all of my sets. Being a singer is not a route that I wanted to take, it just so happened that my voice sounded the way it did and people want to use it.