A Quick Chat With Paper Daisies
What are the origins of Paper Daisies? How did the project begin?
Paper Daisies essentially grew out of a decade-long friendship, but our first gig together was actually a happy accident. Back in 2017, Rhea had booked a duo gig at a local bar and her guitarist pulled out at the last minute. Rhea called Britt to cover, we showed up, and Paper Daisies was born that night, name and all.
From there we started gigging together all over, and somewhere along the way, possibly around the 800th time we sang Valerie together, the idea of writing started to take root. Then one day we finally sat down and did it, and Heartbreakin' Cowboy was written that very same day alongside our dear friend and collaborator Bradley Green, who features on the record.
The cool thing about Paper Daisies is our deep friendship has always informed our music. We know each other's stories, we've lived through things together, and that depth of connection finds its way into everything we create.
Tell us about the new single ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’. What does the song mean to you?
Heartbreakin' Cowboy actually came straight out of a conversation we had with a friend. She was telling us about this guy she liked, and the more she talked, the more we realised there was basically a queue of girls all waiting for the same person. And honestly, this guy was almost completely unattainable. Like, nobody was winning there.
There was something so funny but also painfully relatable about it, this collective mass delusion where everyone knows deep down it's probably not going to happen, but you're in it anyway. We wanted to capture that feeling, the swooning, the hoping, the almost wilful blindness of it all. Heartbreakin' Cowboy is for anyone who's ever been caught up in someone who was never really theirs to catch.
Having Heartbreakin' Cowboy out means the world because it's the realisation of something we spoke about years ago, back when we first started singing together. It started as a dream between two friends, and now it's actually happening. That's not something we take lightly.
Are there any inspirations you look to outside of music when writing or performing?
We’ve always felt influenced by stories and the age-old human love of storytelling, from the small moments that pass between people, to the ones that move us collectively as a society, to the stories of history that still resonate today. Big or small, personal or universal, we're drawn to stories that make you feel something and the songs we write always seem to anchor themselves in storytelling.
What are five songs that have shaped your songwriting the most?
We always talk about Crowded House songs and the sheer depth to their meaning without stating the obvious, so just everything by them is incredibly influential to us.
Lately some songs that have really inspired our upcoming music have been:
Gonna Getcha Good! - Shania Twain
Deeper Well - Kacey Musgraves
Luck of the Draw - Laci Kaye Booth
Leaving On A Jet Plane - John Denver
What's Simple Is True - Jewel
What Australian artists are you listening to at the moment?
We really love supporting artists from our local scene, especially when they are beautiful human beings as well as artists. Some we’ve been loving lately are:
Casey Barnes
Beckah Amani
Alanah Stone
Chloe Styler
How do you hope your music impacts listeners?
More than anything, we want to find our people. We're not just looking for listeners, we're looking for lifelong friends who want to come along for the ride with us. Paper Daisies was built on our friendship, and that's really at the heart of everything we do. We want people to feel like they're a part of that, like they're piled in the backseat for the trip with us.
We've also found this really magical creative space together where songs just seem to flow naturally whenever we sit down to write. There's so much joy in that process, and we hope people can feel that when they listen.