From American Idol to the World: A Conversation with Julia Gargano
After finishing in 7th place on American Idol, Julia Gargano decided to rebrand her musical identity. We spoke for an hour about why.
Julia Gargano likes to take risks. When she auditioned for season 18 of American Idol, she decided to perform an original song. The risk paid off. After a hug from Katy Perry and a resounding “YES!” from all three judges, she advanced to the next round, eventually finishing in seventh place. But that wasn’t enough.
Though she’s built a following under her birth name, Gargano decided to launch a new project, Ferry Townes. The group’s debut album is due out soon. Over an hour, Gargano and I spoke about the pros and cons of starting your career on a television talent competition, how her compositional approach changes depending on the instrument she is writing on, why she chose to rebrand herself, and so much more. Check out Gargano’s latest releases wherever you listen to music.
A Conversation with Julia Gargano
You recently rebranded your music to the name Ferry Townes after spending a few years building a career under your birth name, Julia Gargano. What was behind the decision to rebrand yourself?
My writing style changed a bit since I was first on American Idol. I kind of became a different artist. It was super confusing. I wound up taking three years off from releasing anything just trying to wrap my head around what kind of artists I was. Ferry Townes is a way for me to reconnect with being obsessed with music the way I always was.
Was that rebranding difficult given that you made it very far as a contestant on American Idol and had already begun building a following using your birth name?
It was really terrifying. That decision paralyzed me for months on end. I was worried about losing momentum. When you're on a show like American Idol, you get an audience overnight. So, changing my name felt like starting over. But as I’ve been rebuilding, I’ve learned to appreciate ever single new stream and follow. That’s actually been quite healing.
What do you think the pros and cons are to getting your first taste of national attention on a televised talent competition?
The pros were that it put me in front of the most incredible people that I still work with to this day. It’s also such a blessing to have your skills validated on a big stage. Most people don’t have their music validated by Katy Perry.
That can all be very bad if you’re not a fully formed artist and suddenly thrown into a writers room. It can also be bad if you continue to try to cultivate an audience who is more of a fan of American Idol than you. I obviously have some amazing fans through American Idol, but a lot of people that ended up following me were just big fans of the show. You have to be aware of that or you could end up trying to make music for people who only want you to be the person they saw on TV.
I haven’t watched American Idol in a long time, but I went back and listened to your performances. It took me about two seconds to realize why you made it so far in the competition. Your voice has incredible depth. One thing that fascinates me is that you chose to audition with an original song. Clearly, you are a capable singer, but you also know how to write songs. Do you think of yourself as more of a singer or songwriter?
That identity has changed for me constantly. Once I was on American Idol, I started to look at myself more as a singer. Before the show, I played gigs all the time, but it was more to show off my songs rather than my voice.
At the point, I think of myself as both because both singing and songwriting are outlets for me. They allow me to tell my story, and they both act like a therapy of sorts. I guess write now I am more in songwriting mode because I’m working on a record. I’m constantly writing stuff throughout the day.
Tell me a bit about your writing process. Do you lead with melody? Lyrics? Chords? Something else?
For the past couple of years, I've been really big into starting with lyrics. I feel like I keep my ears and eyes open for inspiration everywhere. It could be a book or a movie or just something somebody says. In my Notes app, I write 15 to 20 lines a day that I think might work in a song. I also think I’m starting with lyrics because I’ve been doing a lot of writing on the guitar. I’m not as skilled on the guitar as I am on the piano. On the piano, I can just let the music flow from me.
I want to pick apart a few things you just mentioned. First, given your lyrics-first approach when writing on guitar, what strikes you as a phrase that makes a great lyric?
A great lyric is something that is so clearly digestible, but I’ve never heard it before. When I think of great lyrics I think of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.” Those are universally understood messages phrased in a particular way. It’s also nice when a lyric really paints a picture rather than directly telling you something.
I once heard somebody say the great lyric ever is “love hurts” because it’s non-obvious but easy to understand. On the surface love shouldn’t hurt, but everyone who’s been in love knows that it can.
Exactly. Sometimes it’s all about just one line giving people a different perspective.
Moments ago, you also said that when you write on piano, you have a chords-first approach. Talk to me about your song “Growing Pains”. I know you wrote that on the piano. I love the progression in that song, especially that fully diminished chord at the beginning of the verses. How was that song written?
I went to a really awesome music high school called LaGuardia, and we did a lot of music theory and ear training. Then I went to college for music business and composition. I became a theory nerd there. All the artists I listened to at the time were not very linear in their chord progressions. So, that chord progression came from me noodling around on the piano at that time. It’s one of those progressions that is a little crunch or weird but is also still beautiful.
Has your writing approach changed at all when you’re writing as Ferry Townes? It seems like that project is taking more of a contemporary production approach.
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