Julie Williams sings from the heart on her new self-titled EP. A native of Florida, the country singer has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments during her four years in Nashville, including being named to CMT Next Women of Country’s 2023 class and being a member of the Black Opry. She found this success through the power of her own voice, which shines through full force on her newly released EP.
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Across half a dozen songs, Williams explores the challenging subjects of racism and sexual violence to finding healing through self-acceptance and love. In her own words, Williams does a deep dive into each song with American Songwriter, discussing how she learned to embrace her “Southern Curls,” “the nicest breakup song” she’s ever written, and the song her mother is afraid for her to play live.
1. “Sugarcoat”
I wrote “Sugarcoat” with my friend Alex Slay in March 2020 – right after the Nashville tornado and about a week before the world shut down. He is an incredible R&B artist and was one of my first friends in this city. We are both big fans of each other and thought that it would be a fun challenge to write a song that could fit into either of our genres.
Inspired by a black fluffy coat that I wore almost every day of my first winter in Nashville (and that was sadly left at a show at the Basement never to be seen again), we wrote “Sugarcoat” about those moments when you are feeling heartbroken or depressed, but feign confidence so no one sees you cry. In my grandmother’s words, it’s about “putting your face on” and slapping a smile, which throughout the song, you question whether that’s a sign of the narrator’s strength or desperation.
I decided to start off this EP with “Sugarcoat” because it is not only fun, danceable, and light-hearted, but it is perhaps my most genre-bending song on the project. A listener can hear elements of country, pop, soul, and R&B in the track. I felt inspired to push the boundaries in the production of this song after learning about Black influences on country music and the split between “race records” and “hillbilly music” that happened to segregate music.
The genres that emerged from this split – R&B and hip-hop on one hand and country and bluegrass music on the other – are all genres that I listen to and influence me as an artist. I wanted to find a way to pay homage to all of these influences while creating a song that is just really fun to sing.
2. “Southern Curls”
I am mixed – black and white – and have had a complicated relationship with my hair throughout my life. Always labeled as frizzy and difficult to manage, and the subject of elementary and middle school bullying taunts, I tried my best to hide my curls. I straightened my hair every week up until the time I moved to Nashville four years ago.
I remember sitting in the audience at a writers’ round at the Listening Room watching all of these beautiful, talented female songwriters. They were all blonde and had these billowing “Southern belle” curls. I tried to wear the same hairstyle at the time by straightening my natural curls, the “wrong” kind of curls until they were pin-straight, and using a curling iron to make the “right” kind of curls. Basically, I straightened my curls just to curl them again!!
Why, when we think of Southern feminine beauty and who is a “Southern belle,” do we just think of white women? Why do my curls feel like they are “wrong,” unprofessional, and unwanted? Asking myself these questions inspired “Southern Curls,” a song about my journey to love my hair, and myself, from elementary-school-aged Julie to now. To this day it is my favorite song that I’ve ever written and a song that set the trajectory for the types of songs I want to create as a songwriter: story-driven, hauntingly beautiful, and real.
3. “Wrong Mr. Right”
“Wrong Mr. Right” is probably the nicest, breakup song I’ve ever written. I went through a breakup a few years ago with someone that I dated for almost six years. I thought he was going to be “my person.” But we met really young and ultimately grew apart. The relationship was healthy and full of love, and it ended that same way. I do not have a bad word to say about that man.
Lauren Hungate and Karleigh Paige Schmidt helped me channel all of my sadness and confusion into this song and bring this idea to life that someone can be an amazing partner and even a soulmate, but just not the right person for you. It is a realization that is often slow and painful, rifled with mixed emotions of sadness and gratitude for someone who was so important in your life.
It’s one of those songs that “hit differently” if you’ve lived it. An “if you know, then you know” kind of song. When I sing “Wrong Mr. Right,” it makes me think of a specific person, but it is universal enough that other people can listen and feel their own story come to life.
4. “Big Blue House”
I started writing “Big Blue House” in the back of my family’s RV after watching the news of Black jazz musician Keyon Harrold and his son who were accosted by a woman in New York, nicknamed “Soho Karen.” It sparked a conversation with my own father about the conversations that parents of color have to have with their children to protect them – that you may just be a child, but some people may see you as a threat.
I wrote a poem about a young girl who wants to play in the woods behind her house, but her father says that is too dangerous. So she starts to imagine all of the “dangerous” things that could be living in the woods – vampires, bears, spiders, and scary witches – not knowing that there is a very real, human threat in the form of her racist neighbor. This song is powerful to me because it is written from a child’s perspective – with her curious imagination and naivete of her reality as a child of color – and children so often are the victims of gun violence and racism.
I knew this song was special and I had to finish it with a team of people that I trusted to do it justice. Brittney Spencer helped me finish writing the song, Gabriel and Gideon Klein produced it (they produced four of the six songs on the EP), Nicole Neely brought the strings magic with an all-female strings lineup, including the Sista Strings and Josée Weigand-Klein, and Rodlin Pierre mixed it all together.
To this day, it’s my mom’s least favorite song in my lineup. Not because she doesn’t like the song, but because she is scared for me when I play it.
5. “The Prince”
During my freshman orientation in college, all of the first-years received a talk on consent. Yes means yes, and no means no. Black and white. But I think there is a gray area – one that isn’t talked too much about. A situation where you at first go into an encounter as a willing participant, but leave feeling violated and like boundaries were crossed. There’s an article from Refinery 29 that discusses this type of sexual encounter – that may not fall under legal definitions of rape or assault, but are still wrong, harmful, and violating.
This song hurt to live, hurt to write, and still hurts to sing. But I find that every time I perform it at a show (after giving audience members the opportunity to leave if the subject matter is too triggering), someone comes up to me afterward and says, “Thank you” or “I see you.” So I will keep playing it.
6. “Left You For Her”
I am a big fan of Little Big Town and their song “Girl Crush,” a master class in country songwriting for a song with a “big reveal.” So when an ex of mine told me that he hated Nashville because it reminded him of the demise of our relationship, I knew I had the writing fuel for this song.
I wanted to personify Nashville as a person, as a woman, and so I had to reflect on who she is to me and how she has changed my life since I moved here four years ago. She’s taught me how to dream and has given me both challenges and grace to learn who I am, what I want, who I want to be with, and about my place in the larger world.
The other songs in the EP were written because of those challenges. This song was written despite them. I chose to end the EP with this song as a call to what is next in my life and a reminder to myself of why I am here pursuing this career.
Photo Credit: Mackenzie Ryan/Courtesy of Julie Williams
