Budding pop sensation Emily Vaughn explains her very Gen-Z rise to fame.
Pop star Emily Vaughn has a love/hate relationship with social media.
The 24-year-old Florida native was recently in Hawaii trying to unplug from a busy life in Los Angeles when she looked at her phone and instantly regretted it.
Checking social media, she came across a post that brought all her anxieties to the surface. Another up-and-coming pop star had released a single with the same title as one of Vaughn’s songs. Its cachet was lost.
“I do struggle with depression and anxiety, and being on social media can make it even more difficult,” the singer admits. “There’s always something to compare yourself to. My generation are the guinea pigs of how this tool will affect our mental health.”
Like most in Gen Z would, Vaughn took to Instagram to write about her feelings. She tapped out a long message about anxiety, depression, and mental health. She posted it, closed her phone, and felt relief.
“It’s ironic I’m bitching about social media,” Vaughn says, “because I owe my whole career to the internet.”
She grew up on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, with a musical mother who also taught visual art. Vaughn and her sister played piano and guitar, and sang, often performing in school musicals and choir.
“Coming from a town of 30,000 people, I never imagined I could actually be a pop singer,” Vaughn says. “No one in my town was doing things like that.”
She was writing songs, though, sitting on her bedroom floor with her guitar or perched at the piano, her voice memo app on. Soon, she started putting the music online, hoping to catch the attention of some industry insider. Eventually, she was discovered by a music manager who flew her out to L.A. for a meet and greet. It went well (obviously), and Vaughn moved west in 2017.
Her singles have popped online, gathering a whopping three million-plus listens on Spotify. She’s been praised by Nylon, Interview, and V magazine for her infectious, daring hooks and lyrics that mix emotion with tongue-in-cheek humor that come off sweet as honey.
Her debut EP, Bitch Bops, dropped in April, and soon she’ll be hitting the road for her first American tour. For now, though, she’s thriving off the loving fans who slide into her DMs and let her know that her music has brightened what had been a shitty day.
“I have a spin to my music that is vulnerable yet cocky,” she says. “I want people to listen to my music and feel as confident and excited as I did while writing it. When fans reach out to me and say that my music makes them feel like that, I’m so happy.”
Emily Vaughn
Photography by Justin Gilbert
