While creating her new EP Dark in the Light, Carla Wehbe stopped trying to pick sides between light and dark. Instead, she planted herself right in the middle – it was uncomfortable, honest, and strangely freeing.
The Sydney-born singer spent the last two years making her grittiest music yet. Gone is the polish, and in its place are dirty synths, heavy guitars, and raw, powerhouse vocals. “I’m not someone who can write in the heat of the moment,” she tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “I have to wait for the emotion to settle, once I’m in a calmer headspace. I don’t chase inspiration… the songs come when they’re ready. I’m just at their mercy.”
One of the last-minute additions to the EP, “OCD”, started almost by accident. She was in the studio, playing around, not trying to write that song, until suddenly, she did. “It was a little bit of a happy accident,” she admits. “I wasn’t planning on it, but it felt like the right time and place in my life that I was comfortable enough to talk about something like that. It felt like it deserved a place on the EP.”
The track pulls from deeply personal terrain but Wehbe doesn’t dwell in sadness. “I can’t write when I’m crying,” she laughs. “I’ve tried! But it just doesn’t work for me. I process things after the fact, when I’ve got some distance.”
That slow-burn approach runs through the whole EP. Tracks like “Fuck It I’ll Be My Own Best Friend” hit with wry defiance, an introvert’s anthem built on feeling left out and being totally fine with it. “Sometimes my friends don’t invite me to things because they think I won’t want to go. They’re probably right,” she shrugs. ” I think I was having a moment where I was feeling a little bit salty about that. I love my friends, but yeah, I was feeling it that day.”
Dark in the Light was built alongside collaborators such as Robby Desa, Aiden Hogg, and Ben Oldland. “This is just a bit rougher,” she says. “Lots of synths and heavy guitars. A little bit darker than my previous stuff which has got a bit more of a theatrical element.”
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It’s not just the music that’s shifting – it’s her mindset too. Wehbe used to try and control every part of the creative process. Not anymore. “In some parts of my life, I can be really controlling,” she says. “I realised that wasn’t helping with music. I had to step back and be in the right headspace, then let things come naturally.”
That tension between control and surrender mirrors the record’s bigger theme, light and dark, coexisting instead of competing. “I honestly think we all have light and dark inside us,” she says. “That’s what makes us human. But a lot of the time, we try to hide or push down the dark. I think accepting both, light and dark, lets them work together and create harmony.”
That acceptance hasn’t come easy. Living with OCD means dealing with constant inner static, the kind that’s hard to switch off. “Sometimes I think I’m a bad person, even though I know I’m not. Those doubts never really go away,” she says. “I just try to learn from every experience and situation. That’s all we can do.”
2024 was a big year for Wehbe. She toured with Peach PRC and G Flip, then made her biggest live leap yet, a full-production set at the TikTok Awards in her hometown, complete with backup dancers. “That was the first time I’ve done anything like that,” she reveals. “It was very daunting. But I want to do it again.”
She’s also spent time in LA, writing, collaborating, and absorbing the chaos. “I’ve just done a bunch of songwriting sessions. I don’t always love LA… I’m a very sensitive person so I don’t always feel the best there. But I have good friends and always end up having a good time.”
In between all that? She’s been busy releasing slick music videos that really show off her creative side. “I love that whole visual side of the music,” she says. She’s also been designing for her clothing label Space Cowboy, drawing inspiration from Sydney Fashion Week. “I’ve been working on new designs… so it was a great experience.”
For now, though, the focus is Dark in the Light, a collection of tracks that doesn’t offer easy answers, just an invitation to feel it all. “I hope people find some acceptance within themselves, whether they’re struggling with their light and dark,” she says. “I want them to know it’s okay to have both, and that they can work together.”
Carla Wehbe’s Dark in the Light is out now via Warner Music Australia.
