Amy Shark believes her new album, Soft Pop, out tomorrow, is “the best album I’ve ever written.”
But the journey to the multi-ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter’s fourth record wasn’t easy, especially given the success she enjoyed with her existing catalogue.
In fact, all three albums – 2018’s Love Monster, 2021’s Cry Forever, and 2024’s Sunday Sadness – all debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA charts and included features from massive names, including all three members of blink-182 (across each record), and Keith Urban. That track, “Love Songs Ain’t For Us,” was co-written with Ed Sheeran.
On the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast, Shark admits she was “a little cocky” heading into Cry Forever after the success of Love Monster, which won Album of the Year at the 2018 ARIA Awards, as well as Shark picking up Best Female Artist.
Watch below or listen to the full episode on Apple Music and Spotify (subscribe and follow!).
“I was like, ‘I think I’ve still got heaps of songs,’ you know?” Shark says. “I had people like Ed Sheeran willing to work with me, and Keith Urban and Travis Barker, I was in with Joel Little. I was like, I think I’ve got another banger here… I mean we do go into COVID, so a lot of things stopped. So it was natural to be like, ‘This isn’t like the Love Monster days, what’s going on?'”
She continues: “I think the only reason I was confident at the start was because I had other people telling me amazing things, and I was clinging onto that. That’s what I base confidence on. Whereas with Soft Pop… I was just on one, all by myself, I didn’t care.
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“And then Sunday Sadness, I’m proud of this album, but I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know the look and feel. I don’t know if I even cared. I know that sounds terrible to admit, but I never would let a song come out that I didn’t love. I love every song I’ve ever put out and every record I’ve ever put out, but they all have different memories, which is I think normal. So yeah, it’s taken me a minute to bounce back.”
As she gears up for tomorrow’s release of Soft Pop, Shark says she is at peace. The Gold Coast-born artist isn’t concerned with streaming numbers, or chart placements, or viral songs. While in the studio recording the record, Shark knew she was on to a good thing.
“No one had even heard the album, and I’m like, this is the best album I’ve ever written. I know that. And I’ve hit a stage where I know how bad it can be to rely on outcomes, so I’ve just let go of it, and I know that I love this record, I’ve loved promoting it, I love the look of it, I love everything about it, and that’s kind of all I needed,” she says. “The rest is a bonus.”
Soft Pop is out tomorrow.
