Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tish Melton, the 17-year-old singer who recently made a splash with her official debut single, “Michelle,” can’t wait to graduate high school next year and devote herself fully to her nascent music career.
But in the meantime she’s got a hell of an early graduation present: a forthcoming debut EP helmed by one of the music world’s most notable artist-producers, Brandi Carlile.
The EP won’t be out till some time early next year. But Variety has an exclusive first look at Melton’s music video for a teaser track, “The Chase,” and got the singer and her producer together on a Zoom call to discuss how they came to work together, and how Carlile believes that she is being mentored, in some sense, by her teenaged protege.
Watch the video, below, and read on for our conversation with the generation-crossing pair. Melton is a real find, as a singer-songwriter who’s able to explore her messiest emotions without apology, even as she projects calm-amid-the-storm assuredness.
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