Ainslie Wills

Episode 5: There’s No Rule Book When it Comes to Creating

Tapping into your creative power through self awareness and compassion, and giving yourself permission to be shit... could these be the keys to doing amazing work and feeling creatively fulfilled? I talk to Ainslie Wills about this and SO much more in Episode 5 of the Song Baker podcast.

In the past, I’ve found myself looking for songs that reflect my own experience, and broach topics that are more in depth than what has typically been shared on commercial radio. I think, as artists, we reach a point where we just decide to create the songs that WE want to hear. The songs that comfort us on our own journey. The cool thing about that is that when we tap into that truth within ourselves, we tap into other people’s experiences too…. in telling our own stories, we allow others to see themselves reflected.

Ainslie is an absolute master at this, and I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that, in my opinion, Ainslie Wills is one of the best songwriters in Australia. I asked her about two of her most popular tracks “Society” and “Fear of Missing Out” and the responsibility that she feels as an artist, to share her personal experience in the context of a greater, more universal experience.

We also talked about understanding and working with our menstrual cycles to harness creative power and self expression - Shout out to Lucy Peach who’s live show “Your Greatest Period Ever” changed both mine and Ainslie’s relationship to our menstrual cycles. Lucy also has a book “Period Queen”  ….. check it out 🙌

Ainslie shares the way she practices songwriting and creative work, and we talked about the value in using emotion based language vs technical language when creating music.

There’s more! There’s honestly SO much in this chat! We talk about setting up your life the way YOU want it and creating a shared language around gender differences, learning how to communicate effectively with each other, and standing up for what we need - regardless of any differences.

Ainslie has so much wisdom to share and talking to her always brings me some sort of comfort… I hope you feel the same when you listen