Games We Play

Hi, my name is Emmyn. I've been doing Games We Play for a long time. Longer than I've done anything. I dropped out of school at 14 to do this band. I'm 25 now, pay rent, and have a child… and I'm still in my 9th grade band.

In 2022, somebody at Fueled By Ramen found my band, and I signed to the record label I'd been dreaming to be on my whole life. They put me in rooms with incredible writers, helped me make my first album, Life's Going Great, and sent me around the world touring with bands like Fall Out Boy, YUNGBLUD, All Time Low, and more. But — I'm not on that label anymore. Womp womp. 14-year-old Emmyn would be very disappointed in me.

Here's the thing though…after all of that fell apart and I was solo again, kind of like when I was 14, I somehow ended up doing my most successful tour last year: the Hello Ladies tour. It was 97% sold out, which is amazing, but I’m still mad at the 3% of people who keep me from being able to say it was fully sold out.

That tour also made me wildly existential. I started wondering why I was still doing this band, why people were paying to come see me, and why I was singing these songs I barely wrote. When you move to Los Angeles, people ask you to do "sessions," where writers get in a room and help you write your music. I did a lot of them and that's how most of the Life's Going Great album came together. I like that album. I really do. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't eat at me that I didn't write most of the lyrics on that record. I've always been insecure about my writing. Even when I was 14, my mom helped me write songs in my bedroom. I’m sure those songs are still somewhere on the internet. Anyway, I got wildly existential on that tour and almost wanted to quit Games We Play entirely.

So, I made myself a promise, if I ever continued this band, I had to do it the way I did when I was a kid. I don't like all the fancy LA band stuff. I like house shows. I like spray-painting my banner instead of paying $4,000 for a piece of cloth. I like writing songs in my bedroom. I like doing my band the way I used to. I say "band," but it's really just me. Although my wife, brother, and friends help me make all of this happen. So I made myself a deal: if I was going to keep going, I had to do it my way. And the biggest rule of all: I HAVE TO WRITE. MY. OWN. LYRICS. Which is a first for me.

So besides raising a newborn baby, I spent the past year in my room making some songs I really like. They're weird. I don't even know if I'd call them super catchy. There's a lot of piano, which has been my favorite instrument for years. It's not super commercial. BUT I LIKE THEM. Which is cool.

I ended up signing to a new label (thank god!) that actually likes my new music and likes the quirkiness too. So yes… all that to say: I'm doing Games We Play again after over a year without releasing music, and almost a year without touring. But this time… it’s Emmyn's way. Like Taylor's Version, but way cooler and way more commercially viable.

I LIKE MY NEW SONGS. AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T, BECAUSE I LIKE THEM! It would be cool if you did. BUT I WON'T LET IT DETERMINE MY SELF-WORTH! BECAUSE I LIKE THEM!

So yes, I'm doing Games We Play again but this time for it’s real.

-Em