L: Emily Warren/Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesEven if you don’t know her name, you know Emily Warren‘s voice: you’ve heard it on a number of The Chainsmokers‘ singles, including “Paris.” She sang with them on SNL, and she’s a special guest on their tour. Their partnership, Emily says, is “perfect.”
Emily, who’s written songs for Fifth Harmony and Shawn Mendes, first met The Chainsmokers when they remixed a song she’d written. Their first co-write was the Grammy-winning hit “Don’t Let Me Down.” She co-wrote four songs on the duo’s #1 album and is featured on two. So why isn’t she credited on “Paris,” which she also sings on?
“I came in in the last minute…to do backing vocals that ended up being a bigger part of the song that any of us intended,” she explains. “Also, I think for the first song introducing their album, they just wanted it to be a Chainsmokers thing and not featuring anyone.”
She laughs, “It ended up kinda working out for the best ’cause there was all this mystery of who was singing it!”
Was Emily surprised when the album debuted at #1? Well, sort of.
“I fully believe in them and in the music, so it’s awesome,” she says. “But it’s definitely gotten mixed reviews from critics, so it’s kinda like a good ‘ha ha’ to everyone!”
On the Chainsmokers’ tour, Emily says, Drew Taggart introduces her every night. “People know who I am before I come onstage,” she tells ABC Radio. “So it’s perfect. It’s really fun.”
And when they’re not onstage? Emily says, “It’s chaos.”
“I don’t know how they do it!” she laughs. “I have my own dressing room where I’m, like, Zenned out before the show starts, and they’re with, like, 30 people playing beer pong in the other room!”
Emily’s solo single is due out soon.
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