ELKAE - 'Cause I Was Busy Working'


Dublin songwriter/producer ELKAE explores a more emotive side to her sound on stellar single, ‘Cause I Was Busy Working’.

’Cause I Was Busy Working’ sees ELKAE move away from her robust electronic pop sound as seen on 2019 tunes, ‘Conflictus’ and ‘I Feel’ to embrace a more intimate and exposed, piano and lyric-led song that trembles with emotion in its entirety. ELKAE’s impressive vocal is overwhelmingly poignant as her voice guides her listener through affecting, brooding synth textures, before incorporating sweet samples of children answering the question of what they want to be when they grow up.

ELKAE fully incapsulates the frustrations and mental anguishes and anxieties (especially for creative types) of having to play it safe and work mundane day jobs when your dreams and capabilities are so much bigger than that as she explains:

“One day I woke up and I just couldn’t go to work. I’ve been working in this grocery store for 6 years now and while it’s been absolutely essential to fund my music project and life, sometimes as a creative, it’s a bit soul destroying going in and doing the same mundane thing every day when you just want to be making music and working on something where you can apply your skill set you’ve spent so many years working on. So one day I just couldn’t do it, I rang in sick and stayed home by my piano and wrote “Cause I Was Busy Working” instead. 

I often don’t like to come across as vulnerable and up until this point, I’ve found most my songs I've released to be fun, lighthearted or empowering, so this one is very different for me. It’s the first time I’m really allowing people see another side to me and opening up about the mental struggles surrounding the thing I love most in life”.

There’s a real sense of uplifting solidarity in the soulful layered hook as ELKAE navigates through despondency, to soar above the shackles that society places on us with startling clarity. A moving track showing abundant power and presence.

Words of Karla Harris