SCARLET, DO BETTER | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW

Pop music has always been brilliant at disguising emotional devastation behind irresistible melodies. Scarlet understands that better than most.

Her debut single, teen movies, is filled with glossy hooks, shimmering synth-pop and the kind of chorus that feels instantly familiar. But beneath its bright exterior sits a remarkably honest exploration of infatuation, heartbreak and the messy process of growing up. Rather than romanticising young love, Scarlet examines the stories we inherit from films, music and culture, questioning how often we mistake emotional intensity for genuine connection.

What makes teen movies so compelling is its willingness to embrace contradiction. It’s funny and heartbreaking, self-aware yet vulnerable, nostalgic while constantly pushing forward. Whether she’s reflecting on late-diagnosed AuDHD, the chaos of first love or defending pop music as one of the most sophisticated songwriting genres there is, Scarlet writes with a refreshing lack of pretence.

We caught up with Scarlet to discuss emotional regulation, coming-of-age stories, songwriting, and why sometimes the biggest feelings deserve the catchiest melodies.

TRACK REVIEW -

teen movies immediately pulled me into a nostalgic world, reminding me of the emotional honesty found in artists like Alex the Astronaut, while still carving out an identity that feels uniquely Scarlet. The production constantly evolves, with subtle key changes, dreamy textures and layered vocals that create an atmosphere of longing without ever feeling overproduced. Every melody feels intentional, and they linger long after the song ends.

What stood out most was the pre-chorus. The way the vocals wrap around the instrumentation perfectly captures that feeling of emotional uncertainty and quiet confusion. That’s what great songwriting does. It doesn’t just tell you how someone feels, it makes you feel it too. You can hear Scarlet’s influences throughout, but they never overshadow her own voice as a songwriter. teen movies feels vulnerable, self-aware and effortlessly catchy, making it an incredibly strong debut that suggests there’s plenty more depth still to come.

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Unearthed: https://www.abc.net.au/triplejunearthed/artist/scarletdobetter

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You describe teen movies as being about realising something you thought was love was actually infatuation. Do you think growing older is partly about learning how dramatically we can confuse intensity with connection?

Totally, shoutout to the anxiously attached folks at home! I think we have a tendency to get comfortable within the chaos and perceive genuine disrespect as normal human behaviour. We’re supposed to understand, allow space to grow and forgive the ones we love, right? When I think back to times when I’ve “been in love”, I can see now that I was fixated on the idea of who a person was or what our lives could be like together. I’d hold onto glimpses that I’d seen and thought I was emotionally intelligent for believing in them/us and understanding that not everything is ever easy. And it’s true, love isn’t easy, but it’s also not meant to feel so emotionally turbulent and gut-wrenching that you feel like you are dying 5/7 days of the week. Growing up, falling “in love” and getting your heart broken is the only way to figure out what real love is in comparison to infatuation.

There’s something nostalgic but slightly devastating about the way you talk about teenage emotions, like remembering how enormous everything felt at the time. Do you miss that emotional chaos at all, or are you relieved to be outside it?

I don’t mind that I feel things deeply. When I was younger, I very much did not know how to handle those big feelings. I am one of many late-diagnosed AuDHDers, and I’ve only really figured out how to genuinely regulate and understand my emotions within the last 3 years or so. As much as I can look back with fondness and compassion for my younger self, she was really struggling, so I’d say I'm definitely relieved that I’m no longer feeling insane on the daily.

Your music seems really unafraid of embarrassment, delusion, anxiety and emotional messiness. Was it important for scarlet to feel emotionally honest rather than emotionally “cool”?

It wasn’t something I was necessarily aiming for; I think it’s just my default way of writing and expressing myself. I think that my fellow Gen-Z’ers and I are generally quite comfortable discussing the awkwardness that comes along with existing in this world. I grew up listening and naturally connecting more to songwriters who were pretty matter-of-fact. Lyrics such as “I was looking for a job, and then I found a job, and heaven knows I’m miserable now” by The Smiths or “I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf whilst jacking off listening to Mozart” By Katy Perry are two that come to mind. I think because this style of writing and self-expression has always been second nature to me and is perhaps what I seek the most from other artists, it wasn’t something that I was particularly afraid of. When I’m writing, I challenge myself and ask, “Am I using imagery or other creative embellishments to skim around what I’m actually wanting to say, or is this a genuinely cool lyric?”

You mentioned imagining teen movies inside a coming-of-age Netflix series. When you write songs, do you naturally visualise scenes and characters, or does that cinematic feeling happen accidentally?

Not usually, but in this case it did. After I wrote the initial melody/chords/lyrics and began to envision the production, the idea of what this song would sound like if it were in a TV show helped me build its own little universe. I really wanted to capture that sense of teenage nostalgia, yearning, heartache and despair. It would be a dream come true to have this long end up in a show like Off Campus or Heartstopper. It would be so cute (even though the scene would probably be one of dread and sadness).

Artists like Lily Allen and The 1975 both balance sharp self-awareness with vulnerability. Do you think humour and self-deprecation sometimes reveal emotions more honestly than dramatic heartbreak ever could?

I think the humorous and self-deprecating funny songs always come before and foreshadow the sad and devastating ones. We just naturally use humour to cope and always exist within a state of denial before coming to terms with reality.  This is a topic that I explore within my next single, so stay tuned for that!

You’ve said healing is anything but linear. Do you think songwriting helps you make sense of emotions, or does it sometimes just preserve them permanently inside the music?

It 1000% helps me make sense of my emotions. I’m not one to force myself to finish a song, so I’ll often write a few things down and revisit them later and go “Ohh, I realise now what I was trying to say”, and it’s almost as if I’m helping my past self work through it. A song of mine called Vancouver was written over the span of a year and was inspired by two separate situations.  At first listen, it is pretty devastating, but that song helped me realise that love can take a awful lot from you and it will feel like you will never have it in you to do it again, but a year later you’ll find yourself falling once again. It serves to remind me that those big emotions will eventually settle and pass.

The title teen movies almost suggests that a lot of our ideas about love come from stories we’ve absorbed growing up. Do you think people sometimes perform romance before they truly understand it?

100%. We are all just following a script until we’ve done it enough times to know what’s real. One of my favourite movies from when I was a teenager (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) has the line “we accept the love we think we deserve”, and that is probably the overall theme of teen movies.

As your debut release, teen movies feels very self-aware and emotionally specific rather than trying to sound universally polished. Did you feel pressure to make a “perfect” first impression, or was honesty always more important?

This song was written as part of a unit I needed to pass whilst at college, so my main priority was to write something I was proud of and learn as much as I could during the process. I told Phil and Trav, who worked with me in the studio, that I would love it if each of the songs could reach the point of being good enough to share with the world, but ultimately, I wanted to soak up as much of the knowledge I could during those few weeks. teen movies immediately felt like the perfect choice for my debut, as I think it encapsulates a lot of who I am as a writer, but it’s also a great pop song. I’m not going to sit around and pretend it’s not. I think it’s totally amazing, and I am so glad that I waited until now to write this song and put it at this time in my life. I see this entire project/era as me creating a portfolio of who scarlet is and what I can do, and  I think I chose a song with the perfect balance of introducing who I am as an artist, whilst also being easily digestible.

There’s a strong contrast in your sound between glossy synth-pop influences and deeply anxious lyrical themes. Do you think sadness hits harder when it arrives inside something catchy and beautiful?

I think it depends on the listener’s mindset and whether they are ready for a huge emotional release or not. A good example is Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” and the cover by Calum Scott. Both versions of that song are deeply moving, but the difference in production and performance totally changes the thoughts and feelings that the lyrics evoke within me. Robyn’s is a sort of dance through the tears; my heart is breaking, but I need to let go of this love vibe. Callum’s version feels like the day after a breakup when you feel like the pain in your chest will literally be the death of you. Both are so sad and moving, but in totally different ways. Some people simply connect more to a slow ballad. However, I think that when the production is higher energy, but the lyrical content is pretty devastating, the knowledge that the writer is potentially in the process of coming to terms with the pain is often more interesting to me. I like to explore the in-between stages of heartache. I’m not sure if this totally answered the question, this one has got my brain spinning a bit (in a good way).

You mentioned feeling like this song perfectly introduces scarlet to the world. If someone hears teen movies for the first time, what’s the biggest misconception about you that you hope the song immediately destroys?

I really just want to convey through all of my art that my true passion in life is songwriting. I love writing pop music. It’s challenging, fun, and so interesting to me. I adore the process of word vomiting and then editing things down to fit a pop formula, whilst also incorporating clever techniques and skills to tell a story in a cathartic way, not just for me but for the listener too.

One of my favourite lyrics I’ve ever written is in the first verse, which is “your neck is purple, my heart shaded blue, you did that to me, but I never painted you”. I love that line so much. I guess a huge misconception regarding pop music is that it’s simple, not adventurous, emotionally bland and just radio-friendly slop, but I am pop music’s number one defender. I feel bad for the people who don’t allow themselves to enjoy the genre. I hope people can listen to teen movies and feel the lyrics in their heart, the nostalgia in their soul and the groove in their hips.