Celia Pavey is the artist she was always meant to be. With the release of her upcoming record, Mercurial, she is bringing her third album (and second album under the Vera Blue moniker) into the world. COVID-19 and lockdowns extended the album's recording process and it became emotionally complex – as many artists would concur about creating records during a global pandemic.

Of course, she's come a long way since her journey on The Voice Australia in 2013 – Pavey placed third on the grand finale, while her audition performance of Simon & Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair / Canticle has received over 14 million YouTube views.  

To truly understand Pavey's vision for Mercurial, you need to know how she came about the album title. "Mercurial just appeared when I was looking for what this album represents and what it means. Perennial was about healing through heartbreak and finding yourself again," she begins. 

Pavey chats from her Maroubra home studio – she can see the ocean from her seat – besides a piano and her Gold-certified award plaque for Perennial, her ARIA-nominated groundbreaking second album. Her signature long hair flows with her words. "I had to go on a mental health journey with this album."

"A couple of songs are coming out on the deluxe edition about having that sense of empowerment and strength and feeling like you have a voice. I wanted something that was all over the place. When my partner Billy and I were looking at words, I was like, 'I just want something very emotion-based.' And then we found the word Mercurial. And I was like, 'God, that sounds like Perennial. It sounds like a sister album.'" Pavey found relief and exhilaration in the name – it's the perfect follow-up title and perfectly suits the album's themes.

Mercurial took longer to create than Pavey expected. She loves working with her collaborators, Andy and Thom Mak, and it was a struggle when the group couldn't be in a room together. However, "the extra time was quite important and played a big part in the new songs on the album. The songs Feel Better, Mermaid Avenue and The Curse would not have been born if not for that time," Pavey says. 

It's also been a long time since Pavey has toured. "I haven't done a headline tour since last year's Sydney Symphony Orchestra show in March. I just reimagined all my songs, including Everything Is Wonderful from Mercurial. All the Perennial songs sounded so different," she exclaims. "But now I'm ready to take my band, get the kind of visuals and create a colourful, energetic and purely emotional show. I'm excited about doing and seeing lots of dancing, connecting with the audience and lots of colours.

"I can't wait to get back to The Forum in Melbourne. There are so many places that I can't believe I'm playing, like the Enmore and The Forum. And I love Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane because that's where I did the show with the orchestra. I did two shows there, and I was like, 'This place is amazing.' We'll be stopping in Thirroul, which is kind of out near Wollongong, which I'm looking forward to, and a few different spots," she says. With its blend of synth and bass, Feel Better will sound amazing live.

Her musical director, Ross James, plays everything on stage, from the piano and keys to the bass guitar. In a 2020 ALIA interview about touring with Pavey, James shared, "As Vera is the focus of each show, I try to pay particular attention to her vocal and rarely take my finger off the main vocal fader. Other than that, it pretty much mixes itself."

The recording process was stacked with bouts of mental illness, the start of new relationships, and moving places. All those experiences led to Mercurial's different colours and emotions. As Pavey explains, "There was a nice upside to the events that allowed me to be creative differently. I got so used to writing heartbreak songs because they're so easy to write. It was great to start writing little songs about love and Billy, or songs about being in a good place or someone pulling you through a tough time, and harnessing those emotions in songs."

She found confidence in writing more love songs. Heart Still Works infuses Pavey's acoustic folk roots with modern bombastic pop production in a letter to lovers. "Allowing the acoustic guitar to return and then inserting the keys created a euphoric moment. It was exactly what I wanted for the songs," she says. One night, Pavey started writing and playing her guitar, and everything poured out. "All I had of the song was 'each time I see you, I feel something beating.' It's nice to know my heart still works. That was about falling in love again after losing trust and learning to let yourself fall in love again after heartbreak and let that person look after you."

Baring her soul to the public has become a no-brainer, Pavey laughs. "When it's Taylor Swift, people know that when you get into a relationship with someone who writes songs, it's inevitable that they're going to write about you. So I am really fortunate and so blessed. And I'm just happy that we are happy. Billy is so supportive, and he's inspired so many beautiful songs."

Pavey ended up drawing from the real-life experiences of her friends, or even the mundane, in writing songs for Mercurial. "The Curse was inspired by a friend who had fallen in love with her best friend. She didn't want to ruin the friendship. It was that tricky thing where it's like, 'I need to tell this person that I've fallen in love with them, but I don't want to ruin it.' I feel like when I fall for a friend or someone I don't want to, I see that thing as a curse," she explains.

"I've been through that. With Mermaid Avenue, I wanted to write a love song about a place a few blocks down from our place – this beautiful street called Mermaid Avenue, which I find myself walking down and smelling all the cooking and looking at the ocean views. I was like; this could be a beautiful title for a kind of love song." 

She then confirms my suspicion: Mermaid Avenue has no connection to the Billy Bragg and Wilco album of the same name. "Billy's family have a farm called Wilco on the outskirts of Bathurst," Pavey laughs. "People have messaged me about this song saying stuff like, 'I had a boyfriend on Mermaid Avenue. This song is super triggering.'" While she is open about her music and the influences that inspire her, Pavey likes the idea of listeners creating their own metaphors about her songs.

Speaking of influences, Pavey was drawn to The Weeknd's use of bass, synths and electric drums while recording album highlight Lethal. "I wanted something fast, explosive and carefree, just losing control and revelling in the emotions of not having control. Lethal has actually been a hit for many of my friends and family who have heard it," she smiles while detailing the song's aggressive, dominant sound. "I love that it sounds manly! I wanted to harness that grit and angst."

The album's most powerful moments, however, appear in its lyrics. "I don't have time to wait for my brain to rewire right now," Pavey sings on the soaring Feel Better. "I had just turned 26 when I wrote that and went through mental health and relationship challenges," she starts. Writing Mercurial turned into a form of therapy where Pavey could acknowledge that she was pushing her mental health to the side when she needed to confront and nurse her exhausted mind. 

"At the beginning, I was like, I don't want to fucking do this. I was asking myself, is there something wrong with me? I just had to learn about it. Then you start connecting with people on the same boat, and it becomes something you're not dealing with alone, which I think is amazing."

"The past can keep the ghost of me," Pavey sings on the gorgeous Trust Fall. "[The past] isn't a negative or positive thing. That time of my life is still there, and I will remember it. The song stems from that kind of cheesy concept of where you learn from all the mistakes you make. I love that song.

"I really want to do a trust fall into the audience for the first time. I really want the audience to catch me," she laughs. "My hair will probably get tangled in everyone's mouth. That's the dream."

Pavey will be trust falling into audiences from November to December this year.

'Mercurial' is out Oct 28 via Island Records Australia/UMA

VERA BLUE

Tour Dates

Thurs Nov 3 - Miami Marketta - Gold Coast, QLD

Fri Nov 4 - Fortitude Music Hall - Brisbane, QLD

Sat Nov 5 - Civic Theatre - Newcastle, NSW

Sat Nov 12 - Forum Theatre - Melbourne, VIC

Thurs Dec 8 - Ice Cream Factory - Perth, WA

Fri Dec 16 - Anita's Theatre- Thirroul, NSW

Sat Dec 17 - Enmore Theatre - Newtown, NSW

Wed Nov 30 – Adelaide Entertainment Centre – Adelaide (Supporting Flume)

Fri Dec 2 - Regatta Grounds – Hobart (Supporting Flume)

Oct 15th - Stonefest 2022 - Canberra ACT 

28 Dec - 1 Jan - Beyond The Valley Festival  - Barunah Plains VIC