The Brooklyn-based artist Bailey Hamrick has unveiled a stirring five-track EP The Guest Room, blending introspection into folk-pop and indie-edge. It follows an emotional arc of his last album, Just Around The Corner, but delves deeper into heartbreak and love’s complexity. Growing into an artist with a strong sense of creative self, now is the perfect time to ask about his songwriting and plans for the future.
‘The Guest Room’ follows on from ‘Just Around The Corner’, exploring separation and moving forward, now into a place of desperation. In what ways does the new EP deepen or challenge what you explored in the album?
While ‘Just Around the Corner’ was about overcoming obstacles and pushing through the hard moments, The Guest Room is about what comes after—facing the reality of being on the other side and figuring out what to do next.
What drew you to write about that space, believing love is the only way to fix how you feel, even at the cost of yourself?
For a long time, I felt like I couldn’t be fully honest in my writing. I was making music that didn’t reflect what I was really going through—it felt disingenuous. But eventually, I hit a point where I realised I needed music to help me process what I was feeling. I couldn’t keep filtering it. The Guest Room became a space where I could finally lay it all out.
And how do you get to a place where you can write as honestly and as vulnerably as you do? What’s become your relationship with these lyrics?
It took a while to get there. I had to stop filtering and let myself be uncomfortable. Once I stopped trying to make things sound perfect, it got easier.
Do you have a personal highlight from The Guest Room, one that transformed the most, or one you connected with the most deeply?
It would definitely be the final track, ‘Call Me.’ It encapsulates yearning for connection, with some self-pity thrown in, and I love it for that.
Now it’s out, where do you go next? Is it continued, vulnerable, folk-tinged songwriting or something new and different?
I’m always exploring new things, but at the end of the day, it’ll still sound like me.