“My overwhelming feeling is gratitude for the jewels in my life since moving to Richmond and finally feeling welcomed. Feeling welcomed into this community is one of the most honoring gifts I could receive. We’re all looking for that sense of belonging.” — Bijoux Nouveau
Richmond’s music scene is one of the many things that make this city so special. One of the things is overlapping interests and collaborations that bring people together making songs. Sometimes it is file-sharing, inbox-based, and sometimes it is established peer circles welcoming new artists into the city circuitry.
I always discover someone new at each show. First hearing Emily Bodley aka Bijoux Nouveau sing live with Ant the Symbol at a Shockoe Sessions Live summer of 2025, I spent most of that fall and winter relistening to that live album, knowing how amazing it was on the spot and dropping songs in DJ sets.
In that time, I had been hoping Emily had more music to share, and as 2026 unfolded, I became aware of demos and recording sessions and was excited to get to the details as summer ’26 came to a close. After the album release party for EclipseSZN, Emily Bodley and I got to talk creekside and find out about the eclipse season that led to Bijoux Nouveau.
T-Rav: What is the origin story? When did you land here?
Bijoux Nouveau: I arrived in Richmond two years ago. I’ve been a musician for most of my life, born and raised in Hendersonville, North Carolina, about 40 minutes south of Asheville. My dad was a Christian singer-songwriter. My parents built my childhood home through a church program, and in the basement, my dad built a studio. He played guitar, drums, and would record his own Christian music albums. I was in a musical, creative family, and I’m grateful for that.
My sister played guitar, and she got a guitar for her 16th birthday. So being her little sister, I was like, “I want a guitar for my 16th birthday!” I started learning to play guitar on my dad’s Martin Travel Guitar when I was ten—a small guy with a tinny sound. He showed me three chords, and I learned “Drops of Jupiter” by Train. My first song.
I started performing out in the world when I was 16. I’d cut my teeth at venues like sports bars on a Thursday night from 9 p.m. to midnight, as well as vineyards and breweries. Shout out to my parents for supporting the musical performance adventure.
T-Rav: What was on your repertoire at that time?
Bijoux Nouveau: I’d always predominantly played cover songs, but I started writing music after my friend Robbie passed in the eighth grade. I was 13 years old when I started writing my first songs. I’d start popping in originals to my set when I thought they were good enough to perform.
I’d perform popular music spanning from as early as the ’40s to modern day, a few ’50s and ’60s pop tunes, like the song “Angel Baby”, and then stuff like “Chandelier” (Sia), “Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley), “Valerie” (Amy Winehouse), “Put Your Records On” (Corinne Bailey Rae), pretty happy music, jazz’y, soul’y.
T-Rav: Did you do any vocal classes or any vocal training, or was it all from the home?
Bijoux Nouveau: I’ve never had a vocal lesson, though I’ve been singing my entire life, and hope to someday be taught vocal technique. My first performance was in third grade. I grew up in the South, and I was singing one of my dad’s Christian songs at the school. That’s kind of funny.
Musicals (especially from the ’60s) really are the foundation of my singing journey. Barbra Streisand musicals and Gene Kelly musicals. I watched the Broadway film of Cats a lot when I was a kid. The Kathy Bates, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber, and Alan Cumming version of Annie. Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston was a big one—that’s actually the only Cinderella I really care about. Grease was big for me.
And then I discovered Barbra, and it was Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl. She’s such a titan on screen. With Gene Kelly, I was really into An American in Paris. Music has always been present; it’s always come naturally.
T-Rav: Did you do any musical theater in high school, in the developing years, or more in the audience?
Bijoux Nouveau: I always wanted to be in musical theater! I’ve always loved theater, but I don’t consider myself an actress. I went to this early college high school program. My class was the third generation of the program, and they didn’t have much funding for extracurriculars.
I once acted as a choir member in this community college play, though the production wasn’t very good. I remember it as my only musical theater role as a late teen. I definitely love being an audience member attending musical theater, or theater performances in general.
One time my parents took my sister and I to an off-Broadway production of Spamalot for our Christmas gift that year and, damn, that was fun. Tells you a lot about my family’s sense of humor.
T-Rav: After singing at the breweries, when did you leave North Carolina?
Bijoux Nouveau: I’d wanted to step away from Hendersonville my whole life. I always felt like an outsider, a black sheep in my hometown, despite the kindness of many people. I’d always felt like there were more opportunities I needed to explore, kind of classic creative fledgling feelings.
I met someone who would too quickly become my husband in 2014. We moved to Portland, Maine, in June 2017. He and I got a divorce a few months after the move. I was freshly 21 and freshly divorced, and I’m like, “I got my wish: I’m anonymous in a new town, 20 hours north by car. I’m going to make the most I can.”
I stayed in Maine for five years and made three short films and was involved with at least three different bands, including singing in an original ska rock band called Bad Combo. It was a big party band with a full horn section, a collective of musicians anywhere between 8 and 12 people at any gig. I led a kind-of jazz fusion group called Flounce. We were successful for like the eight gigs we had, but COVID chopped the head off of that one.
One of my best friends, Nicholas Thompson-Brown, got me into singing jazz standards at the weekly jazz jam in Portland. As a loner, cinephile, musical theater-obsessed child, I listened to a lot of jazz without knowing it. Jazz had always been present in my world, and singing jazz at 21 years old felt like a full-circle moment.
T-Rav: You’re in Portland and you’re doing these different projects. What were the short films? What were your roles in making those?
Bijoux Nouveau: My first short film was called Empath. I made it in 2017, right as soon as I got to Portland. I’d never made a short film before. I picked the SXSW film submission deadline. I had 3 or 4 months, put a casting call on Craigslist, and got a bunch of strangers to commit to this passion project.
I was the producer, director, and editor, etcetera. I wore too many hats, but I did have a makeup artist, director of photography, and seven people in the cast. We filmed in a grocery store, this cool location, and shot in 4K. Honestly, despite being a first short film, it’s a pretty good entry point.
It did not premiere at the SXSW Film Festival… I’d missed the deadline by four hours while rendering the 4K. I’d never made a movie before and didn’t know what to expect. But it premiered at the Maine International Film Festival at the Waterville Opera House!
I didn’t produce my next two shorts until 2022, when I made them both. Laurel Ave is my favorite of the three. It was made by myself and two friends, Brianna Fern and John Blanchette. The three of us created it for a 72-hour filmmaking challenge during the worst snowstorm I’d ever seen, let alone driven through.
For that one, I shot and I edited, Brianna and I wrote the script, and we all acted in it. Brianna provided costuming and location, and John provided the soundtrack, composing while I was editing.
Finally, my third short film is called What Are Friends For? It was a horror short produced for the Damnationland Film Festival in Portland, Maine, with about 25 people attached to it, if I remember correctly. I was director, editor, DP, SFX makeup artist; too many hats once again, but a lot of love and help from the community poured into it. We had that one crowdfunded.
The premiere cut was around 12 minutes long, and the original was about 25 minutes. I’ve been trying to work through burnout, slowly rebuilding the Director’s Cut these last four years, but my cat recently spilled water on my computer, so unfortunately I don’t know how much of the work-in-progress has been lost.
I intend on finally releasing the premiere cut this coming Halloween.
T-Rav: The most important thing about any short film work is getting done with it, then applying what you learned on the last one to the next one. Learning about writing, that changes your editing on the next one. You learn about editing, that changes your writing. In hindsight, your vision is always clearer than foresight. But anything you learn on any of those projects can be applicable to everything now and next.
Bijoux Nouveau: It’s always disappointing when you feel like a failure for your own projects. As creatives who are highly ambitious and multifaceted, we care about everything we do so much. Sometimes I care so deeply, it makes me ill. Without being a control freak about it, just wanting to deliver the purest expression. But like when you lose it or it feels like you’ve failed other people, including yourself… it’s just deeply disappointing.
I actually moved away from Portland to Greenville, South Carolina, the weekend before it premiered. My phone was blowing up with feedback; I heard it was the largest premiere I’ve had, and apparently people screamed from the gross parts. As a horror-lover, that brought me joy.
I had felt Portland, Maine, had become a home. I was there from ages 21 to 26. I’m a big believer that wherever you are in the world, in your life during those years, those five years define a huge part of your personality, your interests, and how you act in the world. I praise New England for providing me a place that I felt I belonged for a while, but I had other things to do. Portland is very small, and I wanted to explore more of the world.
My couple years in Greenville was a rough time for me. I was miserable and vulnerable about my experience online. A lot of people think that behavior is cringe, but I find that often when I am vulnerable and transparent online, I tend to have at least one person message me saying, “I’ve been struggling with this exact thing. Thank you so much for talking about it, I feel less alone.”
To go back to your question regarding how I came to Richmond, I was being vulnerable about my depression on Instagram, and my friend Alyssa, an angel I’ve known since fifth grade and a tattoo artist in Richmond, reached out to me on Instagram and was like, “Dude, you need to get out of there. I live in Richmond. You’re going to love it here, you really need to come hang out and relax for a weekend.”
I visited Richmond for the first time on August 26th, 2024, and I felt immediately at home. I made a group of friends on day two of being here, and they were like, “Come to Richmond, we want you here, like, you belong here.” And it was the first time in a very long time that I felt like people actually wanted me around. So I moved to Richmond a month later, in October of 2024.
Photos from EclipseSZN album listening party and Shockoe Sessions Live for Ant the Symbol by Todd Raviotta
T-Rav: We first met in August 2025. Shockoe Sessions Live for Ant the Symbol and friends live set. You performed with Ant, the band, and Logos on “Letters From Nirvana.” That was my first time hearing that song. I was floored! That recording of that song has since become something I have played on repeat, over and over this past year. How did that song and that collaboration and that contribution come together?
Bijoux Nouveau: Shout out to Ant the Symbol! It was one of my first times performing with him & his band. While he wasn’t my introduction to the Richmond music scene, he has been a champion of collaboration, incorporating my sound with his. We’ve since worked together a bunch, and I am so grateful for him. Ant is a diamond of a human.
I’m typically pretty bold with “my asks,” and the universe often rewards. I was on Instagram asking, “Do any producers out there want to create something? Floaty, sultry, sexy, breathy vocals over groove?” I was looking for a project along the lines of Moonchild or Little Dragon. Ant responded by sending me three beats. I went to Bamboo Cafe, drank a Cosmo, and I wrote “Welcome In” in like an hour. We’ve been firing on all cylinders since then.
“Letters From Nirvana” was created remotely. I knew Logos the Poetic through Weekend Plans. I’m really grateful for all of those guys: Chet, Logos, Kayen, Wynton, Justin, Nate, Chris, Forrest, Jordan, everyone in this band. I love those guys. Logos The Poetic has the most electrifying stage presence, barring up like crazy.
On “Letters From Nirvana,” Logos had written his verses & hook some time before, and I wrote a hook. That was kind of the last part of the song structure. I’ve always been inspired by Fiona Apple’s style of writing and how she writes very percussively. “Letters From Nirvana” is one of my more percussive hooks that I’ve written recently; it’s very rhythmic.
Typically, I start with how I’m feeling, then focus on what I want to say and how I want to say it. I was thinking, “Thank God I’m finally fucking home.” That was my overwhelming feeling: gratitude for the jewels in my life since moving to Richmond and finally feeling welcomed. Feeling welcomed into this community is one of the most honoring gifts I could receive. We’re all looking for that sense of belonging.
T-Rav: There’s community, there’s crews, bands, that create subdivisions of a group of people that then have partners, friends, and families that create the shared missions of those communities.
Bijoux Nouveau: Commitments, genuine care. If your tire is flat, someone’s probably going to help you. The important thing about these situations and communities is to be an accountable & good steward of your community: someone who also provides community to people, who does not just consume but also creates.
T-Rav: Reciprocity. That is that circuit, it’s mutual.
Bijoux Nouveau: As the new kid in town who has been blessed with many musical opportunities by incredible people, I just feel like I’ve stumbled into a treasure trove. I understand my place right now, where I’m at and how lucky I am, and I have to be careful to not deplete anyone.
T-Rav: So tell me about that “pen dip in jasmine” in “Letters To Nirvana”?
Bijoux Nouveau: The lyrics are: “Absorbing my blessings with every move / Finally feeling rewarded / Hip dip in the groove.” That line is inspired by my friend and associate Frank Hopkins, who’s an incredible sound engineer currently working with the band Moe. for a few years as their touring engineer. He would say during his own funk sets this line that always brought me joy, “put your hip dip into it.”
“Thank you for these treasures / Yummy style” is inspired by my friend Chez of the band Tommie’s House and the way she would tag “-style” to the end of adjectives.
“Dip my pen in jasmine and chamomile.” I’ve always loved how jasmine looks, its scent, and how it makes me feel. Jasmine is ruled by Venus and the Moon. It’s feminine, emotional, sultry, and love-focused, for both inner and outer love. I was essentially writing self-love incantations.
Chamomile is a calming herb, ruled by the Sun. I am writing a calming, loving manifestation of balanced duality for myself and for the people in my life.
Then it’s, “And peace of mind for me and mine and peace and / Peace of mind for me and mine and peace and / Peace of mind / Now I’m writing letters from Nirvana,” so it’s like we’ve done it, we’re ascended. Logos wrote the title, so I incorporated it into the hook.
I’m a huge fan of snail mail. I love writing & receiving letters, especially words of love & care. I physically write most of my lyrics.
T-Rav: What is the path between “Letters From Nirvana” and the EclipseSzn recording?
Bijoux Nouveau: It’s Ant! I met Ty Sorrell through Ant the Symbol at the January 2026 Révéler set. As Ty says, “Ant is a bridge of community.” He curates incredible artists together.
I actually didn’t meet Ty officially at Shockoe Sessions Live, despite being on the same gig; I was intimidated because they looked so cool. Like, Ty’s always fitted up. I have a few complexes from moving around and being the new kid often, so I can get a little nervous introducing myself these days. Gotta get over that, I’m working on it.
I’m a new kid in Ant’s circle. So, a bit of insecurity and impostor syndrome flare up when joining the bill with these incredible vocalists (shout out Deau Eyes, Anneliese, Sam Reed, Kenneka Cook, Erin Lunsford, Morgan Stewart) who have been deeply enmeshed in his world.
I complimented Ty’s hat in person, and we started DMing regarding emotional transparency online. Ty was like, “I’m a fan of you, but where is your solo work?”
With Flounce, we had an EP release, and I had a couple joints with the ska outfit. Emily Bodley had a couple voice memo covers on SoundCloud and YouTube videos or whatever, but I didn’t have any official solo artist work.
Ty was like, pretty point blank, “I want to produce an album for you.” Ty is exceptionally creative; artistry & musicality will always come first, which I respect.
We first hung out at the end of February this year with the intention to create music, and Logos was a part of the session. We made most of “Tensions” that night. “Tensions” was also the final song we completed! Sam Koff laid the perfect trumpet solo to finish the album.
We made this amazing song. It’s my favorite song on the project. We realized we were beginning something beautiful.
No shade to anyone, but Ty is the first engineer that I worked with and hadn’t needed to explain how I wanted my voice to be mixed. When I heard my vocals the first time, I had a eureka! moment.
Ant is also a main collaborator, in a lovely different style. I love working with these talented artists who produce distinctly different music.
T-Rav: “Tensions” becomes the first song; it’s a progressive pop conclusion to the album. Ty’s work has impressed me that it isn’t in a singular genre style. When we ran into each other at the Firehouse back in the spring, y’all were talking about having some demos, the first round of these songs. And you shared with me that first batch.
Bijoux Nouveau: We had three at that time, “Tensions,” “Horizons,” I think was the second song made, and “Saint Laurent” after that.
We made six out of those nine tracks on the album, one song per night. That being said, I don’t want to make the process sound miraculously easy because hindsight can be romanticized.
Sometimes the beats that Ty produced, though amazing beats, weren’t pulling words out of me in the moment, and Ty is committed to making music that flows and pulls words out of the writer. There were some nights where Ty produced 4 or 5 beats until we struck gold.
T-Rav: To make one in a night. What’s the process while you’re trying to think of “Are the words going to flow?”
Bijoux Nouveau: We listen to records, smoke a joint, vibe out to begin the process. They’ll produce the beat and have it looping for hours, and eventually my brain enters a state of near-hypnosis and I start hearing new shapes and colors. The sessions can take a long time, so get comfortable. I’d sometimes fall asleep on the couch, hypnotized by the beat.
When approaching lyrics, I usually begin with how I’m feeling, whether or not it’s worth translating into words, and what words I should pick to express what I’m feeling accurately, even if they’re abstract. Sometimes the words spill out of me without any forethought.
I’d write some lyrics before nodding off, and Ty would wake me up and I’d jump up and record what I wrote. I don’t clearly remember recording “Water Witch” because I was so sleepy; the song has this particular breathy subtlety that was very much pulled from this liminal half-asleep foggy space.
T-Rav: “35mm” is, to me, a bridge between how you introduce yourself as a filmmaker and as a lyricist and singer. That song is both, with the kind of set talk language and all the incredible features, an epic song. How does that come together?
Bijoux Nouveau: That night was a big dance party! Everyone else was dancing; I wasn’t because I can be kind of a wallflower at parties, and when focused. I wasn’t upset or anything, though it might have appeared that way as I was off doing my own thing, trying to unearth melodies.
There were seven people in the house, and like six of them are rappers, and everybody was writing. It became kind of cutthroat—everyone wanted to be on the fire Ty Sorrell dance beat. Logos, Lil Stixxx, Ty, and I were all on the track. Duct Tape and MYLO were present, so was my friend Mari.
Logos, he’s got subjectively the best verse on that track, he smoked us all, he’d written so much so quickly. I laid the hook first to give structure.
Regarding combining my filmmaking with lyricism, I actually have an obscure Blue Velvet reference in my hook on King Kaiju’s track “Made it Through”. I love Kaiju, I love his art, his writing. I love his flow. I’m a huge fan of his sound, and I’m grateful for him inviting me to collaborate. “Joints in Fourth Gear” is one of my favorite projects.
EclipseSzn has a few filmmaking Easter eggs in it. “Frame it like a movie / Baby, go crazy with the 35mm,” this could be anything. Are we recording a dance party? A sex video? Like, what are we filming? Are we documenting life? It’s a reflection of how I actually view the world, through lenses & composition. I like wide lenses, 35mm or 24mm.
And keeping up with the film set vernacular with “roll the sound speed.” I wanted to fuse my passions together, and I have sneaky ways of accomplishing it.
In “Saint Laurent,” I wrote “My baby puts me in the mood for love.” In the Mood for Love is one of my favorite movies of all time.
T-Rav: I’m still Wong Kar-wai deficit.
Bijoux Nouveau: In the Mood for Love is definitely my favorite of his works. It’s stunningly lush, opulent, and beautiful. Have you seen The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook? He is my favorite director. His most recent film, No Other Choice, is so fucking funny. It’s got a brutal moment, as they all do, but he really played into slapstick comedy. He’s multi-genre.
I enjoyed his previously released film called Decision to Leave. It’s kind of neo-noir: a hot FBI guy falls in love with his equally hot lady fugitive. The Handmaiden is my favorite Park Chan-wook film, and In the Mood for Love is my favorite Wong Kar-wai. The two of them remind me of each other with their opulence; it’s all very luxurious. The costuming, design, the time period… It’s just so beautiful. Different parts of the world, though sharing a similar visual luxury.
T-Rav: Are you going to make visuals for these songs?
Bijoux Nouveau: I want to create visuals for all of the songs on EclipseSzn. I’m currently attempting to curate my film crew, though it’s tough with scheduling conflicts. I shot & produced the music video for “Seeing Beyond Fear” totally on my own, but it’d be great to have a trusted friend to hit record. I do think all the tunes in this project deserve their own visual yumminess.
T-Rav: As the EclipseSzn eclipses, what’s up now?
Bijoux Nouveau: The listening party was, to me, a grand success. Shout out to Justin of RVA Sound Systems for providing an unbelievable bespoke sound system. Shout out to DJ Rex Whatever for spinning the night.
Ty and I are working on new music; EclipseSzn was feature-heavy, so we’re focusing on more solo Bijoux work. That being said, we just recorded something special with Alex J Dimas. She came over, and she just smoked it. Oh, my God, it’s dark, feminine, but the lyrics are uplifting. It sounds like a boss battle song, and Alex is singing gorgeous Spanish melodies right over it, and it’s just like a very feminine powerhouse song.
Ant has sent me new beats that differ from both his new album (releasing November 6th) and my recent release. The four beats that he sent all differ in genre, and I like them all.
EclipseSzn was my happy project. I’m not a fully happy person. I’m also kind of a spooky person, with a melancholic tendency. I’d like to produce a project that’s inspired by the trancey elements of Portishead, Radiohead, Björk, ’90s, shoegaze, post-grunge, trip-hop. I don’t necessarily want to write sad girl music, but I know I’m going to return to it because sometimes you have to. I’ve written a ton of sad girl music on my guitar. I’m not really sure what moods I’m going to explore, but I’m going to try to explore them.
T-Rav: Dynamic range, the soundscapes and the emotional content, the human experience is never one thing. With Bijoux Nouveau, is that the project voice?
Bijoux Nouveau: That’s me from here on out. When it comes to film work, I’m Emily Bodley. Bijoux Nouveau is my chosen (musical artist) name; MYLO actually helped name me. There’s multiple Bijou’s, and bisou translates to “little kiss” in French. But Bijoux, the way that I spell it, is plural for new dainty couture jewelry. And then Nouveau comes from Art Nouveau: that’s my favorite visual art movement. The VMFA hosted an incredible Art Nouveau exhibit.
Bijoux Nouveau is Emily Bodley, and she is my highest self. I can’t wait to see where the adventure leads.
Main photo by A.R. Clark
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