Em Beihold: Tales of a Failed Shapeshifter Tour with Janani K. Jha

About this event

Singer-songwriter Em Beihold knows a thing or two about shapeshifting. On her long-awaited debut album, Tales of a Failed Shapeshifter (Republic, 2026), she’s ready to tell all the ways she’s done that: in relationships, friendships, and most of all, as an artist. But in order to make this album, Beihold needed to learn who she was when the shapeshifting stopped working. When Em Beihold’s “Numb Little Bug” became a runaway hit, she was on top of the world. Her 2022 single about her experience taking antidepressants cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached platinum status. By the time it broke through, Beihold was already several years into her career. She self-released her debut EP in 2017 and had found early success through a growing fandom on social media. “Numb Little Bug” opened doors Beihold couldn’t have imagined before. In 2022, she appeared on a viral remix of Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You.” She performed her hits on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Late Late Show With James Corden. She opened for acts like Jonas Brothers, Lewis Capaldi and King Princess before embarking on her own headlining tour in 2024. As the rollercoaster of the song’s momentum and a couple years straight of touring wore down, so did Beihold. She knew it was time for a debut album but she couldn’t crack the code. “I had the worst kind of writer's block and identity crisis,” she says.”I didn’t even know what I was trying to make or say or what I liked.” That feeling is particularly difficult to grapple with when your whole worth is tied to being an artist. She couldn’t see value in herself when she wasn’t able to write songs. “When I was feeling so blocked, I'd spend hours at the piano and nothing would come out. I felt like maybe it was a power that I lost because I would process my emotions through writing, and when I couldn't write, I couldn't process.” During her summer in outpatient therapy, Beihold returned to the artists who inspired…