Derry TikTok star and singer Emma White to release first single 'Beige Flag'

The singer and performer, who has over three million followers on the popular social media site, is currently promoting the eagerly-awaited new track, titled ‘Beige Flag’.

Speaking to the Journal, Emma, who will turn 21-years-old in just a few weeks, said she turned to the world of social media trends when seeking inspiration for the song.

"I wrote it with two other writers, Liam Geddes and Jake Keys. There are trends on TikTok where people identify their ‘red flags’ or ‘green flags’ in a relationship, so we decided to write about ‘beige flags.’ There’s no other song out there like this right now and I wanted to make something relatable to this topic on Tik Tok, as I’d be mainly promoting it there as well.”

A ‘beige flag’ is defined by Urban Dictionary as ‘something that's neither good nor bad but makes you pause for a minute when you notice it and then you just continue on. something odd.’

The song itself, Emma said, is also ‘very poppy and it has Latin elements as well.’

Emma met co-writer Liam through fellow Derry band Lavengro and he, in turn, introduced her to Jake.

She is releasing ‘Beige Flag’ ‘completely independently’ and is delighted with the reaction so far. The song is already in TikTok’s top 50 ‘hot’ songs and ‘new music’ in the UK

"I didn’t expect it to have such a good reaction. As it’s independent, I haven’t had any help from labels in terms if pushing it or marketing. I wanted to release it as I felt, with my TikTok account sitting at the follower numbers I have, it’s time to start pushing myself and my own stuff. I’m really excited about it.”

Many of Emma’s songs and videos have gone viral, not least a recent one in which she covered the Billie Eilish song ‘What Was I Made For’ from the Barbie movie soundtrack.

Emma, a former pupil of the McGinley School of Music and the Foyle School of Speech and Drama, regularly posts her videos as ‘duets,’ where she sings one line – with the lyrics posted in red – and her followers then sing the rest- with the lyrics in blue. Her Billie Eilish cover has received millions of views and been duetted by people right across the world, showcasing Emma on millions of ‘For You’ pages on TikTok.

"The duets are how my channel really grew and my idea with them is to encourage people to sing,” she said.

While Emma is due to release her first single on September 15, she is also taking a step into the acting world with an ‘acting for screen’ course in Dublin’s Bow Street Academy.

She is inspired by performers who combine singing with stage and screen and said she is hoping to focus on both ‘for the foreseeable to see where that takes me’.

‘Beige Flag’ will be released this Friday, September 15 and you can follow Emma on TikTok @officialemmawhite