EMA is the solo performing moniker of guitarist/vocalist Erika M. Anderson,… Read Full Bio ↴EMA is the solo performing moniker of guitarist/vocalist Erika M. Anderson, who shaped her experimental voice and guitar techniques in two well-regarded underground bands before setting off on her own. Anderson, who moved to Los Angeles from South Dakota when she was 18, played guitar with folk-noise outfit Amps for Christ in the late '90s and early 2000s, then formed the psych-folk band Gowns in 2004 with former Mae Shi member Ezra Buchla. After making three albums, Gowns disbanded in early 2010, and Anderson began working on solo material that included that year's Night People release, Little Sketches on Tape. Her single Grey Ship arrived about a year later and boasted a 17-minute version of Robert Johnson's "Kind Hearted Woman" that managed to reinvent the song drastically while remaining true to its spirit. Her debut album, Past Life Martyred Saints, appeared on Souterrain Transmissions in mid-2011. It was widely praised in the music press and, despite minimal marketing, it led to headline tours across North America and Europe. The following year Anderson began work on her second full-length with musician Leif Shackelford in Portland, Oregon. Titled The Future's Void, it arrived via Matador Records in April 2014. She explored the album's concepts of virtual reality, consumerism, and identity further with I Wanna Destroy (Sacred Objects from Suburban Homes), an exhibit that incorporated Oculus Rift technology and showed at MoMA PS1 in New York and London's Barbican. Anderson and Shackelford's referential score to the cyberbullying film #Horror arrived at the end of 2015. Anderson worked with co-producer Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra on 2017's Exile in the Outer Ring, an impression of nationalism, poverty, and alienation in the U.S. Midwest.

Coda
EMA Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

They say love turns to rot
But I'm gonna give him all I got
when you showed up at that spot
I almost threw up on the spot
I wish I had another hole to
Get it out
These drugs they are making
Me so sad

And I can't stop on taking them in
This night it is making me so sad
and when I looked on the computer
and it was just an emptiness that

made me want to throw up on the spot
My arms

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to EMA's "Coda" express the conflicting feelings of a person struggling with addiction, love, and emptiness. The first line "They say love turns to rot" references a common belief about the destructive nature of love and relationships. However, the singer is determined to give their all to their partner despite this potential outcome. The second line "but I'm gonna give him all I got" shows their commitment to their relationship.

The following lines reveal the singer's struggle with addiction and its effects on them. They almost vomit when their partner shows up at a certain spot, perhaps indicating a trigger for their addiction. They wish they had another way to deal with their emotions ("another hole to get it out") but drugs are their current coping mechanism. The line "these drugs they are making me so sad" highlights the negative effects of their addiction.

The singer then describes their current state as "so sad" due to the emptiness they feel. This emptiness is also reflected in their view of the computer, which offers no solace and possibly exacerbates their feelings of nausea. The final line "my arms" is somewhat ambiguous but could relate to the physical effects of drug use, such as bruising or injection marks.

Line by Line Meaning

They say love turns to rot
According to popular belief, love becomes spoiled or corrupted over time

But I'm gonna give him all I got
Despite the potential for love to become ruined, I am going to give my all to this person

when you showed up at that spot
At the moment you arrived at that particular location

I almost threw up on the spot
I nearly vomited in response to the situation or person at hand

I wish I had another hole to
I desire another means of physically purging myself of something unpleasant

Get it out
To expel or remove something from my body or mind

These drugs they are making
The drugs I have taken are causing

Me so sad
Me to feel overwhelmingly emotionally distressed

And I can't stop on taking them in
I am unable to cease consuming these drugs despite their negative effects on my emotional state

This night it is making me so sad
The current evening is causing me to feel intensely melancholic

and when I looked on the computer
Upon viewing the computer screen