2019 is shaping up to be the first year of the rest of Mount Maunganui singer-songwriter George's life.
She's bookending the year with her first singles, and in the middle of it recorded her debut EP in the United States. But she says taking the time to stop and just enjoy it has been the best part.
"I'm gonna enjoy the process instead of just being like 'I'm waiting for the next thing, I'm waiting to release it' so it has been really fun," she told Newshub.
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It's been almost six years since she won Smokefree Rockquest, and under her full name Georgia Lines released her first single, 'Wannabe'.
While she values the platform it gave her, she's keen to show how she's developed since.
"Yeah, you hope people will look at that and be like 'oh wow this is who George is and this is what she's doing' and 'oh that was cool that that was something she did at school,'" she says.
Part of that evolution was choosing to go under the mononym George - her family nickname, but also to avoid any awkward confusion with American country band Florida Georgia Line.
"I had a lot of people asking if I was the vocalist, the girl vocalist on one of their tracks and I was like 'ahhhh yeah that's not me!'" she laughs.
She's also a New Zealand Music Award winner with her church's band, Curate Music. With worship, the audience knows all the words. It's something she's hoping will one day happen with her solo material too.
"That would be cool! Gotta write a song that people wanna sing!" she admits.
That could happen soon. Her first single as George, 'Vacant Cities', has racked up 250,000 streams since its February release - all without a label.
And on Friday, she released her new song, 'Never Had Love'. Having sat on it for a few months, she says it's a relief it's finally out.
"I feel like I've moved to more of my sound, and what I want to be creating," she says.
The song came together quickly and was finished just before she went to the United States to record her debut EP in July. Once she got there though, she found her older songs sounded like a step backwards.
"I was like 'argh, I can't release this song', and then come home with this new EP and be like these songs feel stale."
So after rewriting them and starting again, she's got an EP she's proud of - ready to drop early next year.
Newshub.
