After the glowing response to her much-loved initial offerings ‘Not A Love Song’ and ‘YOU’RE A…’ in recent years, London-based artist Posey recently returned once again to deliver her mesmerising new single ‘SO SWEET’.
Capturing more of that rich and glossy pop appeal she is cultivating for herself, ‘SO SWEET’ adds another vital layer to her already immersive sound to date. So we caught up with her to discuss her origins and what has been inspiring her most over the years.
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Can you tell us a bit about your musical background and how you got started in music?
So I attended musical theatre school from a really young age and always knew I wanted to sing or perform – I used to put shows on for my family all the time and would force my little brother to do them with me. But it was actually an old guitar teacher that got me to try writing songs when I was about 13 and I just fell in love with it. My first songs were atrocious though, I used to show them to my friends at school and I think one of the first songs was something like “I know you but you don’t know me, I see you but you don’t see me” and they couldn’t stop laughing at how stalkery/creepy they sounded, but onwards and upwards … hopefully.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences, both past and present?
I would say presently, like Dua Lipa, Lily Allen and Olivia Dean are massive influences and really help shape the way I write and just how to be cheeky and playful with my songs. Caity Baser has also influenced me to sort of push the boundaries of what I can say and being a bit more tongue in cheek. But my parents entirely raised me on Whitney and ABBA !
Could you share any memorable moments or experiences that have shaped your musical journey so far?
I would say a big one was playing Hangar 34, which is a big venue in Liverpool supporting a Eurovision act called SubWoolfer last year when Liverpool hosted Eurovision, that was pretty big moment as it was just me and my guitarist on stage and it was the first time I was like omg this is my job!!! That was very cool, and made it all feel real. Another one was more recent, selling out my first London headliner, I think with it being my hometown that one felt really special and important and seeing how supportive the audience was, which was so wholesome!
How do you express your personal experiences and identity through your music?
A couple of different ways to be honest, firstly I think I write what I know so my music is already like a little insight into how on earth my brain works! I massively prioritise the general vibe of songs and just making sure they feel really bubbly and playful and like anyone of any age can have a cheeky dance to it. I always want them to feel like me and capture my personality in the songs. I’m quite a carefree/spontaneous person so that needs to be felt – I struggle to believe in what I’m singing if not.
Have you faced any challenges or obstacles as a female musician, and if so, how have you overcome them?
Some challenges I’ve faced as a female musician are being the only woman in the room at several venues and feeling quite uncomfortable and intimidated. I’m super lucky that my session musicians are really good at making me feel supported and more comfortable in venues if anyone is being or acting a bit strange. I’d say that’s been quite a big one. For me, the best way of overcoming this has been to just make myself feel as comfortable as possible in those sorts of environments, even if it means bringing a friend along with me. Mansplaining has been another one but that’s a whole other conversation…
Are there any particular themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Honestly… girlboss vibes, just super empowering and fun. Honestly, I just want people to just let those long old locks down and have fun when they listen to my music. It’s all about learning how to be a 20 year old girl which is very relatable as you can imagine… and a chance to unlock your inner 20 year old girl if you’ve never experienced it… and I guess all the wild/unhinged stories that come with that.
Can you talk about your creative process and how you go about writing and producing your music?
The most chaotic vibes to be honest, I mostly write on piano and try to create some melody lines and then record myself doing some random humming over it and see what words some of the mumbling sounds like or what I can pick out from it. I also have a notes page of titles and ideas so sometimes I’ll go back to that and see what themes are popping out. I write keywords to do this theme at the top of the page which really helps me stay on track with the narrative otherwise I go on about 100 different tangents and start writing about the most random, odd things !
How do you hope your music will resonate with your audience, especially with other aspiring female musicians?
I hope that my audience or other female musicians can resonate with just having fun with music and what you have to say, not taking myself/themselves too seriously. I like the idea of keeping our youth and playfulness and I think my music does that for others. Like, YOU’RE A… is all about a very very rubbish ex-situationship, Not a love song is about a one night sorta vibe and SO SWEET is about a high school/puppy love crush, so just a tad cheeky and funny.
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Listen to Posey’s new single ‘SO SWEET’ below.