I’ve spent the last month touring across Wales and South East England, and it’s been an amazing experience – I’ve loved playing in new venues, exploring new parts of these cities, and meeting new people. Some highlights included: hanging out with Emily Breeze and her band in the green room in Le Pub, partying with Scarlet & the Wolves and Tizane at The Camden Club, sharing the stage in Brighton with my pal Mishkin Fitzgerald, and staying at hers for a few days working on some tunes together.
Thank you so much to everyone who came along and supported me; I feel so lucky to get to perform and share these songs with you all 💜💜 Keep your eyes out for some behind-the-scenes content from the tour coming later this month.
I’m now taking a few months off to rest, although I may do one or two lower-key shows here and there. I wrote in a recent newsletter about how I burned out at the end of last year, once the album launch was over. I often feel this drive to devote every waking moment to my music career, and that anything less than that means I’m not committed enough. So much advice for musicians encourages this constant hustle, to work harder than everyone around you, to never take a day off, to prioritise the marketing over the music.
Even aside from work, I feel as though to be a good person, I need to be doing ALL THE THINGS. Exercise, daily meditation, reading, writing, maintaining my relationships, networking, self-development, watching all the TV shows that people recommend to me, staying informed on politics, creating new art prolifically, keeping my home clean… it’s too much. Trying to do everything usually means that we rush through everything, not taking the time to do tasks well or to enjoy them. Art comes from the quiet places – creativity hides in those quiet gaps of time where you can tinker and play around with your ideas, without constantly watching the clock, looking to optimise how you spend your time for maximum efficiency. Creativity resists these boundaries.
I’ve been learning about Tarot lately, and have found myself drawn to The Hermit card, which is all about the importance of slowing down and turning inward to contemplate your priorities and values – not as a sad lonely act, but as an act of reflection and discovery. This is where I feel I am right now. After a year of intense outward-facing work – self-promotion, creating music videos and photoshoots, performing live – I’m ready to slow down and turn towards more inward-facing work like writing, honing my craft, and setting new creative goals for the years to come. It feels good to step back and let things breathe.
How to support my work
I’m very proud of my album, and it’s slowly getting out into the world – but the Spotify streaming numbers are pretty low for the non-single tracks, and unfortunately stream numbers are useful currency when applying for opportunities (not actual currency though – I’ve earned less than 20 quid from streams so far 🙃 ).
If you’re a Spotify user, here are 4 simple (and free!) things you can do to help my music reach more ears:
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Make sure you’re following me on Spotify – click the “follow” button at the top of the page*
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Stream the album through once or twice every now and again (you can just open a new tab and leave it running for 40 mins)
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Add my songs to your playlists, especially playlists that have a few subscribers
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If you know someone who might like one of my tunes, share the link with them and ask them to check it out!
* basically more followers and listeners encourages the algorithm to suggest my music to other listeners. I don’t know how it works, it’s all smoke and mirrors to me, but we must serve the almighty algorithm.
