It’s been a long five years since we last heard music from Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Birdy, whose Skinny Love by Bon Iver cover in 2011 propelled her into superstardom, with the official music video racking up almost 200 million views on Youtube. Some of us remember the curly haired, 14-year-old playing the piano with an angelic pitch, like it was yesterday, but it has actually been ten years since the song debuted. Feel old yet?
Birdy, 24 - whose real name is Jasmine Lucilla - was given the nickname from a young age, not on account of her pitch-perfect voice, but because she opened her mouth like a little bird when being fed, although she’s lived up to her namesake. Her last album Beautiful Lies was critically acclaimed in 2016, but she then decided to go on a hiatus - travelling India, LA and Nashville - and dedicate that time to developing her inner self and to create her latest album - Young Heart, about heartbreak, of which she considers her best work to date.
Having returned to the UK, she’s spent lockdown with her family at her childhood home in Lymington, Hampshire, where she also recorded her performance of her new single 'Second Hand News' from her upcoming album for our GLAMOUR Women of The Year Awards last month.
GLAMOUR sat down virtually with Birdy last week to talk to her about the last five years, and she shared her hopes and dreams for life in a post-lockdown world, some major tips on combating writer’s block, dating in a pandemic and how she’s prioritising her mental health....
First things first, thank you for your GLAMOUR Women of the Year performance, it was a dream. You had a bit of a break — five years. Was it planned?
"Thank you! It's been such a long time. I’ve changed a lot, I’ve grown a lot. I think it was important for me at the beginning of making this record to have a little bit of a break, because the start of the journey was quite intense. I was 14 when my first record came out. Since then there's been one after the other and then touring. So I used part of that time as sort of a ‘gap year’, before I started properly working on this record. I was dealing with my own relationship problems and heartbreak and so it was quite difficult to get straight into writing about it then.
I was experiencing some serious writer’s block. I guess I was just not ready to write about it yet. So, my sister, my cousin, our friend and I decided to go away to India for three months. That was a really amazing experience, to just escape, reflect, leave the worrying about writing behind, relax and just be free."
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After the three months in India, how did you fill the rest of that hiatus time?
"This whole record was such a journey in writing it, it kind of just did take that long to write. I was really struggling getting pen to paper and I did so many sessions, which weren't successful and I was probably just not ready to hit the studio yet.
When you listen, you will notice that it's quite different sounding to anything I've done before. The song writing is quite different, it's quite conversational... I did a couple of stays in LA and people there really got it. I spent time in Santa Monica and then in a beautiful log cabin in Topanga that really got my creative juices flowing. The album took on like this kind of Laurel Canyon, seventies-like feel. I then went to Nashville, which was amazing. It's full of amazing storytellers and musicians. I felt at home."
Where did you spend the chaotic 2020? Did the pandemic stall your work?
"I came home to New Forest where I grew up and ended up staying the whole year. I was lucky to be near greenery, and be right by the sea so we could do a lot of swimming in the summer.
We had actually finished the record just before the pandemic hit. It was meant to come out around that time last year, so in a way it did stall the project a little, but in a way it gave us more time to actually just reflect on it. I ended up making a few changes. I created a little make-shift mixer studio at home in a cupboard and I was finishing bits of the record."
What escapism did you find the healthiest / most effective for you?
"I tried to keep my mind occupied as much as possible. Because every day was kind of the same, it was so easy to just get into a routine of not doing anything. I think that's when your mental health can get really bad, when you're not using your mind. I really kept myself active, physically and mentally.
I did a lot of painting and drawing. That's something I don't always have time for that I love doing. I even had to force myself to get really good at being more present and engaging on social media."
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How have you found navigating dating and relationships in your early twenties?
"Right now I’m quite happy to just be me. But also how does anybody meet anyone right now? I’m not a dating app type girl yet. Call me a dreamer but I still love the idea of having a nice, romantic and organic story of how you meet someone, so dating may have to wait. I instead used this energy on my record. I vulnerably shared my idea of the different stages of dating, all the feels, the befores, durings and afters."
Did you find tapping into that personal space therapeutic and cathartic?
"I actually found it quite difficult. Truthfully, delving back into all these feelings, was a little painful and poignant. In fact, everytime I'd finished a song, I felt relieved, so I wouldn't have to tap into that dark space again. Even the love songs were hard to write. So I was happy to finish the record."
So what's your relationship been like with yourself and your mental health?
"I think the last 12 months especially, have had a huge impact on everyone's mental health. It definitely tested me, but I always managed to find ways to stop it getting into a crippling place. I'm quite good at being on my own and not being particularly social.
I'm sort of okay with that, but the main thing that I've found was that I found myself gravely worrying about my family, and that was difficult. I'm sure everyone is going through that, but in my house, I was the main one. I got obsessed with making sure that the family we're going to be safe.
Some days were more testing than others. It comes with the territory when you’re a creative. You can really think yourself into being in really dark places."
At your darkest times? Who would you turn to?
"I firstly try to turn to myself. I talk myself into truly believing that tomorrow I’m going to feel a different way. That always helps me escape. Also just having family around you and people who know how to snap you out of that sort of state, is really important. I definitely have that with my family. I'm really lucky."
When or where are you the most creative and what kind of things help you to be creative / do away with writer’s block?
"It's weird with this one because in the past, I just gave it a little bit of time. I would then naturally fall back into that creative space. On this record, it was different. It came in dribs and drabs, because I was going through this emotional turmoil inside.
I was scared to write about it [heartbreak] because it was such an important subject and something that was new to me. I really want it to say something and, and it just felt impossible to do so in a few lines of a song. There was so much to say! What I later found worked, was that the best way to combat it is to just make a start.
This applies for writers, students, creatives... No matter what it is, even if it's rubbish, it's just important to do something because then you can evaluate: ‘no, that's not good..’ but then you have a point to develop and work on. Bad ideas can develop into good ideas, so just start! Get into the flow and then just keep going."
Do you ever get imposter syndrome?
"All the time! Probably more so now than I did when I was younger. When you’re young, you just move. You don’t worry about anything else because that naivety almost, protects you from those insecurities and you can feel invincible because you don’t know any better.
The older you get, the more you care about other people’s opinions and that’s where it gets really dangerous, because you just stop listening to yourself. That's what I fought the most with in this record. I think I was competing with myself and wanting to do better than what I'd done in the past."
You have an all women team! How do you feel that has protected you from this male dominated music industry and what has been your experience from that perspective?
"My manager has been with me for most of my career since I was a tween and that's just been so great because she preempted a lot of situations that might have been weird or too much for me at that age. She was just very aware of that being a woman herself, so that was really great.
Like most women I have experienced sexism to some degree. I've always worked with respectful, wonderful musicians and producers, but I've definitely been in rooms before where I've been writing with a group of people where I'm the only woman and felt like I had to shout to make my voice heard.
The little microaggressions like not being made eye contact with, whereas everyone else is making eye contact, does chip away at you. It makes you feel like you're not as important. So I've had to stand up to myself in that respect."
Reflecting on 2011 Birdy and 2021 Birdy, what was the plan then and what is the plan now?
"I don't think I did have a plan initially. I started writing when I was seven or eight and my dad used to make little demos. I was just having fun. When I was 12, I did this open mic competition, which I won and I wrote a song for it.
I posted a video of it on Youtube and that’s how my label found me, so then I realised that this was a real thing, that I could pursue. I signed a publishing deal when I was 12, but what do you know at age 12? I was just writing my little songs and doing my thing. When I discovered that I could make an album and tour, I was like, 'that sounds great let's do that!'.
As for short term plans, it’s to get this album out at the end of the month of which I'm so excited for. For long-term, I dream of playing at the Hollywood Bowl (the amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills) one day that would be amazing. I think in the back of my mind, I've always had this idea of writing things for film, and that's something I'm really passionate about. That's kind of a little plan that I have. I'd also like to learn how to score properly, with a whole orchestra and write my own string sections etc."
You're such a calming and peaceful person. I feel like peace just radiated through my computer screen this entire time…
"My cousins always say, ‘Oh, you're putting me to sleep with your voice. Haha!’ I think they mean well… well, I mean, I do hope they do!"
Birdy’s new album Young Heart is out 30th April, a one off global Birdy live stream will be hosted via Driift TODAY!
For more from Glamour UK Beauty & Features Assistant Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona
