Aged just 20 years old now and already being compared to soul sensation Amy Winehouse and Lianne La Havas, ex Brighton busker Lily Moore is taking it all in her stride. With a handful of festivals already under her belt and a headline tour just around the corner, calm and composed Lily compares the successful year she’s had to that of a gap year after school.
I’ve been on tour and travelling a lot in the same way that all my friends have been travelling so yeah it’s been pretty fun so far.
With a rich blend of soul influences like Etta James, Lauryn Hill and Sam Cooke, Lily reveals why they’re such masters of their craft.
I would say with all of them you can hear they’ve got a lot of pain in their voice and what they’re saying is really real, they don’t hide anything.
When I heard Sam Cooke’s version of A Change Is Gonna Come I was completely blown away. If there’s ever a song that I wish I’d written it would be that song, I just love how he sings it.
Similar to her idols, Lily’s own vocals and tales of love and loss transcend far beyond her years and are delivered in such a disarmingly stripped-back style that audiences are left in awe as they witness an artist on the verge of something special.
Her recent single I Will Never Be is a heart-wrenching tale of desperation that exhibits not only Lily’s reflective lyricism but powerhouse vocals wrapped over a gorgeous array of soulful melodies.
I Will Never Be was very natural, I worked with Eg White who is one of my favourite people to work with and we went into the studio together with an idea of someone trying really hard but knowing you’re never going to be quite good enough. It sounds like quite a desperate song but actually I think there’s a lot of truth in it, when you like someone you, do those things, it’s definitely not like a playing it cool type of song but that’s ok.
On the subject of Lily’s song writing, Lily shares insight into her approach and how she overcomes certain challenges.
I’ve been trying to make myself write more upbeat stuff which I haven’t really done in the past. I think that’s partly because when I’m in a good mood I don’t want to write, I want to go down the pub and have a nice time so I’ve been trying to write a bit more upbeat but not force it because I don’t want to skip past something that could potentially be really beautiful and slow just to find something that stands out a bit more from my other songs.
When trying to express myself, I find it a lot easier to do it when you’re not feeling great because when everything’s amazing you don’t really want to sit down and pour your heart out about how good you’re doing.
Hard not to feel influenced by the positivity surrounding Brighton growing up. At a young age, Lily took to busking around the busy streets before making her way back over to London, she states that
Brighton has this amazing music scene in a different way to London, there’s no industry or anything down there and it’s just a really easy place to get to know yourself and figure out what sort of music you want to play and do gigs with no pressure.
Even before busking I was already playing and writing songs around the house or anywhere that would have me. Busking came along as more of a rite of passage, as a performer if you wanted an audience that’s kind of the only way to do it.
You could also stop anywhere and start busking, I think it’s a really great place if you’re trying to work out what you’d like your sound to be like and how you want to be like, I feel very lucky to have grown up there but to have also had London only an hour away and have experiences here too.
Soon Lily found herself graduating from the pubs and clubs to being asked to perform The Great Escape Festival which no sooner did she perform, her career skyrocketed and has now seen Lily support the likes of George Ezra and James Bay but we wanted to know what was next for Lily?
I’ve got a new single out called Do This For Me which follows on from I Will Never Be. Then the rest of my EP will be coming out in October and there’s a few more upbeat songs with like a Lauryn Hill style to it.
I’ve got videos coming out for both I Will Never Be and Do This For Me which is exciting and you can watch them both here.
Then I’ve got my own headline tour in October which I can’t wait for.
‘Lily’s new track Do This For Me is out now’
For more information follow Lily Moore on Facebook and Instagram
Photographer: Niklas Haze
