BTBS #1

As I often have too many words for an acceptable length of social media post, I thought I’d start a blog… and after an in-joke shared with my colleague, friend and punster Daisy Chute, I’ve decided to call it the BTBS Blog. BTS is an acronym for “Behind the Scenes”, and appears a lot in social media “content”. But we joked that a more accurate description would be “Behind the bull-shit”, i.e. BTBS. This title serves a few purposes… firstly I just love a play on words and a funny pun. Secondly, social media and the final product often doesn’t depict the real picture, either in terms of struggle, toil and effort, but also in terms of filters, sheens, angles and multiple takes. As my brother Ioan once wisely said, the trouble with social media is that it’s just a highlights reel, and you’re judging someone else’s final cut against your own behind the scenes. So I thought it would be both fun but also more real to share what goes into trying to carve out a career as an independent artist: the highs, the lows, the fun, the jokes, and just being the slightly silly goon that I am!

Having said all that, I’m actually going to start with a post to say thank you to 2018 and the things I had to be grateful for therein! I posted this on facebook last night, and have already been told it’s pretty long for a facebook post. It sure as hell won’t fit into a tweet, and nor does the picture fit my instagram colour code aesthetic, so I’m hoping a blog post is a more appropriate forum…

I just wanted to say a belated thank you for all my Birthday wishes on Christmas Eve, and a Happy New Year to everyone! I don't want to do one of those cheesy round-ups of 2018, because firstly I haven't won an Oscar, and secondly social media can be like a fake highlights reel, and life is never without its challenges, but I also feel it would be remiss not to thank everyone for their support, time and kindness in what was a very big year for me!

There were times I thought I'd never be able to release any music, and so releasing 2 original tracks, a music video, all the accompanying artwork and 2 covers into the world was a very big step, and thank you to all those who helped with the process, and who listened and shared and supported. I also enjoyed the challenging but rewarding job of curating and running The Acoustic Guitar Project - United Kingdom, including two amazing concerts at The Bedford, through which I've connected and worked with some incredible musicians, and am looking forward to this year's concert. And another big event in 2018 was founding HEARD Collective: a new collective to promote and support women in music with my friend and partner in crime Daisy Chute. In its first year, HEARD managed its first TV, radio and festival appearances, launch concert with an all-female line-up, live vinyl recording in NYC and we toured Poland and America, where we met too many wonderful people to name and thank! It's awesome to combine my passions of music and supporting and promoting equality and unity, and we're looking forward to lots more adventures as we expand HEARD this year! There were lots of other amazing moments (like playing with hero Neneh Cherry, meeting Denny Fongheiser and Kimberly Adamis and singing for The Sims) but this is already too long, so I'll just say...

There's lots more new music coming this year, and many more hills to climb, but I'm loving the journey, so thank you for joining me on it, in whatever big or small way; I appreciate it! x

so meta it hurts.

PS I love a meta pic, and the medium of two different screens and a filter forgives a thousand sins, so it's not just an excuse to put myself in the picture twice 😜😂 But more than anything, what this photo says to me is that I need a haircut.