FEATURE:
Spotlight
Lily Williams released her debut album, How the Story Ends. Originally from London, she moved to Los Angeles. Her latest single, Learning Curve, was released on 18th October. I think that Williams is an artist that should be on everyone’s radar. I am going to come to some interviews with Williams. Maybe an artist you have not heard, I think that she is terrific. With elements of Dream Pop, Folk and a truly beautiful and captivating voice, you are drawn into her stories. Before continuing, here is some detail about the exceptional Lily Williams:
“Lily Williams is a singer and songwriter from London. She has been writing songs for over ten years and has enjoyed collaborating with many talented musicians from all around the world. She recently graduated from Berklee College of Music and has been releasing music for the past couple of years, influenced by the likes of Nina Nesbitt, JP Saxe, Bruno Major and Norah Jones. Lily spent the past year split between sessions in Norway and London, and has been mentored by the likes of Fred Ball, Emily Warren and Sarah Hudson. After a great year she has just moved to LA to continue pursuing her songwriting and artistry.
Last year, Lily Williams teamed up with Euan Allison to release “Lego Bricks” via Frequency Recordings, a tender ballad that has since amassed over 1 million streams on Spotify. Her music has been featured in a large number of Spotify editorial playlists, among them The Most Beautiful Songs in the World, Easy, NMF Deutschland, NMF Switzerland and more”.
I shall bring in a few interviews where Lily Williams discussed the extraordinary How the Story Ends. With a couple of singles out since the album was released earlier in the year, it is clear that she is looking ahead to the next chapter. I feel that How the Story Ends is one of the best and most impressive debut albums of this year. Hazze Media spoke with her about moving from the U.K. to U.S. and the differences between the two nations:
“How would you introduce yourself in one sentence?
I'm Lily. I feel very British in who I am. I think my British roots despite living in California plays a huge part in who I am. My heart feels like it's in England.
I read that you grew up outside London and came to study here. What was it like transitioning from England to America? Do you think the industry is different between the two places or even the type of audience?
I came straight from the UK to come to Berkeley in Boston to go to college. That was definitely a big transition. Also, I hadn't done a lot of music. I did classical music in school, so I'd played a lot of orchestras, but I really wasn't in the songwriting artist world very much. Going to Boston was really my first exposure to the industry. It was definitely scary and big but also it was just very exciting. That's where I discovered my passion, and my desire to really pursue music as a career. Just growing up, I had no idea whether it was possible and whether I would do it or not. I just loved music in every form. I was really exposed to the industry once I moved to the US and then even more moving to LA.
Do you like music culture in the US or would you rather later on in life go back to the UK to pursue music?
I honestly love living here. California is just such a beautiful place to live, except for the rain, which we've been having for three months straight now. It reminds me too much of England. I feel very grateful to live here. I do love London as a city. It just trumps LA every time. Maybe in the future I could see myself moving back to London. No plans to move back yet, but in the future it's definitely something that could be on my mind.
Who is your biggest inspiration? Are there any artists you would love to collaborate with?
My dad loved The Beach Boys growing up, so I loved their songwriting. Then, I loved writers like Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, and Randy Newman. Honestly, Randy Newman is one of my biggest inspirations in terms of the way that I write. Right now, I'm listening to Layvey all the time. I'm just obsessed with everything she does. Collaborating with her would be so fun. Her artistry is beautiful, and I love what she creates. She's definitely someone that I look up to and inspired by.
You were recently signed to Overall/Atlantic Records. How has that journey been? Did you expect that? Has it changed the way you create your music?
Honestly, it really came out of the blue. I'd been out in LA for about a year and 10 months when that happened. Pursuing music is such an up and down journey. I have had meetings with labels and different A&Rs and publishers before. I learned you can't really expect anything. You just gotta go see what happens. When we had our first meetings, I really had no expectations. As things just kept moving forward, it just felt like the door opened at the perfect time. I'm just really grateful that I got that opportunity. I really couldn't have imagined that would've happened. I don't think it's changed the way I create. They're really great in giving me a lot of creative freedom. I pretty much had this whole project, “How the Story Ends”. When we signed, it was almost done. Moving into what's coming next, I'm excited to see how the relationship develops and figure out what project is coming next.
Recently, I’ve been searching for new music to listen to. I listened to the whole project, How the Story Ends. I love all of it. It’s totally what I listen to. What was the creative process for this project?
It was a really crazy process because when I began, I was still living in England. I had moved back to England because of COVID. I began really just writing songs and having no idea that some of those would end up on like this 10 song project. I think I kind of just wanted to release a small EP. As time went on, I hit a lot of obstacles. I moved out to LA, and things were moving really slowly with the EP. I was frustrated. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because in 2022, at the beginning of the year, one of my songs, “I Hope You Think of Me”, kind of had a moment on TikTok. That's what really brought my audience to me. That's what spiraled us into our first release. The project to me feels like it is one story. It's really cohesive but the process was not really well planned out. It was very like changing and moving. Honestly, I just felt like I had to really go with the flow. When we wrote “How the Story Ends”, the title track is really telling the whole project. It's just a kind of serendipity. It just came together perfectly”.
EUPHORIA. featured Lily Williams in March. Heralding the debut of one of the finest lyricists around, it is clear that storytelling is key to her. Painting pictures and writing these incredibly evocative and powerful songs for the listeners. Even though there are a lot of artists in the Singer-Songwriter and Folk genres, Williams definitely stands aside and distinguishes herself:
“If people read one question from this interview, let it be this. Tell me about your album How The Story Ends. What’s the story behind it? Why listen?
My gosh, so it’s actually been a two-year process. When I started it we were still in COVID, and the first songs I wrote came during that time of uncertainty. Along the way, there had just been a lot of setbacks, which at the time were frustrating. This was originally meant to be a four-song project that was going to come out, but then due to delays and different things happening, things were actually a blessing in disguise.
In 2021, I started posting my music on TikTok and my listeners found me and the song “I Hope You Think Of Me”, which then basically started this whole project of How The Story Ends. It really began to unfurl and it all just came together. I’m so grateful for my listeners because they actually shaped this project into what it is today, and so many more songs were added because it had been so much time since I started writing it. So now it’s a ten-song project, but it’s one story, which is what I love. And even though it was a very chaotic and stressful process, it’s been so cool to see how cohesive it is, how much I just really believe it to be one story, and that the timing is perfect. It’s really cool how it all just worked out.
If we put all songs you’ve ever written into a single room. what do you think How The Story Ends would tell your older music?
I almost feel like it’s like an older sister of the stuff I used to release, and I feel as a person, that I’ve grown. There’s that TikTok trend at the moment of having that little girl still living inside you–the one with the photo of you when you were younger–and I’m so grateful for the people I get to work with and the music I get to create. I think it just shows how much I’ve grown since then. And I think I would have my song “How The Story Ends” tell my younger songs, ‘look where we got to.’ I feel that the core element of who my older songs are is still inside How The Story Ends. I don’t think the core personality has changed, but it’s evolved. There’s more collaboration and more depth to the production and to the overall feeling of the song.
The single “How The Story Ends” came alongside a video. I thought it was super cute and super creative, similar to a romance movie, so I want to touch on that. What was the process of creating the video like? How does it visually aid what you aim to communicate in the song?
Yes! I loved creating the video! I got to go back to Boston where I met my husband. We went to Berklee, we had actually met there, and I hadn’t been back since I left school. And going back, I feel like it gave the whole project this nostalgic feeling. Probably just because I’m such a nostalgic person, honestly. It, to me, has this nostalgic emotion to it and I felt like the whole project had an East Coast vibe.
I also feel like the train played such a big role in the songs. And growing up in England, we were on the train all the time. It’s where I would think and look out the window. There’s a really big line in “When All the Love Is Gone” which is talking about love: “Where did all the love go? / Is it sat on the orange line staring blankly out the window?” So I wanted this video to be in Boston with the orange line playing a huge part. And also we wanted to create the idea of alternate endings. The song “How The Story Ends” does end in heartbreak, but the very last line of the song is, “I don’t regret how the story ends.” So we wanted to create with the video this feeling of, “oh, did they really break up? Or is there, like, some hope at the end?” So the very last scene of the video creates this mystery Was that all in her head? Was she making it up? I wanted the listener to feel like they had some say in that.
Love that! I also think vulnerability is a really big takeaway thematically from your recent releases. What is the most important thing that you’ve learned on your own journey toward finding a voice amidst being so raw and vulnerable? How had vulnerability given you power?
Oh my gosh, I think vulnerability just gives you so much power in life in general. Being able to share your story with your friends just lets you know that you’re not alone. And that’s something that I’ve seen with posting my music online too, especially with the heartbreak. “What If I Still Miss You?” has a line about crying in CVS, and the cool thing was that so many people started commenting, ‘Oh my gosh, I cried so many times in a CVS parking lot too!’ There’s just solidarity in sharing your most vulnerable and hardest moments with people, and you just realize we’re all human. And actually the more vulnerable you are, the more people will connect to your music because they feel that it’s true and authentic. I think vulnerability brings you a lot of power in your life and it just frees you.
Totally agree! So when you think about the album, how do you hope it makes people feel? What do you want them to take away once they’re done listening?
I really wanted it to tell one story. I love reading, I love the highs and lows, and the journey it takes you on. I wanted it to feel like a book, and to feel like you start with the crush and then the falling madly in love, and then the ending. The project does end with heartbreak as I said, but the last two songs, I think they provide a glimmer of hope. I don’t want people to leave just feeling utterly heartbroken. I more want people to feel like they just experienced this whole love story. Even if things end in heartbreak, there is still a little good left to find and hope in the hardest situations”.
There are a couple of other interviews I want to highlight before wrapping up. Unclear Mag put her in the spotlight earlier in the year. Soothing and dreamy, Lily Williams’s music can score a film. Maybe a hazy summer flick or a coming-of-age flick. It has that potent quality that seeps into the skin and stays in the head. Williams is definitely one of our best young songwriters:
“Who inspires you the most to songwrite?
Lily: “This is such a hard question because there are so many people! However if I had to just pick one person I'd have to say myself!!! At the end of the day, I started writing as a way of processing hard and beautiful things that happened in my life. And I think that even if no one else ever listened to one of my songs again, I would still be songwriting for myself (and for my mum, so maybe it's her!).”
Do you have a favorite song/lyric you’ve written so far? Why?
Lily: “I feel like this changes all the time! In ‘A Little Good Left’ the last line says, ‘If you're still feeling, there's some type of meaning, in these days that number life. And I'm convinced there's still a little good left to find.’ I wrote this song in the middle of a Covid lockdown, I was feeling so hopeless and stuck. This song reminds me that no matter what, there is always a reason to keep going and a little good left to find!”
Are you planning anything else for yourself this year? Touring?
Lily: “I'm so excited about working on my next project! I'm also looking forward to performing more and hopefully at some point doing an opening run for someone on tour!”
Life outside of music is surely different, what does yours look like?
Lily: “I live a little outside of LA, in Huntington Beach! My husband is a worship pastor so we spend a lot of time at church (first ones in, last ones out type of deal) which I honestly love! We have such amazing friends and love hosting people for dinner (where I do none of the cooking aha), going to the beach (all year round), grabbing coffee, and I am obsessed with reading! Being born and raised in London, I love the weather here, so when I'm not working you will probably find me somewhere laying in the sun!”
Is there any advice you would give to young artists up and coming?
Lily: “My main advice would be to keep going! Pursuing a creative career isn't always easy, and honestly there were so many times that I felt like giving up. But I truly believe that if you keep going and keep working hard the right door will open at the right time”.
I am going to finish with The Luna Collective and their interview. Published this month, the interview revolves around a recent single, Things That Fall. It is a tender and personal song that talks about the pains and ups of love. The vulnerabilities and realities. It is one that resonates with a lot of different people. Lily Williams has that innate ability to open her heart through song, in addition to discussing universal truths. How there is fragility in things that seem so pure and powerful:
“GRAVITY MAKES FALLING INEVITABLE — and on her latest single, “Things That Fall,” Lily Williams sings about love being just as grasping.
The British-born, Southern California–based singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist wrote “Things That Fall” with Dan Gleyzer. Among the various images within the song, audiences fall for a joke and the sun falls into the sky at the end of the day, both of which act as brilliant metaphors describing what it means to fall in love. The music video, directed by Lisa Morel, places Williams in a tranquil domestic environment as she hangs up laundry in sunlight. It’s utopian, reinforcing the dreaminess of the track itself.
At the same time, a great strength in Williams’ songwriting is her honesty about both the pleasures and the pains of romantic love. In “Things That Fall,” she introduces a flash of uncertainty in the final verse: “If you break my heart then we’ll fall apart / And it all ends too soon / Still none fell as hard as I did for you.”
While the song is sonically reminiscent of a perfect dream world, Williams creates space for a whole representation of relationships. Still, her songwriting has a promising quality that can bring belief to any reverie.
“I hope this song reminds you of late summer, new beginnings, novels, sunsets, and falling in love,” Williams says.
Luna chatted with Williams about the new track, how literature inspires her, and what it was like to film the music video. Read the interview below.
PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Barajas
LUNA: How are you feeling about the release of “Things That Fall”?
WILLIAMS: I’m so excited. This is sort of the beginning of a new chapter and it’s the start of getting ready for the next project. It was really cool to turn the page and start something new. I’m just so excited for all the songs I’ve been writing. [“Things That Fall”] really feels like the start of that.
LUNA: “I Hope You Think Of Me” was a viral moment. Now, after having released your album How The Story Ends, do you feel that the experience of that viral moment informed your songwriting in any way going forward?
WILLIAMS: It definitely did, especially in that first project, [How The Story Ends], because “I Hope You Think Of Me” was just something I wrote on the piano one day. [I] posted it on TikTok and it had this viral reaction, but [the song] wasn’t even planned to be part of the first project. Obviously it informed that whole project and … moving forward, I [thought] about what my fans connect to and what the people that listen to my music love and connect to. Seeing what resonates definitely informs some of what I do now. But mostly, I think what that moment did is it made me more confident to trust my gut and to release the things that I love. I loved [“Things That Fall”] from the moment I wrote [it]. I guess it helped me … really trust my vision and go for it.
LUNA: Also on social media, you shared a poem from Pinterest that inspired your new release. Morgan Harper Nichols’ writing also inspired your song “July (Later On).” Do you often seek inspiration in literature?
WILLIAMS: All the time, and I definitely always try to make sure the authors are credited. Someone commented on “Things That Fall”: “I love when art inspires art.” I thought that was such a beautiful way to put it because it’s so true. Art inspires me all the time. Even when I’m on TikTok and I see a beautiful, cinematic video [that has] nothing really to do with songwriting … it could inspire a song in me. Or when I’m on Pinterest reading quotes, or when I’m reading fiction. I’m always absorbing. It definitely inspires what I write and how I write.
Seeing that poem on Pinterest, I immediately was like, “That’s how I feel, and it would be such a good song.” As soon as I saw that, I was making my own list of things that fall and thinking about the song after I saw it.
LUNA: There’s definitely a unique filter that artists have when looking at the world. They pick up on things that other people don’t store the same way in their minds.
WILLIAMS: I agree. Even when I hear conversations, I’m like, “That would be such a good lyric.” It inspires my mind to start thinking of a concept, and I love that. I love just using things that come up in my real life as inspiration for my music.
LUNA: I love the lyric “It’s funny how the city lights make you fall for a dream.” There’s inspiration there again, but this time in one’s environment, rather than in literature. I know certain places have informed your songwriting, like Boston, where you studied and met your husband. Do you often find yourself in a moment of inspiration where you pause to note down some images for your writing? Or are you first present, then reflect later?
WILLIAMS: I try to be present, but I’m always taking photos. I’m a very nostalgic person so I’m always looking [at the photos] when I’m sitting by myself or I’m traveling. I look back and think about the memories. I think having those images in my mind, and taking so many pictures solidifies all those little images that I have.
I love that line, too. And it actually makes me think of Boston and also of LA, because when I first moved out [to LA], you meet everyone chasing a dream, which is beautiful and scary. But it’s the city of dreams — it’s where everyone comes to pursue their dreams. So I love that line, too. I’m really glad it stuck out to you.
PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Barajas
LUNA: The music video for “Things That Fall” was filmed at Kindred Spirits Care Farm in California, which creates a serene atmosphere in the video. What was the filming experience like?
WILLIAMS: Oh my gosh, it was so cute (laughs). Initially I had thought of laundry. I had [on] Pinterest [saved pictures of] shadows, the image of laundry falling off the line, or the image of the sun falling into the sky. That was kind of my vision — it was just going to be sort of simple. Then Lisa Morel and the amazing team that made the video scouted the location and saw the little lambs, the horse, and the train tracks. It was such a dreamy place, so they were like, “Whatever you’re comfortable with, but we would love to film you with the lambs and the horses to create this world of falling in love.” It was just so cute.
The most interesting moment was when I was walking with the horses and they were getting a little close. One of the horses sneezed all over me, and black stuff came out of its nostrils! [I was in a] white dress and I was so scared, but we got the shot so it was worth it. I’m not too much of a farm girl, but it all worked out fine!”.
If you are new to Lily Williams then go and listen to her music. I am not sure where you can get a physical copy of How the Story Ends. It is an album that would sound incredible on vinyl - so I hope that it does come to that format soon. In any case, the U.K.-born, U.S.-based artist is one that warrants a huge audience. With Learning Curve out there, it shows the consistency of a fabulous young artist. Things will only get better for her from here! It will be exciting what next year holds in store. Even though she is based in the U.S., here music belongs…
TO everyone.
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