FEATURE:
Spotlight
PHOTO CREDIT: Rankin
with her from this year, so I will dip back to last year when spotlighting and talking about Persia Holder. Her E.P., I Didn’t Think You’d Hear This, was released last July. I wanted to cover off a couple of interviews around the release of a marvellous debut E.P. There are only a couple I could find, so I will combine them. This is another artist I am spotlighting who is playing Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival. Here is some biography about one of brightest artists. There are so many talented musicians coming through. If she would not class herself as emerging, perhaps there is an argument that Persia Holder is not known to all. That will soon change: “With her blend of emotional pop and soulful storytelling, Persia Holder is part of a new wave of British artists redefining vulnerability. Her debut EP I Didn’t Think You’d Hear This introduced a voice both powerful and deeply human — one that turns late-night thoughts into anthems. Persia writes songs that hold space for heartbreak, self-growth and the quiet moments in between”. The first of two 2025 interviews I am sourcing is from Ticketmaster Discover. Persia Holder tells how her voice has always been like a protective mechanism. She has a truly extraordinary voice:
“The voice is singer-songwriter Persia Holder’s strongest instrument, and the piano the vehicle that carries it forward. So is her gift for sharing personal storms and emotional ‘Baggage’, as the title of her 2024 debut single goes, in poignant, key-laden narratives that hit home, regardless of what you’ve been through. Released in summer 2025, her first EP I Didn’t Think You’d Hear This assembles recent singles like ‘Echo’, a sweeping inner monologue of broken promises, in a patiently crafted, deeply expressive five-song portrait of an artist navigating the challenges of her 20s in choruses that effortlessly soar.
You’re quite open about having gone through your fair share of emotional challenges. How do you feel these have shaped your songwriting — are there any experiences or moments that you feel have defined you as an artist?
A 100%. Growing up with a single mum, a very strong female woman around me, I always felt like I could do anything I wanted to do and my mum would support that. I think seeing her raise two kids on her own gave me the strength to be like, “okay, I wanna do something that’s scary”, which is follow my dreams.
And also I tried to look at the challenges I faced — it’s a double edged sword cause, obviously, you don’t wanna go through stuff like that, but also it’s given me this gift of things to write about and to try and shape my stories in a way that make other people feel seen, which I think is one of the most beautiful things about music. You know when you hear a song and you think, “Oh my God, that’s captured exactly how I feel!”. I try and do that through my music. Not that all my struggles are relatable — not that everybody’s are, but I think there’s a way to craft that narrative where people feel like there’s a bit of their story in there.
Your music seems like an outlet and a form of healing. Was there a song that was particularly hard to write?
Yeah, I think actually my first release, “Baggage”. I really struggled in lockdown. For me, it was really tough mentally losing connection with people, losing the friendships that anchored me when I was struggling.
I wrote that song pretty soon after lockdown, just about how isolated we all felt in that time and how important it is to have someone in your corner that you can reach out to and unpack all your baggage with and it’ll be a safe place. I think it’s really easy to think everybody has that. To have someone who you feel safe enough to be open with and talk to about things that feel kinda scary. That song for me was super important, that came out first. It’s not just about love for me. It’s kind of framed in a romantic way but it’s really about connection and struggle. I wanted people to hear it and think about love, but also maybe hear that underlying message. That was, to me, such a great first song to put out into the world.
How difficult is it to find the right people to work on that kind of music especially, that is so vulnerable?
That’s a really good question. I’m very deep, I’m very emotional. I struggle with surface level, that’s why my songs are normally, you know, there’s always something at the core of them. I think my biggest problem has been finding people that I feel safe enough to even explore with. And it’s not something you can really predict. It’s really when you get into the room, you either feel that or you don’t. And that’s not to say you don’t have an amazing session or make a friend. There’s a specific feeling I get where I feel like I can really delve here, go down some deep holes and not feel judgement. I think that’s the main thing.
Cause if I write from a place of no fear, I think you hear that reflected in the writing. When you can relate, other people in the room can relate to me and I feel like I’m not alone here.
You sang to over 5000 people at the Royal Albert Hall last December. How was that experience, what were some of your highlights this year — and how do you plan to build on this and take things to the next level?
It was really funny, I got a call from my old manager at the time, and it was about three days away. He said you’re booked to support Jamie Cullum at the Albert Hall on Friday, for example, and it was like, a Wednesday! At that time I’d only ever played just me and keys — playing myself. So we got a keys player in and we had about an hour before to play together and rehearse. So it’s all super last minute but we ended up smashing it. The first time I could stand on stage, didn’t have to worry about the piano, just sing and get all the emotions out. It was absolutely incredible! It was one of those moments where you think, “This is why you do this”. To see all these faces… ‘Baggage’ had just come out in October, so it was very early on to my EP coming out and it felt like a great way to to honour that.
Getting support from BBC Introducing has been really huge this year. It was something that I’d always really hoped, to get played on the radio. As a Londoner born and raised, getting support from the team in London is just amazing. Playing this German festival, I had a couple of fans who had come to see me — I think, at this stage, you don’t always think many people whowould do that. That made me think that I can’t wait to keep growing this.
Next step is really solidifying my live set-up. I’ve now got a band for the first time, which is amazing, so it’s not just me and piano. It’s drums and track, guitar to try and really emulate the tracks a bit better. Cause not all the songs are super sad and ballady. Having a track and drums to bring the energy, so the set feels like it’s got dynamics. I think an EP two is the next step, for sure”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Rankin
I am going to finish off with HUNGER and their fantastic interview. Persia Holder discussed her then-new single, Echoes. The extraordinary singer-songwriter is “using her big voice to sing about the small stuff”. I would love to interview her one day, as I am really excited to see what comes next. If there is going to be an album or another E.P. Holder has one of those voices that moves you as soon as you hear it. Her music comes deep from her soul. I Didn’t Think You’d Hear This is a remarkable debut E.P. that you need to listen to:
“According to Persia Holder, life begins at the piano. A “chronic overthinker”, the twenty-four-year-old songwriter finds herself in front of the keys every time she needs to channel an emotion or musically exorcise an experience from her mind — which I’m told is very often. In fact, emotion is at the beginning and end of all her music. It’s a two-way street between the inspiration the south Londoner derives from the city around her and the way her sound travels back into the world. That, Holder tells me, is how she came to write her upcoming (and debut) EP, I didn’t think you’d hear this, which is slated for this July.
But Holder’s new single, ‘Echo’, is the reason we’ve caught up today — and one of many reasons why she’s quickly becoming one of London’s ones-to-watch in the music space. With a voice and musical taste reminiscent of early-2000s icons like J-Lo, Rihanna and Amerie, she delivers unapologetic, knife- to-the heart songs with hefty vocal runs (her song, ‘Don’t Wanna Take it Slow’, is a high-class diss track). It’s by using this big voice to sing about the small stuff that makes Holder in equal parts extraordinary and relatable.
Camille Bavera: I’ve heard you lock away emotions until they’re ready to become music. Would you say that’s true?
Persia Holder: When I was a kid, anytime I felt overwhelmed or upset, my mum would find me at the piano, singing for hours. I didn’t even realise I was processing anything, but that instinct to express myself through music was always there. It’s probably why I’m drawn to writing and performing songs that hold depth and lived experience. Now, as an adult, I’ve definitely noticed myself almost subconsciously storing moments away — my Notes app could tell a thousand stories. I’m a chronic overthinker, but there’s real magic in being able to alchemise pain into something beautiful. Sometimes I think I’ve moved on from something only to write a song and realise I hadn’t healed from it at all. That’s such a deeply human thing.
CB: Your music silently screams Rihanna, J Lo and other Y2K icons. Where do you pull from for musical inspiration?
PH: That’s such a compliment! I’ve always been drawn to artists like Rihanna, where emotion lives in every vocal run, every pause. I think that era of music, especially the early 2000s, gave us these big, emotional pop songs, and I definitely carry that in my own way. I love making music that feels like a memory you didn’t know you still held.
CB: What would you say is your favorite song on the EP?
PH: That’s a tough one, but I’d have to say ‘Don’t Wanna Take It Slow’. I was crushing hard on a guy who was actually one of my best friends, and on a drunken night out he said the classic line, “I think we should take things slow”. I literally ran to the bathroom, opened my Notes app, and wrote that down on the spot. I brought it into my next session the following week — no shame. It’s wild looking back now because that was three years ago, but I still know how universal that feeling is — the confusion, the waiting, wondering what someone actually wants from you. The lyrics are pretty much word for word. And yes, the guy definitely knows it’s about him [laughs]”.
Do go and follow Persia Holder. I do think that the next few years will be really big for her. I am new to Holder’s music, though I am instantly engrossed seduced. Reading interviews that she has conducted, I really need to see her live one day soon. When listening to her music, you know that Persia Holder is going to go…
A very long way.
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Follow Persia Holder
