FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Asha Banks

FEATURE:

Spotlight: Revisited

Asha Banks

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I am…

PHOTO CREDIT: Kyle Galvin

revisiting artists that I spotlighted last year. At first, I am hearing the buzz and seeing the potential and then, soon enough, they start to explode and began known more widely. That is the case with British artist, Asha Banks. She released her E.P., How Real Was It?, last November. She has released a string of singles since then and has some international tour dates ahead. Included in her diary are some huge dates in the U.S. I am re-exploring Asha Banks because she is one of our most promising and talked-about young artists. She is also an accomplished and prolific actress. I am starting out with All the Things Music and their interview with Asha Banks. They spoke with the Hertfordshire-born artist about her new E.P. It is a phenomenal work:

“Asha Banks has spent years captivating audiences on screen, but now, she’s letting the music take center stage. With the release of How Real Was It? on November 14 via Island Records, the British singer-songwriter leans into raw emotion and intimate storytelling, highlighted by tracks like “Rerun” and “Mascara Tears.” While many recognize her from Prime Video’s My Fault: London and Netflix’s A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, music has long been her creative anchor.

For Asha, music functions as a kind of emotional release, something deeply personal, yet meant to be shared. When asked which lyric felt the most brave to put out into the world, one song stood above the rest. “The whole of the song Delay felt really honest and sort of everything was very much on the surface. Even the process of writing that—it was my first time writing with Taylor and Mason, who I co-wrote it with, and who are amazing. I was already nervous to be writing with them because I love everything that they've worked on. I think they're so talented. And then that song had been brewing inside of me, and it was one of the days that I just needed to write it. I remember feeling nervous and a bit scared in the room, so I tried to hold on to that feeling and realized that that means it’s probably a good one, and something I should be brave enough to write down, get out of my brain and my mouth, put onto paper, and release to other people. It’s been very nice, and I think people have connected to it in a way that I really hoped they would.”

That vulnerability is closely tied to Asha’s experience as an actress. After years of stepping into other people’s lives, music has become a way for her to reconnect with her own. “I've learned so much about myself through the music that I make and through kind of, you know, the forcing myself to dive deeper and to really think about everything that's happening and know my own brain,” she says”.

Even though this GLASS interview was published in March, they say how Asha Banks is talking about her upcoming E.P., How Real Was It? That came out last year, so I am not sure if there was some confusion or if the interview was republished or what happened. In any case, I did want to highlight it here:

“The EP explores emotional distance – how she once felt in past friendships, relationships and breakups. “It’s a more detailed picture of those situations but in a nostalgic way,” she explains, expanding on how truth, time and connection have shifted her perspective. “Time impacts everything. Every day, you learn something new and it changes how you see the past,” she continues.

“I’ve had a tendency to over-catastrophise, to remember things as worse than they were. But in the same breath, I sometimes remember things as being better than they were. Also, I’m 21 and a lot of what I’ve been through happened when I was really young. Being able to look back now with a slightly more mature outlook is interesting, though I’m still growing.”

So what really compels Banks to write? “I guess it’s the emotions I’m feeling, whether it’s the humongous love I have for writing songs and the euphoria it brings me, or just the need to write one,” she says. “I love film and TV, and I read, but I just listen to absurd amounts of music. My headphones hate me,” she laughs again.

Banks hopes listeners find their own truths in her songs and lyrics. “Being a songwriter means I’m a storyteller and I just hope people can relate,” she says. As for where her songs begin – “It depends on the day,” she muses. “Sometimes I go into a session and there’s something happening right then that I need to write about. Sometimes I come in with lyric ideas I’ve stored on my phone.”

Her upcoming EP marks a new chapter in her artistic evolution. “Untie My Tongue marked the beginning and also the start of me working with Josh Bruce-Williams, my co-writer and producer on many of the tracks,” she says. “This second EP is our next chapter. We’ve learned more about each other and how we work. It’s a development in everything – my sound, our process – but it’s still in the same world. I’m not switching lanes, I’m just growing within the space I’ve already occupied.”

With new projects, a headline show and international tour dates ahead, the coming months are packed. “I’ll keep writing songs while I’m in LA, but I also start filming the third My Fault: London movie very soon,” she tells me as our conversation winds down. “I hope things can keep going the way they are – I feel very grateful and blessed to be doing what I love”

This is an artist that is so grounded and humble. As we discover from Absolutely Magazine from earlier in the year, Asha Banks still lives in St Albans. Where she grew up, she maintains this connection with family and many of the friends that she has had for years. I do wonder what else is coming from Banks this year.

“You’ve carved out a unique space between acting and music – how has your creative process evolved since your debut EP, Untie My Tongue, to your latest How Real Was It?

To be honest a lot of the music was written not that far apart from each other. So the writing felt like such a continuation, but just with a more reflective outlook on a lot of the same situations! It was more so just everything else being the second time around. You know, the second time finishing a project and understanding that more, the second time thinking about the creative and visual parts of an EP and executing that. I felt more in the know the second time around which was nice!

Signing with Island Records in 2025 must have been a milestone – how did that feel?

Very crazy! I feel like signing a record deal is one of those things that growing up always felt like a far far away surreal concept. One that I’ve always known of but truly never the details. So going into signing with Island was very exciting. A lot of learning and big conversations, but very inspiring. I’d just come off stage at Hyde Park BST supporting Noah Kahan when I signed my deal so that definitely added to the dream of it all!

Are there other artists you’d love to collaborate with in 2026 or beyond?

Yes, 100%! My three that I always say are Bon Iver, Novo Amor and The 1975. These are dream ones of course. I love so many artists and the idea of collaborating only excites me so I’d love to do more.

You’ve been gearing up for live performances around your music – how have audiences reacted to the new material on tour?

So well! It’s so surreal going from writing music in a room with one other person to playing them live to a room of people – and them singing back! It’s so wild to me and definitely something I’m still getting used to. But it’s starting to influence my writing too. There’s an awareness now when in the studio about what it will be like live and how different songs will connect in different ways.

What are some creative goals you’ve set for yourself in 2026 – musically or otherwise?

Definitely to collaborate with another of my favourite artists. And to just write better music than I have before. To keep on saying the scary things and go with my gut!

Finally, are you still living in St Albans?

I am! I feel so lucky to live in St Albans – it’s always so comforting to come back here after being away and just breathe out”.

I am going to finish with Pop Dust and their brief conversation with Asha Banks. They spoke with her when she was in Los Angeles. She talked about her recent E.P. and her acting career. I do think that Banks will be a headline-worthy artist very soon. How she will command the biggest stages at the most prominent and respected music festivals:

“What was your experience like putting together this EP?

It was so much fun! I feel like I love telling a story and finding the cohesion throughout the tracks and figuring out how they all link. And even sonically, it was such a dream. I think putting out one song is one thing, but a full EP just scratched every itch that I had.

You recorded a a duet version of “Dive” with Holly Humberstone. Did you do you know her beforehand

Well I’ve been a massive fan of Holly for years. I think she’s amazing and is somebody that I’ve always looked up to. And her song “Dive” was in the credits of a film I did called My Fault London. I put “Dive” on my story whilst we were making the film. The editor saw it, and was like that would be an amazing song for the credits. So sort of that crazy thing happened, and then I ended up in a songwriting session with her. She’s so amazing and just as lovely as I hoped she’d be. She ended up asking if I wanted to do this collab version of “Dive” with her which was so special, both because I love her, and because it was in the film that I was in.

Did your acting and singing interest happen simultaneously as a kid, or were you into one or the other first?

It was definitely always simultaneous for me. I think when I was a kid, I just loved both acting and music, and they’ve always coexisted for me. So yeah, I’m just trying to keep on doing that, and have my cake and eat it.

I really love your production. It’s very like organic, kind of reminds me like Nick Drake or something. Why did you pick that direction versus a big splashy pop sound?

It’s so much down to taste and down to what I love listening to. And I think that for me, emotion is the thing that always just wins me over. I don’t know what it is about an acoustic guitar that sort of sounds a bit jangly and out of tune, or a double bass instead of a regular bass. And my producer, Josh Bruce Williams, whom I worked with on this EP, feels the same way as me.

What do you miss about theater that you can’t get in TV, movies, and music videos?

Oh I mean I love theater so much. There’s just such an adrenaline into doing something live that I guess you don’t get when you’re filming something. And I also love being able to do a full show one night and then come back and do it the next night and kind of be able to improve or change something. I guess when you’re filming something, it’s all very much immediate. But I kind of get to do that with live shows as a musical artist.

Do you enjoy touring?

mean I just did four shows in North America, and that was my first taste of tour. I think that was something that I absolutely loved— each day feeling a different energy and being able to play a slightly different show than the one the night before”.

Anyone who has not yet allowed and discovered Asha Banks, I would urge them to correct that. I am looking forward to what comes next, as she has put out some amazing E.P.s and singles. The more she tours, the more confident and distinct her music becomes. She is definitely producing music that is pure and true to her. Not an artist trying to copy someone else. It is clear that Asha Banks will…