Her debut album isn't out until the summer, but UK singer-songwriter Delilah has already collaborated with a ton of musicians and has a catalogue of almost 200 songs. By JIM CARROLL
ANYONE FOR another new UK singer with a fantastic voice and swoonsome tunes to go with it? Say howdy to Delilah (Paloma Stoeker to her family), whose soulful tunes (like Never Be Another One) and ability to effortlessly run the gamut of pop, dubstep and drum'n'bass have had folks wowing about her.
You come from a music industry family, don’t you?
“More the anti-music-industry music industry! My parents were involved in pirate radio stations and independent record labels and non-mainstream clubs and the live scene. It was very underground. This was the 1990s, and the live-music scene and the record industry were very separate industries then. My stepdad ran a label called Shakedown Sounds and was involved with a club called WKD in Camden, while my mum was involved with the Mobos.”
So it was always on the cards that you were going to get involved in music?
“I’d say it was more of a progression than a decision. Music was always playing in my house when I was growing up. I was always singing and tinkering around with a piano and making up songs. After my stepdad died in a car accident, I found I had a lot to say and didn’t know how to say it, and that’s when I started going into my own little bubble and writing proper songs. When something happens to you like that, you can suddenly relate a lot better to other people, and that’s when the songs came out.”
Atlantic Records signed you when you were 17. Did that big move or the label’s expectations phase you in any way?
“I suppose I am very level-headed, but I’m also a pessimist, which helps keep everything about expectations in check. I have such high expectations of everything and put so much pressure on myself so I’m already criticising everything I do before anyone else gets a look-in.
“I’ve been doing this for so long, or it feels like I’ve been doing it for so long, that I know what I’m capable of doing. I’ve been on the road and I’ve toured, so I know how that works and what to do. A lot of new artists don’t have that when they release their first record because they come straight out and are thrown in at the deep end. I feel comfortable onstage and with my music.”
You’ve worked with a ton of people already . . .
“My label suggested that I hook up with Chase Status and we went into the studio and wrote lots of songs together and I went on tour with them. I’ve also worked with Brendan Butler, Skream, Emeli Sandé, tons more. I’ve worked with pretty much everybody. I’d love to work with André 3000: he’s something of a musical genius and he has this amazing mystique about him, which I like.”
Tell us what we should expect from your debut album when it lands later this year.
"The songs that are out there already represent what's to come on the album, but there's a little bit more on both ends. There are more vulnerable tracks that are just acoustic, but there are also more deep, dark heavy ones like Breatheand more energetic, lighter ones to skip down the road to."
We hear there’s a load of tunes floating around with your name on them . . .
“My catalogue is almost 200 songs deep because I’ve been writing for so long already. I have so many songs I want to give to other artists because I think they will suit them. When I started writing, my voice was a lot younger-sounding and I was finding my sound, so I went through writing in a lot of different musical styles. Some of the songs are a lot more poppier than I am now.”
So you’re already thinking about the songwriter-for-hire route?
“Yes, I want to pitch them to artists, but my voice is on all of the songs at the moment and the label is really uptight about not sending them out until the album is out. But it’s definitely something I’ve thought about doing.
“When you’re old and grey and no one wants to watch you any more, your songs can still work for you.”
Delilah's debut album will be released this summer. Her 2-4am mixtape is available now for free download at delilahofficial.co.uk
