South London musician Lia Rye has had her heart in song writing from an early age. Her beginnings in music came from competition with her classmates at the age of eight. “Someone in my class had written a song, and I thought, ‘I could do that as well!’- so it was kind of a selfish thing!”, she recalled in humility. Selfish or not, that friendly competition has snowballed into a full-blown musical passion for Lia, allowing her to explore alternative pop and rock with her own unique twist.
Her upcoming EP Fever Dream is composed of songs from Lia’s youth, some of which, such as her single Novacaine, were written when she was only 12 years old. “Displaying what I wrote at that age shows that anyone can do stuff from a young age”, she told us. Lia seems to be living proof of this sentiment, as her song writing style at twelve is indistinguishable from that of an adult. Fever Dream acts as an end of a youthful chapter for Lia; she told us that “I wanted to put those songs into the world and move on from that section of my life. If I kept those songs, I would’ve been sad that I didn’t get to share them. If I thought back to when I was younger, I would’ve wanted them to be shared. I guess it’s kind of cathartic in a way.”
Pursuing music from such a young age meant that Lia could adopt a carefree attitude with her music and get out of her own way, allowing the music to flow out of her indiscriminately. Speaking on her creative process as a young teen, she emphasised that “I never really thought of specific influences – I was twelve, fourteen – It just kind of happened.” Lia shares a detached relationship with her younger self’s songs, joking that “I guess I was probably sad back then. Obviously, I don’t know what I was going through. What kind of problems could I have back then!?” Even if Lia can’t pinpoint where her sadness in her older songs manifested, it’s clear that they are rich in emotion and nuance. Speaking about her single Novacaine, Lia told us that “I envisioned this story of someone running away and having to deal with being on the streets and feeling unsafe. I came up with that narrative from the first line. After I write my songs, I kind of think ‘this reflects something within me’, but at the moment I won’t realise that.”
Since Lia has been writing songs for so long, it’s no surprise that she is very exacting with her lyrics. “I really think of what words I want to use to convey a certain narrative” she told us, “The last line of each verse, and the last line of each chorus – I could spend forever thinking about them. Those last lines sum up everything I need to say.” Lia’s love for writing shows in the fact that her songs are sometimes years in the making; speaking on her upcoming single Habits, she expanded that “I initially wrote the song when I was fourteen. Originally, I thought of the story from a bad person’s perspective, and I was trying to make excuses for their behaviour. As I grew, I reworked the song because sometimes people really don’t change. That’s why I added into the bridge: ‘I’ll never be what you want me to be’. It’s from a naïve perspective.”
Be sure to keep an eye out Lia Rye’s single Habits, out on streaming platforms now.
- Written By: Sam Murphy
- Email: stmurphywriter@gmail.com
- Instagram: @s.murfy
