PENNY, the Huddersfield singer, is described as having the voice of an angel on a comedown. Her debut single, a dreamy ballad called ’Sad Puppy’, certainly demonstrates her angelic credentials.
Speaking about the song, PENNY explains: “I wrote ‘Sad Puppy’ at a time when I’d finally realised I was worth more than how I’d been allowing people to treat me – a breakthrough moment. But I still felt so frustrated for ever allowing myself to be treated that way.”
She continues: “It’s all about allowing myself forgiveness after years of not knowing real self-love. I thought I wasn’t worthy of proper love, or respect, all because of the way I look. How absolutely crackers is that?! Not living up to what society classes as ‘attractive’ is sometimes hard work, but it’s not so bad after you realise it’s all a load of superficial, patriarchal bullshit, and you can be the sexy main character too.”
The song is produced by Will Serfass (aka WASSAILER). They met while PENNY was fangirling his previous band We Were Evergreen at Tramlines festival in Sheffield. “It’s a dream come true” says PENNY, “I went from fangirl to teammate, Will is still finding out all the weird stuff I used to do to go and watch them play live.”
23-year-old PENNY is Huddersfield born and bred, and fiercely proud of her hometown. She did make a slight detour via Bangor to study at the university (which counts Danny Boyle among its alumni). Her uni days were seminal for all the wrong reasons, and she found herself trapped in a toxic relationship that overshadowed her experience of being a student. “University was one of the hardest times I have endured,” she says, “I was in a mentally abusive relationship – and the town is very small, there’s no way to escape from yourself.” She does, however, take one positive from the whole experience: “It led to me writing these songs.”
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