Tara Lily

The First British Signing To Motown Records UK Peckham-Raised Tara Lily Has Earned Her Place At The Table With An Ambitious Fusion Of Jazz And R&B. “It’s A Hard Thing To Watch Happen To Your Own Area When You’re Not Someone Who Has Benefited ” She Says. Lily Has Lived In Peckham Her Entire Life Having Walked Only Ten Minutes From The Council Flat She Was Born And Raised In. Her Scottish Mother And Bangladeshi Father Ran Away Together From The Impossibility Of Their Opposing Worlds And Built Themselves A Life Where Diversity Was The Very Fabric Of Its Community. “Financially I’m One Of The People That Has Still Not Benefited. It’s Been A Strange Sad Thing To See. I Mean I’ve Seen Good Things Come From It – Obviously There Is More Of An Arts Community Culture Here Now But I Think That’s Going To Go ” She Says Matter-Of-Factly “because A Lot Of Those People Probably Won’t Be Able To Afford To Stay For Much Longer.” The First Thing You Should Know About Lily Is She Isn’t In The Business Of Serving Truths With A Spoonful Of Sugar Realities Are A Bitter Pill To Swallow And Facts Are Cold. It’s Easy To Forget She Is 22 Years Old When Her Air Of World-Weary Confidence Of Knowing Too Much Too Soon Belies Her Age. Her Agemates In Her Position As An Artist Signed To A Label On The Cusp Of Making Their First Definitive Statement Are Often Bewildered By Their Newfound Success That Feels Like A Result Of Chance Rather Than Calculation. But Not Tara Lily. When I Ask Her If She Feels A Pang Of Imposter Syndrome She Says Simply “No. I Feel Like I Deserve All Of It.” And It’s With Good Reason “I Think Some People Feel Like They Just Got Lucky But I’ve Not Really Got Lucky At All. I’ve Done The Work To Get To This Position.” What You’re Listening To Is The Final Incarnation Of A Sound Lily Has Been Shaping For Many Years. It’s Covered With The Fingerprints Of Circumstance And Birth Right From Growing Up In Peckham Born To Two Musicians From Contrasting Cultures To Immersing Herself In The Grime Scene As A Teenager And Then Stepping Out Alone To Cut Her Teeth In The Jazz World. It’s A Sound That Is Both Modern And Timeless. “It Has That Kind Of Feel To It Doesn’t It?” She Smiles. After The Meteoric Success Of Her Jammer-Produced Debut Single “Who Saw Who” Which Blended Traditional Jazz Standard Progressions Harmonies And Horns With Sharp Grime Beats And Double-Time Rhythms Lily Vanished For Three Years. She Disappeared First Of All To Become A Woman To Be Acquainted With Love And Loss And Second Of All Because She Lost Her Voice – In More Ways Than One. More Than An EP These Five Tracks She Has Plucked From Her Repertoire Are The Telling Of Her Own Coming-Of-Age Story. It Should Come As No Surprise That Lily Found Her Home With Motown Records UK With The Distinction Of Being Their First British Signee. She’s Come A Long Way From Being The Angry Young Girl Who Felt Like She Didn’t Belong. “I Feel Like I’ve Always Had To Work Harder Than Everyone Else Because I Don’t Have My Family To Fall Back On. I Don’t Have Anything To Fall Back On ” She Says. “I’ve Always Said That People Who Own Their Own Property Always Have A House To Depend On And I Don’t. That’s Always Been Something That Has Pushed Me To Make Sure That I Have My Own Career To Make Sure I Can Make My Own Money And Support Myself And My Family.” Everything She Does Is Underpinned By A Need To Survive And Overcome And It’s Reflected In Her Steely Uncompromising Gaze Down To Her Posture That Means She Never Shrinks - Always Asserts. Her Ambition For Her Music Is Of Course Global. She Wants Her Music To Take Her Places And She Leaves Very Little Doubt That This Isn’t A Wish But A Game Plan. Just Like The Nina Simone Records She Grew Up Exalting Tara Lily Doesn’t Want To Just Create Music But Theatre Aiming To Convey A Storm Of Feeling In A Matter Of Minutes. “I Want To Be Seen As A Credible Artist Who Makes Interesting Music That People Connect To ” She Says Simply. Weaving Through Her City Across Five Songs Spanning Almost Five Years Of Experience Tara Lily Was Once Lost But Now She Is Found. read less