Phoenix Laoutaris makes her return with About You, 5 years after releasing her debut single, Flowers. The British R&B and Neo-soul artist was exposed to broad exposure to music from an early age. Raised by a classical violinist mother and multi-instrumentalist father, she was immersed in Latin, African and classical music, shaping her resistance to being defined by one genre. She describes this era of her life as more about permission than reinvention. 

The track Flowers brought early attention and earned praise from CLASH and BBC Radio back in 2021. Rather than allowing that early success to define her, Phoenix spent the following years understanding herself and developing a sound that reflects her own artistic instincts rather than other people’s expectations.  About You is the result of that journey, offering a smooth, alluring horn- and saxophone-heavy R&B track that captures the sweet feeling of falling in love with someone who feels like home. It marks the start of a new chapter for the artist – playful, instinctive and less overthought, she states, “the song seemed to know what it wanted to be and I had to get out of its way”.  

In our 18 Questions conversation, she speaks about growing up in Totnes, being the youngest of seven siblings, riding Lime bikes around London and learning to let go. 

What’s the first thing you usually do when you wake up in the morning?

The first thing I do is feed my cats (I have two of them, Arya and Shiloh), have my morning smoothie, do some yoga, smoke a cigarette and get in the shower. In that exact order.

What has been occupying your brain outside of music?

My family, honestly. My sister just had a baby and I have twin nieces alongside two other nieces and a nephew, so I am basically a full-time auntie and that occupies my brain more than I’d like to admit. Beyond that I’ve been getting quite into holistic things, herbal remedies, trying to be a bit more intentional about what I put into my body and my mind.

Do you trust your instincts or do you just move fast enough that you don’t have to question them?

I trust my instincts. I’m actually quite indecisive so I don’t think I move fast enough to avoid questioning things, but my instincts tend to be right when I do follow them.

What is something you’ve realised you just don’t care about anymore?

I’m one of those people who genuinely doesn’t give a fk, but also gives too many fks at the same time. What I am getting better at is letting things go in the moment. We got into a situation on holiday recently that had everyone around me spiralling and I was just standing there like, this is fine, this is just how most good stories start. So I suppose I’m learning to trust that things tend to work out, even when they look like they won’t.

Do you feel like you’re building something or just reacting to whatever’s in front of you?

Both, honestly. I feel like I’m building something, especially now. But I also react to what’s in front of me, and I’ve started to realise that those two things aren’t always opposites. Sometimes what’s right in front of you is exactly the thing you needed to build with.

What kind of energy do you feed off in a room?

I like people who are inquisitive. I like rooms full of questions. I can’t stand walking into a space where someone thinks they already know what’s going on, because none of us really know what’s going on. We’re living on a burning rock in the middle of the abyss. A little curiosity goes a long way.

When does a song feel finished to you, if it ever does?

Probably never, if I’m honest. I’m always wanting to add things, but when you add too much you take away from what it was in the first place. I think art is never really finished. It takes on a new life depending on who’s listening to it. But there comes a point where you have to accept it for what it is and put it out before you pick it apart completely.

What’s the last thing that genuinely surprised you?

Honestly, something surprises me every single day. The fact that I can just post something and people on the other side of the world see it instantly, or that we’re having this conversation right now through a screen, that still gets me. Technology moves so fast and I don’t think we stop enough to appreciate how genuinely wild that is. But if I had to pick one thing right now, it’s my sister growing an entire human being inside of her. She’s just had a baby and every time I think about it I’m like, how does that happen? It genuinely surprises me every time.

You’ve said this feels like the closest you’ve come to making music that feels completely like you. What would today’s Phoenix say to the version of herself that released Flowers, and what would she thank her for?

I wouldn’t say anything that would change what happened, because everything is panning out how it’s meant to. But I think back then I was really adhering to what other people wanted. Flowers did well and everyone was like, this is your sound now, this is what you do. And I just thought, no. I can flirt with any genre I want. So I’d probably just thank her for not fully giving in, because even when I was making music that felt like a stepping stone rather than the destination, there was always something underneath that knew what it was really trying to say.

You’re the youngest of seven siblings. What’s one personality trait that comes directly from growing up in such a big family?

I’ve always said that each of my siblings has their own individual personality and I’m basically all of them in one person. But I think what it really gave me is that I’ve had to be loud just to be heard, which sounds simple but it’s shaped everything about how I communicate. And people always come to me for advice, which is strange because my siblings have lived so much more than me. But I think growing up watching all of them, I’ve somehow lived all of their lives at the same time. I know what I don’t want to do because I’ve already seen how those stories end.

If someone spent their first day with you in London, where would you take them and why?

I’d get them on a Lime bike first. I put everyone on a bike. Then I’d take them down to the Thames, to the spot near where I live, because there’s a church about five minutes from my house where my mum and dad got married and my whole family got christened, except me because I got christened on a beach. I’d take them there, point at the church, point at the river, and let the conversation go wherever it went. The best conversations I’ve ever had have been by water.

If someone wanted to understand who Phoenix is without listening to your music, what would you tell them to experience instead?

Honestly? I’m not sure even my music fully captures it yet. One day I’ll make something so specific and so completely me that people will listen and just get it without needing to be around me. But until then, I think you’d just have to spend some time with me. I don’t know how else to explain it.

Growing up with a classical violinist mother and a multi-instrumentalist father, what part of that upbringing shaped you most as an artist?

Just the exposure. There was always music in the house, and it was never just one thing. Latin music, African music, classical, everything. I think it made me genuinely open in a way that not everyone is. I’m not precious about genre because I was never taught to be. At the same time, I’m now trying to hone in on a specific sound, which is its own kind of challenge when you’ve grown up loving everything.

You describe About You as playful and not overthinking itself. Was learning to trust your first instinct something that happened gradually, or was there a moment when something clicked?

It kind of just happened. There’s always a version of me that starts overthinking, and when that happens nothing really gets created. With About You it was more like the song knew what it wanted to be and I just had to get out of the way. It came together in this really unexpected way and suddenly everything felt right. That feeling of things clicking into place, that’s actually what the song is about.

You describe this era as feeling more like permission than reinvention. What’s something you’re finally giving yourself permission to do as an artist?

Permission to fully commit to the music I have always loved, without trying to fit it into someone else’s idea of what I should be doing. Being in America, being in that environment, something just opened up. Everything I had absorbed over the years finally started coming out as something that felt completely like me. Miles Davis said it best: “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.” I think I’m finally getting there.

You grew up in Totnes before moving to London. When you need to feel grounded, which place feels more like home?

I’m genuinely torn. My friends from London think I’m a country person and my friends from the countryside think I’m a city girl, which probably means the truth is somewhere in between. London keeps me sharp and in work mode. But when I go back to Totnes there’s something that just settles. A big part of who I am, the caring side, the slower pace of thought, that comes from growing up there. So if you asked me where I go to feel grounded, it’s probably the countryside. Even if going back sometimes makes me grateful I got out.

You started writing songs at 14 to process difficult emotions. If 14-year-old Phoenix heard About You, what do you think she’d recognise in it?

I think she’d think it was sick, first of all. But I think what she’d recognise is that passion that runs through everything I write, that need to say something real. What would surprise her is that it’s upbeat. Everything I wrote at 14 was quite sad and lonely. About You feels like things coming together rather than falling apart. She’d recognise the feeling of liking someone and not knowing if they like you back, that’s timeless. But I think she’d also see how much I’ve grown, and honestly I think she’d be relieved.

Oh, and I think it’s worth mentioning that I came out to my mum at 14, over a hot chocolate after my dyslexia tests. I told her I liked girls and she said she thought I was going to be a lesbian in the womb. So some things were always pretty clear.

Soul, jazz, hip-hop and R&B all live naturally in your music. Is there another influence you’ve never fully explored that you’d love to bring in?

G-funk, genuinely. It’s in the same world but it’s its own thing entirely and I find it so interesting. And there’s a more psychedelic direction I want to explore at some point too. I’ve made indie music that never came out, house music that never came out, I’ve dipped into a lot of worlds. But those two feel like the next places I actually want to go.

Phoenix’s About You is out now, follow via @phoenixlaoutaris

Interview Nancy Anekwe