Best known to many as the voice behind a string of sharp, soulful pop records, ELIZA has spent the past few years quietly reshaping her world. Now firmly rooted in her alt R&B lane and fully independent, she’s writing from a place that feels grounded, maternal, and unfiltered. Life these days starts with her two year old son Rex instead of an alarm clock, and somewhere between coffee, barefoot moments in the garden, and studio sessions, a new chapter has taken shape.
Her latest single “Major” lands ahead of the forthcoming album The Darkening Green, and it sets the tone for what’s coming. The songs look closely at how we treat ourselves, how we treat each other, and what kind of world we’re building in the process. There’s reflection in it, but also a clear sense of resolve. ELIZA speaks candidly about anger, self protection, and stepping out of patterns that keep people stuck. Going independent has given her the space to follow those thoughts wherever they lead, without sanding the edges down.
In 18 Questions, ELIZA reflects on toddler mornings, tree hugging resets, creative sparks, and why vulnerability might be the strongest position of all.
1. What’s the first thing you usually do when you wake up in the morning?
My alarm clock is my 2 year old son, Rex. So we usually go straight to the kitchen and make some breakfast. I have lots of coffee!
2. What’s a small daily habit that helps keep you grounded?
I have lots of little ones. Noticing the birds out the window, the flowers when they bloom, the tops of the trees, even in winter when their beautiful winding branches are revealed. Also, a really good one when I remember to, is to take my shoes and socks off and put the soles of my feet on the bare ground and in the winter touching trees with my hands or straight up cuddling them. Works wonders on the nervous system!
3. How do you usually reset when things start to feel overwhelming?
I can be overly ambitious with my diary sometimes so if things get a bit too chockablock I just cancel or reschedule things and take life at a slower pace.
4. What does a perfect day off look like for you right now?
Sleeping all day and night! That’s the toddler parent in me talking.
5. What’s something you’ve learned about yourself over the past year?
I have some anger. I was in denial about that. I tried to hold it in and saw it as something unhealthy and negative but how can you not be in this world? I’m learning more about this anger and I want it to guide me. It has a lot to tell me. It comes up for a reason.
6. Are you more creative in the morning or late at night?
I can get straight into it but I’m more likely to be creative in the afternoon after something to eat. And I do get random ideas in the night too. It can happen at any time!
7. What inspires you outside of music?
Nature, my garden, the woods, water, children, birds, people, life!
8. What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I’m one of 9 children.
9. How has your relationship with rest changed as your career’s evolved?
I used to work on weekends. But I stopped doing that a few years ago. I think it’s important to take time off to gain perspective on the work you’re doing and to charge energy up and get inspiration. One day I hope life will just feel like a breeze I’m floating on… I’m all for the zero day work week!
10. What does success mean to you at this point in your life?
Connection with the creative spark.
11. Your new single “Major” is about softening, shedding armour, and stepping away from unnecessary drama. What first inspired the song?
A friend. We wrote an invitation to accept how great they are and to stop self sabotaging.
12. “Major” feels gentle but emotionally direct. How did you approach writing something that encourages vulnerability without losing strength?
Being vulnerable is the strongest thing you can be. I always want to write with honesty about the things that stand out and are meaningful to say from my perspective. In “Major” there’s an element of self protection alongside compassion and there’s strength in both, knowing I can’t be the one to fix it and put myself in those difficult places. It can help to keep a person stuck in a bad pattern by engaging with it, you become a part of the pattern too, and then you’re both stuck.
13. Released ahead of the album, how does “Major” help set the emotional or thematic tone for The Darkening Green?
This song is the perfect mirror of the way we treat the world and each other, and the way we treat ourselves. It’s one of the anchors of the album’s themes as there’s so many ideas that the album investigates on a global, local and personal level that can all be felt in this one song.
14. You’ve described The Darkening Green as your most human record yet. In what ways does it feel different from your previous work?
I’m not sure I said that but I did see it written somewhere. To be honest I think all my albums are human, each one at a different age and life phase. The time we’re living in now is so different even to 5 years ago and it’s impossible to not want to write and bring attention to the difficulties that humanity is going through right now.
15. The album explores the idea that our emotional and ecological worlds mirror each other. How did that concept influence the way you wrote and produced the record?
I think that’s another theme that has always been present in my writing but maybe I’m honing in on it now more than ever because it’s so obvious to me that our relationship with nature and the way we’re turning this paradise into a cement block is pure insanity. Our children are growing up without trees and birds and bees and an understanding of our connection within the web of life and the universe. Prioritising material wealth over everything. No wonder some of these children who have grown up without love turn to fear, bullying and act from those fears in anger, forcing the illusion of control onto others, and in the worst cases killing and destroying lives. Utter madness. The epitome of unhealthy, weak, sad and alone. We live in a belief system that separates us from nature, which is so far from the truth, and is eating itself because it cannot go on like this. I could talk for hours on this.
16. You’ve been independent for several years now. How has that freedom shaped your creative process on this album?
It shaped it from the moment I went independent. There’s no one else to answer to, except myself. I put the pressures on and those pressures are to be authentic and dig deep, not to make hits and money. Creativity and money can have quite a shallow friendship.
17. With the forthcoming album, what sides of yourself are you most excited for listeners to hear next?
Every side. I’m trying to reveal as much as possible. I think this album has a bit more fight, bite and means business (always with a kiss) even more than the previous one. I aim to get more and more done to change hearts and minds for the better, always. More light needs to be shone on empathy, inclusivity, freedom and you know what would be nice, a bit of calm in our beautiful world.
18. Looking back on making The Darkening Green, what moment in the studio best captures this chapter for you?
When we made “Anyone Else”, I was in tears. I think through all these themes, thinking of the place we’re at globally and on a grand level… but if you can’t look after the love you have right here in your own home what does any of it mean? I really feel the power of that song, so personally.
“Major” is out now Taken from her forthcoming album The Darkening Green
out on 4 March. Pre-save HERE.
Top image credit Phoebe Salmon
