Brighton-born songstress, Lily Moore, is known for her soulful voice and blues-pop-inspired sound and her new EP is no different.

The record opens with the track Hard Days Love, “Please stay with me, I know I’m not the one but I’m trying to be” sings Lily. The track was written about a time when Moore was facing having to give up the thing she loved most in life, music.

Feeling like the hardest break-up she’s ever gone through, the track is relatable on so many levels with the catchy chorus making it hard to forget. Elsewhere on the EP, Everybody’s Falling In Love opens with “Growing up gets me down just a little in a seaside town shut down for the winter, where did everyone go? Left me here in the cold” and was born from a voice note Lily made to herself sitting on a bus returning from a night out, annoyed she was going home alone. The whole EP is a fresh, modern take on classic soul sounds offering relatable lyricism, catchy hooks and big vocals. Writing it gave Lily the opportunity to process the last few years of her life speaking of things such as attempting to win the affection of boys who weren’t interested and the coping mechanisms she used to keep herself going through her career. Displaying such sincere moments of vulnerability, each song feels as if you are personally listening to Moore’s diary entries.

Growing up in Brighton, Lily was signed to her first record deal at 18-years-old. After releasing an EP and mixtape, she found herself temporarily losing control of her ability to move forward in music, partly due to her past experiences in the industry which left her feeling confused and worried about her future. After spending time thinking she wouldn’t release a song again and having her passion for it taken from her, she found herself creating a series of tracks which gave new hope. These songs make up Before I Change My Mind, Again… sparking Lily’s return to writing and performing, giving it ‘one last shot’.

This year is exciting. She has just begun her new podcast entitled The Moore The Merrier: A Podcast On How To Survive which will act as a vessel for Lily and her friends to chat about living, laughing, and loving through stories worthy of being told. With many exciting guests scheduled, the podcast has the intention to make you feel like you’re sitting and listening to voice notes from friends. The rest of the year will see her tour the UK for The National Lottery’s Music Venue Trust shows followed by a sold-out headline show in London to top it all off.

Lily’s voice is unmistakable, and the EP showcases it beautifully. Despite a full-length album not being the plan just yet, I am full of anticipation and excitement to see how the 23-year-old heads next.

1883 Magazine spoke to Lily Moore about Before I Change My Mind, Again…, her new podcast, and upcoming UK tour.

Lily! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to 1883 Magazine, your new EP Before I Change My Mind, Again… is out now. How does it feel to be releasing music again?

It feels like a long time coming, it does genuinely feel like I waited until the last possible moment, but it feels good. So much has changed since the last time I released music, it’s a very weird feeling to be in your early twenties and feel a bit like a grandma who’s seen and done it all but it’s good to be back.

The last time I was releasing songs TikTok hadn’t even been invented which is mad because this time around it’s literally about 90% of the work. It is fun though and I’m glad people are getting to hear it all.

Do you have a favourite song on the EP? Any that mean even more to you than others? A personal favourite of mine is Everybody’s Falling In Love’. 

I would probably say Everybody’s Falling In Love, I’m going to copy you because it just really takes me back to being a teenager in Brighton. I didn’t realise it at the time – I thought it was fucking awful – but it was really fun looking back. It takes me back to sitting on the bus because it was one of those things that started off as a little voice note I made on my phone on a journey home from a night out, being really annoyed I was on my own. So, I think that song just makes me smile and I feel like it pisses my friends off when I sing it – so that’s also worth it!

You got to a point a few years ago where you felt you may never release a song again as the fun had been stripped from your passion and you were not sure you wanted to do it anymore. What made you decide now was the perfect time to get back into it? I know music is what you had always seen yourself doing so did you just miss it too much?

I think it was and I also feel like desperation is sometimes a really, really good thing when it comes to creativity. It was the reality of stepping away from it, I wasn’t planning the EP in my head; I was planning my escape route. For a few months, I’d been thinking “What the fuck am I gonna do after this? Oh my god, I need to go to uni…where am I going and how am I going to earn money?”. The reality of it kicked in and I realised I wasn’t ready to do that. Sometimes it’s that moment when you are about to send your CV somewhere and think “No! You’ve gotta give this another go”. Sometimes things can seem easier or something can seem a lot worse but it’s kind of like that feeling of being about to dump somebody and then you see them for the first time in a month and think “No, you actually are alright, I guess we can make it work”. Music is essentially a bit of a fuck boy, I had to hate them to go back to them.

I heard you mention your creative process usually begins by being angry about something. Other than that, how do you typically go about writing your music? Do you ever write with a particular EP in mind etc?

I would have to be totally honest. I just write the songs and then try to find a home for them afterwards. I feel like it can get you really stuck. I am so jealous of people like Matt Maltese and that incredible album he did all about the last contestant at this party – I think that is such a cool thing to do. I just don’t do that sort of thing. My mood changes day by day, and what’s going on in my life changes day by day so I always want to write about what I feel and my friends feel. We’re all a bunch of bloody idiots and it changes all the time so I would say I just write about what is fun and then afterwards try and make sense of it.

You mentioned a debut album isn’t on the cards just yet but I’m interested to know how far you’ve thought into it? Will you just keep writing and see if an album formulates or is the plan to continue to release EPs as and when you feel? I’m excited to hear a full album however far in the future that may be! 

I actually have some ideas already. I think they are all things I truly have felt or feel pissed off by – I think that’s been my scene and concept across all my songs. They’ve all been really real things which have happened. I feel like if I carry that on, then hopefully something will emerge, but they are all just about me messing things up essentially so I guess that would be my concept for the next thing [laughs].

Being the daughter of highly respected musician Gary Moore of Thin Lizzy and Skid Row fame, you were very young when he sadly passed away in 2011. Has his success played a major role in your knowledge and grounding in helping you set out as an artist in your own right? I know he greatly influenced the music you listened to but do you think it played a major part in you wanting a life in the industry too?.

Yeah, I think it taught me very early on how hard you have to actually work, it’s not all glamorous or anything like that. I remember even on holiday my dad would rehearse and practice for hours and hours a day so I kind of had it drilled into me, this is not the easy route.

I think my parents would have been so much prouder if I decided to become an accountant, they would have been like “Thank fuck, one of them is going to uni, good on Lilly”. So when I said I wanted to be a musician, my mum was a bit like “Fuck sake, here we go again”.

I feel very lucky to have had lots of memories of amazing musicians being around, I remember at Christmas he’d go out and find a busker down the road that was playing Irish music and they would come and hang out with us. On New Year’s Eve, they would have these big jam nights, with the neighbours who were Irish as well. They were just these big nights and I kind of always felt like music is really important. I feel very lucky for that.

Was your decision to see out your education until you were 18 a thought you had because you were unsure if you could have a career in music even though you were signed to a major label, or just Lily Moore being ‘sensible’?

I think I was scared I wouldn’t have anything to say. I felt like “It’s amazing. I’ve signed this deal, oh my god this is what I’ve dreamed of my whole life”, but I also was aware that if I had tried to write an album at that point, I didn’t know what the fuck I would have written about. I kind of felt like I’ve still got a bit of life to live. I was living in Brighton and I knew when I was doing sessions at that time, I’d need to be in London.

My birthday is September so actually, by the time I left school, I was 19 nearly 20 so I did quite well on that one. I was also doing an English A level, literally I just did it to prove to myself I could do one A level so I added a music BTech and English A level, which was wild because I had to like run between two different sixth forms who didn’t really know about each other but I just really wanted to prove I could do it.

I remember when I signed my deal, no one at my music college really knew. I didn’t really want people to know but there was this weird phase where I was like, getting on trains and doing writing sessions in London, and then getting told off for missing my Oasis-inspired writing session in school and it was all just a fucking big one! But I’m glad I stayed and did it and had that experience.

This September will see you tour the UK as part of The National Lottery’s Music Venue Trust shows which is exciting! You also have a sold-out headline show coming up in London afterwards, how are you preparing for the string of shows and what can we expect from a Lily Moore gig?

Preparation is not my strong suit so in August I will probably be having a massive overhaul and will cut my hair off or do something to make me feel cool. I’m so excited because I know everyone probably says it, but touring is actually my favourite thing in the entire world. I feel like I’ve just got my sights set on that.

It’s really motivating because I think it’s hard to write songs and think about an album when you’re like, “Well, what am I actually going to do with all these songs” rather than trying to become a virus on TikTok. It’s pretty exciting, I’m really looking forward to it.

I love chatting shit so for me, 50% of it is just chatting absolute nonsense, which it never used to do. When I was 17, I used to literally just try and get it done as quickly as possible because I was a bit nervous, but I’m really excited for it and it’s so nice to be doing it with the Music Venues Trust as an artist but also as someone who just loves going to gigs. It’s so important because I want to save our little independent venues.

When you moved to London in 2017 you started your own More Moore club nights creating a safe and inclusive space for people to let their guards down and enjoy the music without judgement. More Moore evolved into the Girl Gang series last year and you sold out the first show which was in collaboration with the vitally important initiative Strut Safe. Tell us more about the Girl Gang series as I know it’s very close to your heart…

I had been doing the club night for a little while and then I kind of felt like after lockdown and stuff I thought, actually, I feel like we as women – and just anyone – should have a space which was fun and also got everyone to get to know each other. There were a lot of artists that had emerged during lockdown and maybe a lot hadn’t been able to do gigs or hadn’t got to do all those sorts of things so I was like “Let’s do another one”. 

With the Strut Safe charity as well, it was a charity I genuinely, genuinely believed in as I had read up about it during lockdown when all the horrible shit was going on. It’s such an important thing, the whole concept is you literally just phone them and they can stay on the phone to you when you are walking home which I feel like as women, we’ve probably all been there sometime so it felt like a bit of a no-brainer.

I would describe your sound as the very best of pop; catchy relatable hooks with a soul edge. Having interviewed many established artists as well as those setting out to establish themselves, I have learnt how music is key. Are you conscious of some kind of unique selling point being necessary with your writing, musically and lyrically or is it not a thought which crosses your mind?

I’d say probably I want to not be scared of saying things anymore. I think that comes with growing up a little bit and stuff like that. When I first started out, I just wanted to sound amazing and look really fit and I think over time I still obviously want that but I also really want to make an effort to say things I would have been afraid to say a few years ago. Who fucking cares if I sound a bit weird? So, whilst I do these big pop songs, I always want to make sure that the lyrics are super weird. I embarrass myself literally every day in normal life so why would I not be a bit embarrassing in my songs too?

We also have to speak a little bit about your new podcast, The Moore The Merrier: A Podcast On How To Survive. It’s described as a place where you and your friends will discuss the living, laughing, and loving amongst many stories worth telling. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

It was just something that felt really easy to do. I feel like there are so many things we all have to do as adults every day which are quite tough or things you don’t look forward to and I want to do something I really look forward to, but is still me. I love podcasts, I’m so obsessed with them that it’s actually not good, I barely listen to music some days, I just constantly listen to podcasts. It felt like something I’ve always wanted to do and I guess it’s in the same vein as my music, I wanted to make sure I was saying things so that other people wouldn’t feel embarrassed if they fucked up and was also fed up of it looking like everyone was doing so well. I knew from lots of my friends being musicians or actors or whatever, they were also feeling pretty shit a lot of the time and I kind of wanted to create a platform where people were able to say these things freely, and in return, everyone says it back and you kind of think “Okay, we’re all fucked, but we’re all fucked together” which makes it slightly easier.

Finally, with the new EP out, what is next for Lily Moore?

I’m looking forward to the summer, I’ve got a few festivals happening and then I’m just going to carry on writing and working hard to see what happens. I feel like I never have a plan too much these days because the last time I did, it didn’t fucking work out. I’m just going with it, but it’s good to be back and I won’t be going anywhere again anytime soon.

Ep Before I Change My Mind, Again… is out now.

Listen to Lily’s The Moore The Merrier: A Podcast On How To Survive click here.

For ticket to Lily’s UK tour this September click here.

Follow Lily via @lilymooremusic

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