FEATURE: Spotlight: Bow Anderson — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Bow Anderson

__________

A fantastic and prolific young artist…

who is a rising star, Bow Anderson is someone making big moves and is going to be an enormous name soon enough. She came onto a lot of people’s radars during the start of the pandemic and lockdown. I am going to bring in a few interviews with the Scottish-born artist. She has put out some great singles this year already. There was a lot of attention around her 2021 E.P., New Wave. I will come to that. Prior to this, in 2020, DORK spoke with her. It turns out that a childhood accident has a big impact on her life and outlook:

“Bow Anderson wasn’t always destined to be a pop star. When she was 13, it appeared that her life was set to go down an altogether different path as she did competitive trampolining and was really rather good at it. In fact, she was a part of Team GB and was flying high and setting her sights for sporting success. Sadly though, a freak accident resulted in a longterm injury that forced her to give up the sporting path and look to change course. What once seemed like a disaster instead turned into a golden opportunity for Bow to blossom into a performer and realise those hidden talents into something glorious.

“It’s made me a much stronger person,” explains Bow of the adversity that started her journey to soon to be mega pop star. “I was 13 when I injured myself. I couldn’t walk, I had to do physio. I couldn’t hang out with my friends. It was a very rough and dark time. It made me grow up really fast. It kind of put life into perspective and showed me how short life is, and you have to go for what you want and be ambitious. I think everything happens for a reason and I wouldn’t be where I am today if that hadn’t happened.”

That ambition has been the driving force that saw Bow move down from her home in Edinburgh to London when she was 19. “I came to London and didn’t know anyone, but I never got homesick as I knew that was what I wanted to do,” she says.

The realisation that what she really wanted to do was sing and make music came while she was recuperating from her trampolining injury and was unable to dance at her performance school. “They encouraged me to try to sing,” she said of her teachers. “I enjoyed it, but I never thought I was good enough,” confesses Bow. “Over time I got really into it though. I saw the film Dreamgirls, and that was my first introduction to a lot of Motown and soul music, and I fell in love with it. I went back and listened to classics like Etta James, Al Green and Otis Redding. I fell in love with music that comes from the heart. Music that’s believable and real. I worked hard and got to the point where I was like, yeah, I am good enough why not try to make this a career.”

The self-belief that she discovered in those early days as a singer comes out in the series of singles she’s released this year that highlight her vibrant pop twist on classic sounds. “‘Sweater’ is the first song I wrote that was Bow Anderson,” she explains. “The first song that was the blueprint, where everything made sense. ‘Sweater’ was trying to create that soul sound but make it more up to date and do something fresh that hasn’t been done. I love Amy Winehouse, and I love all the classics like Donny Hathaway and Aretha Franklin, but that’s been done, so it was about trying to put that into something fresh.”

“It’s about a break-up and not being able to get over someone,” she continues. “The idea that your friends try and pick you up and make you feel better, but at the end of the day, it’s not enough, and you just feel lonely. It’s really relatable. That’s why everyone writes about love and heartbreak”.

Apologies if I mess with the chronology a bit! At the start of last year, The Au Review.com chatted with the remarkable Anderson. Even in her early career and with a couple of releases under her belt, she was a hugely intriguing and amazing artist who was courting attention:

“Bow Anderson is the next biggest thing to come out of Scotland – you could say she’s the New Wave. At twenty three, she’s already familiar with hard work and setbacks, after her semi-professional trampolining career crumbled from a leg injury.

It was through rehab that she found her passion (and talent) in music, singing with her father late at night while he comforted her. Since her recovery, she’s gained fans such as Sir Elton John and Cyndi Lauper for her 60s soul influenced pop, and inked a global record deal with EMI.

Her first release, “Sweater”, saw her team up with Jamie Scott (Ed Sheeran, Major Lazer) and Jonny Coffer (the man behind Beyonce’s “Freedom”), now boasts 3.85M streams on Spotify. This partnership produced Bow’s debut EP New Wave, a six-track collection that we sat down to discuss while Bow was stuck in London’s interminable lockdown.

Bow Anderson, where are you right now?

I am in London, currently. I was in Scotland like a month ago for Christmas time, and then I came back.

How long have you been living in London for?

Oh, I sound like an old lady. I’m like, “Oh, way back in my day.” Five and a half years now. Been here awhile, moved down when I was, I’d just turned 19, so it’s been a while. I’d love to come to Australia. I’ve never been. So I’d really like to come out when things get back to normal.

Yeah, I would recommend it! Now, congrats on your new EP, New Wave. I wanted to ask you about the producers you worked with on this one, because you worked with an insane crew. Was this all across Zoom during lockdown? Or was this a pre lockdown thing?

So New Wave was actually written before lockdown. I’ve actually had a lot of my songs for quite a while. I feel like songs always exist for a while before they actually get out in the world. The main guys that I work with are Jonny Coffer and Jamie Scott.

And, Jonny came in with an idea that he originally had written with a guy called Corey Sanders, and Emily Burns. And he kind of brought this production idea in, and we were like, “Oh, this is sick.” And we were all, “Right, let’s write it. Let’s see what happens.”

I love working with those guys. Everything just always falls into place and everyone’s on the same page and everyone gets each other and yeah, I think I’ve definitely found some good eggs to write with. So yeah, “New Wave” was written before lockdown and there was some adjustments to it. We would always come back to it and adjust things and change bits. And then we’d forget about it… Not forget about it, but we’d work on other stuff. And then we’d come back and we were always going to finish it, because it was a great song, but yeah.

“New Wave” is your title track of your EP. Why did you feel like that track was encompassing of the body of work enough to name it after it?

I think “New Wave”, because it came out in January, it’s a new year. It was quite relevant. Not that we brought it out for that purpose. But, I think the songs that I had released, so I’d released “Sweater” and “Heavy”, which are heartbreak songs. And they are about being in not a great place and trying to find yourself and pick yourself back up. And then “Island” is you’re kind of re-finding yourself and trying to find that power in you and that kind of confidence. Then “New Wave” just sums it all up because it’s like: “I’m good. I’m on a new wave. I know what I deserve. I know that I’m amazing and I’m still on that journey of trying to learn to love myself,” and all that kind of thing. But I think “New Wave” just sums up that story of like, “Yes, there are bad times and things can be rough, but you will find yourself and when bad things happen, it always gets better”.

There are a couple of other interviews that I want to bring in. The Perfect Tempo chatted with Bow Anderson in 2020. I wanted to highlight an earlier interview, as it shows that she was forging these incredible songs and growing as an artist:

“We’re speaking ahead of the launch of her third single ‘Island’ which came out last summer. A track I’d describe as a fantastic, empowering late summer anthem. I asked Anderson how the inspiration for the track came about. “The idea behind Island is that it’s that point, for me anyway in a relationship when you break up with someone and you feel absolutely miserable, and you feel very lonely but then you get to this stage where you’re like ‘I feel good and I deserve better than that!’ you feel on top of the worlds and it’s about having that power and strength in yourself to not let someone bring you down, for me that was from a romantic relationship but for the listener that could be someone’s friend that’s not being nice or someone negative in your life, a bully… It’s a pick me up song, to let people know that you’re strong and amazing.” Those values blend over into the video itself, a stylistic and fun beachside scene recently shot in Margate “It was so fun to film, it’s about being confident, knowing your worth, having fun and letting go. We’ve got synchronized swimmers, I’m buried in the sand and there’s just a fun but strong sass to it all.”

I point out to Anderson whether it’s ‘Heavy’, ‘Sweater’ or ‘Island’ there is a distinct personal theme through her music and lyrics and there’s a significant difference between singing a song and writing one, I enquired whether she found it hard or perhaps cathartic to tell her story through song, bringing back those difficult memories. “Yeah, do you know what, song writing is like my therapy because I’m not very good at showing my emotions through like talking about things, I’m still working on that but music and song writing is a way for me to put down how I’m feeling and by putting it out into the world it’s kind of a way to lift the weight off my shoulders, also I feel it helps other people listening as well, makes them feel less lonely.”

Anderson’s passion for music shines bright during our conversation. It’s that drive and ambition that took her from Edinburgh to London for university in the first place “I think I just was so determined to do music because it was what I was good at” Anderson tells me. A lot of students starting their first terms at university right now will be reassured that despite her self-belief and confidence Anderson can more than relate to those first week nerves “you’ve got to be ambitious and ballsy and just be confident that you’re good enough to be heard kind of thing. So yeah, I think I’ve always known I was coming to London. I was a bit nervous, like when my mum and dad left I was like, all right, like, I don’t know anyone, I’m living with two randoms, Uni doesn’t start for another two weeks, and I was a bit like, What do I do? But I’ve had a ball like, Oh, like I love London. There’s just like, so much going on. I’ve met amazing people, I’m so glad to have done that”.

To end, 1883 Magazine interviewed Bow Anderson. This year is going to be an important one in terms of getting her name out there. Gigs and new songs means she will get a much larger follower. Her new tracks are her strongest yet:

“Fast-rising artist Bow Anderson is making an impact.

The Scottish singer-songwriter is undoubtedly making a name for herself thanks to her repertoire of honest and relatable tunes. Inspired by the likes of pop, R&B and soul, the Edinburgh-born musician has already gained fans in Elton John and Cyndi Lauper, won ‘Best Pop Act’ at the Scottish Music Awards, and gone viral on TikTok. So, we really meant it when we say that Bow Anderson is making an impact. The songstress’s latest slice of pop goodness is offered up in the form of the vibrant and fun single, 20s, a track all about the pressures one can face throughout their early adult years.

In discussion with 1883 Magazine, Bow Anderson discusses the viral track, 20s, her biggest ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ moment so far, and the albums that have inspired her artistry.

Hi Bow, thanks for chatting with 1883 Magazine. Let’s talk about your latest single 20s. You mentioned on social media that you never actually intended to put the track out as your next single. Why was this and what inspired your change of heart?

I wrote 20s more as a way of venting my own feelings of the stresses and pressure in my own personal life. I put a lot of demos on TikTok to see what people think and 20s seemed to really resonate with people! So I felt it was only right to release it.

For anyone who doesn’t know, in your early teen years you were originally on track to represent GB for trampolining in the olympics but had an accident. Can you tell us how this led you to getting into music instead?

When I was injured I couldn’t train. I went to a performance school for dancing, acting and singing (I went mainly for the dancing as that was my passion growing up) but because I couldn’t dance they encouraged me to sing. That was my healing and my therapy. I fell in love with music and writing songs and it ended up being my main focus.

There has been a lot of great milestones in your music career so far, you’ve found fans in Elton John and Cyndi Lauper, played a run of sold-out headline shows, picked up a ‘new artist’ award at the Scottish Music Awards, and the demo for ’20s’ went viral on TikTok. What would you say has been the biggest ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ moment for yourself so far?

Probably recognition from Sir Elton John. He’s someone I really look up to. He’s an incredible songwriter and all round legend. This industry isn’t all plain sailing and can be really challenging at times but when you over come these hurdles it really does make it worth while. I’m so grateful for the opportunities I have had!

Touring with both Mimi Webb and Ella Eyre last year must have been such an interesting experience…

It was incredible! I had soo much fun! Both Ella and Mimi are so so lovely and supportive. And masters at what they do! Their energy on stage is just amazing and really inspiring. Doing these shows made me excited for when I do my own tours!

When people think of big contemporary artists from Scotland, a lot of people may think of Lewis Capaldi, Nina Nesbitt or a band like Biffy Clyro. Are there any smaller Scottish acts that you are really into that you would like to recommend to our readers?

There’s an artist who supported me on my shows called Tamzene. Her voice is stunning and so pure. You should definitely check her out!

Soul, Motown, and pop are three genres that have really influenced your sound since the start. Are there any particular records that have had a major influence on your artistry/life in general? If so, which albums and why have they had such an impact?

I’d say the main artists and albums that have influenced me are Lauryn Hill, Bruno Mars 24k magic, Beyoncé lemonade, Aretha Franklin, Kanye, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Jackson 5, Amy Winehouse. These artists are a mix of bold emotional honest lyrics, with fresh production. They inspire me because they aren’t afraid to do what they want and love. And make it their own”.

I am excited to see where Bow Anderson heads and how far her career will go. A bright and constantly evolving artist who is crafting her own sound and standing out from the crowd, she is someone to watch very closely. I am a recently new convert, but Anderson is someone who instantly gets inside the head. If you have not heard her music, then make sure that…