FEATURE:
Spotlight
for a long time now, Gia Ford is someone to look out for this year. A tremendous artist whose is truly distinct and instantly memorable, I think that she will have a huge career. Hailing from Sheffield, I would advise everyone to follow her. I am going to get to some interviews with her. So that we can discover more about this tremendous talent. I will start out with this Fred Perry interview:
“Name, where are you from?
Gia Ford, I’m from Sheffield North England!
Describe your style in three words?
Androgyny, drama, prep.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Probably Sevdaliza at the Barbican in 2018. She has some of the most immersive music/performances I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Her integrity is also really inspiring to me, she does what she has to do for the music and nothing comes between her and her art.
If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
Portishead and Pink Floyd. Both probably extremely exciting and inspiring to watch on the same stage you’re on. They’ve been two of the most daring artists I’ve taken inspiration from.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
I’d say the queer community (which I am a part of) and the drag world has influenced me more than I’ve thought about before. The freedom of gender expression, the fantasy, the alter egos.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Grace Jones. Just to be in her presence.
Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
I enjoyed watching Kelela at The Roundhouse - I’d never been before but it was such a beautiful space.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Jeff Lynn of ELO. He’s a genius and not many people knew he wrote so much of the music, including music for the strings.
The first track you played on repeat?
That I can remember… 'Dance In The Dark' by Lady Gaga. There was probably an earlier one but my memory is terrible”.
A song you wished you had written?
'This Woman’s Work' by Kate Bush :'(
Best song to turn up loud?
'Tear You Apart' by She Wants Revenge.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
'Halo' by Machine Head”.
Among a sea of amazing artists out there, Gia Ford really stands out. I am interested to see what comes from her this year. I know that a debut album is coming soon. That will be really great to hear. Her name is definitely highlighted as a truly essential one. I am going to move to an interview from Mancunion. Signed to Chrysalis, they were keen to speak with an artist who was building on her early promise and brilliance. Last year was a great one for Ford. I think that this one is going to be the very best of her career so far. Someone who is primed for huge things very soon:
“Few artists today truly manage to capture a sense of the poetic drama of everyday life quite like Gia Ford. A rising starlet from Sheffield, Ford has recently signed to reborn label Chrysalis – of previous Blondie fame – and is set to play Camden’s famous Jazz Café this Valentine’s Day for the charity Choose Love.
As all good artists are, Ford is a musical magpie, taking influence all the way from golden 70s pop to Shade and Lana Del Rey. Her previously released material – put out by the 1975’s label Dirty Hit – samples an entirely different sonic palette of dark, fuzzy guitars and murky synths. While still expressing a pride she feels over the work, it is a musical direction she has definitely shifted away from. Explaining how she felt about that earlier work: “I was trying to second guess the industry a little bit”.
Now, her music has an Americana twang of a different era. “The new stuff is more of my childhood inspirations … the Fleetwood Macs, the Nick Caves … even the Dusty Springfields … that’s always been my favourite stuff”. A return to old loves. She remarked of the change: “I think I’ve gone back to all of my original inspirations that I never felt confident enough to pay homage to”. “Part of me just wants a complete rebirth… to start again”.
With potent lyrics full of embedded meaning, Ford is a focused lyricist, with an eye for an unusual image. One song she recalled references the urban grit of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, while she also pointed to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History as a key literary influence (“the descriptions take you into another world. That’s something I try to do”). “I live my life trying to absorb things that go unnoticed usually … like that classic thing with newspaper articles; there are songs in everything if you keep your eye out”.
As an artist from Sheffield and having went to school in Wilmslow, Ford has recently returned to the North after a spate in the capital. Keen to emphasise the cultural differences, she remarked: “Pandemic London was not fun”.
“London is a very soul-stripping place unless you’re having a lot of fun all the time … I’m not really that kind of person … I’m more of an introspective person. I like space”. Referring to the differences in the scene up here, she was eager to make clear how the North generally is “less ‘industry’ and less pretentious” as well as “less cutthroat … it feels more genuine”. Ironically, it seems the distinct lack of industry presence in the North influences music even at a very granular level, something Ford knows all too well.
The lack of a present music business outside of London does increase the challenge of getting music out there however, a fact felt all too easily by artist attempting to get their foot in the door. We discussed the plans to regionalise BBC Introducing – in part due to dwindling radio listenership. As Ford’s most recent single – the beautifully fatal ‘Car Crash for Two’ – has been championed by Sheffield’s own Introducing DJ, Christian Carlisle, there is a clear fondness for the radio promotion young artists receive through the programme.
“Even when I lived in London I was in touch with him [Christian Carlisle] quite a lot”, she explained, keenly emphasising the ‘do-it-yourself’ grit necessary to break through outside of Britain’s musical centre. With no alternatives provided, the worry among artists such as Ford – in a tender part of their career – is that most support for up-and-comers will dry up. “There is no support really in that sense… you have to try a lot harder”.
Artists such as Ford also find themselves in a drastically different environment to that of the music that inspires them. In an age where even the most controversial or rebellious bands have an Instagram account, we discussed the pressures of social media and the incessant marketing drive behind it. “People think that you have to be TikTok savvy or Instagram savvy … I understand [it] as a great tool, but I think it does fall on the artist’s shoulders so much to get yourself out there”.
Like most artists, Ford releases regular content to keep people engaged, but she was keen to stress how the social-media storm mounts on the pressure: “When I first started releasing music there was a lot less pressure around it”. “My girlfriend does all of my imagery… we used to just have fun and take some amazing photos and post them… creating the world whenever we felt like it”
I will end with a recent interview from Rolling Stone. Previously an artist who made darker, more Pop-driven sounds, Americana is where Gia Ford has her home. Someone who much prefers to write about other people – as she finds writing about herself boring -, there is this small wave of British artists creating wonderful modern Americana. It is always fascinating and different. Against the backdrop of modern Pop, there is something deeper in the music of Gia Ford and like-minded contemporaries:
“On recent singles from her debut album, due out in mid-2024, she uses literature as a springboard from which to explore others’ stories. This is best shown on new single ‘Falling in Love Again’, which tells the story of her friend’s father, who mourned the death of his wife by asking his new partner to dress up in her clothes. “That’s so uncomfortable, but also really beautiful and sad,” she reflects of the story. “It’s about those strange ways that people grieve, and how they aren’t often very comfortable to talk about [them]. He was trying to express something, and he didn’t know how to do it. It just leaked out into life the way these things do.”
This bold and multi-faceted world that Ford creates is also enriched by her co-writers, who bring different perspectives to the stories. “I wish I could just write something completely alone,” she says, “but I think there’s something really amazing about writing with other people because you have so many different perspectives on something. We learn about life through writing songs with other people as well. It’s not just about the song, it’s about the relationship that you have with those people.”
This songwriting style is intimately linked to — and significantly enhanced by — the sonic direction she is now travelling in. On ‘Falling in Love Again’, the story of the grieving widower is given space to make its impact accompanied by sparse and luscious piano licks and woozy guitar. “A lot of the stories that I’m drawn to require a big open sky and big open space,” she says of her new sonic palette, which recalls Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and her new labelmate on Chrysalis Records, Laura Marling. “It’s hard to describe, but it’s that vastness of sound that I like.”
This particular sound was enhanced by recording her album in Los Angeles at the famous Sound City Studios, where Fleetwood Mac first met. “It felt like I was surrounded by the spirits of all these people,” says Ford, smiling. While there she also visited Laurel Canyon, a place with a distinctive and legendary musical vibe that Ford taps into on her new material.
Her upcoming debut album, though not written as such, has ended up as something of a concept album, as Ford explains. “Every song is about an outsider of some kind. Every character is an outsider. If it’s a song about me, it’s because I also felt separate from something. I haven’t even fully deciphered it for myself yet, but there’s a reason why I’m drawn to that theme. Everyone feels separate from something, don’t they? You live life in your own head, even though we’re all living the same thing. You do feel inherently separate from the world. You’re the main character because you’re the only one that can experience your consciousness.”
If Ford does sing of her own life, it’s through heavy metaphor, such as on new single ‘Alligator’, a driving soft rock hit which sees her refer to herself through parallel beings in the animal kingdom. “I wanted to embody them, so I didn’t talk directly about myself. That song’s about trying really hard to get my music noticed on TikTok and just generally in the world. I was getting frustrated at how difficult it was. I felt like I was doing everything correctly, but no one was noticing it or recognising all the work that I had put in.” In keeping with her distinct and unique lyrical expression, she chose to approach the topic from a metaphorical perspective.
This personal detachment and character-led style is also seen in the singer’s — real name Molly McCormick — artist moniker. “To me, Gia Ford is a narrator. Maybe that will change and maybe she’ll be just me, but I’m an observer. It’s from my perspective, but I’m telling everyone else’s stories.” She then pauses for a second, before deciding: “I think I’m afraid of writing about myself. I’m more comfortable pretending to be other people”.
Such a tremendous and fascinating artist who is going to be in the industry for many years to come, I am excited to hear a Gia Ford debut album. It is going to be a very busy year for her. If you have not discovered Ford and her music then make sure that you do. I have loved her music for a while now. Growing stronger by the year, here is a tremendous British talent who is going to take her music internationally. Even though we have a lot of wonderful artists out there, when it comes to Gia Ford, there are…
FEW like her.
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