A CHAT WITH GIRLI
WORK FROM HOME GIGS
Over the next few weeks, every Friday a series of female singers/ songwriters will be taking over the @dc_womens Instagram account to bring a live gig to your living room. Make sure you check it out.
Thank you to Kylie at DC Women, we got to chat with Girli, an English singer, songwriter and rapper, based in London with amazing pink hair. Her sound and style reminds us of a British cross between Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani back in their MTV days perhaps with a little more attitude. Just don’t call it “brat pop” cause that she isn’t.
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Iconic artists who have shown me that reinvention, weirdness, and making music outside of the norm is a good thing. Kate Bush, Prince, Madonna, David Bowie, Blondie are big ones. In general, I'm inspired by rebellion, and people who question authority and the norm.
Seeing others do that inspires me to write songs and speak up.
How do you describe your creative process?
Like an urge. When I get an idea, it's like it possesses me and I have to get it out. I have melody and lyric ideas all the time, at random times in the day and middle of the night. I always make sure to voice note them or write them down because most of my songs have started like that, a little idea that came out of nowhere.
How has this current situation affected your creativity and how do you plan on doing things differently in the future?
It's challenged my creativity, but in no way has it stopped it.
I think it's made artists have to reinvent how they create, how they connect with fans, how they play shows, and although it's an awful situation i've also found it to be challenging in a good way. In the future, it's definitely shown how I can connect with fans from all over the world better using the online community. It's also taught me a lot about different and new technologies available for artists now to share their music and performances with people.
A personal highlight you'd like to share with us?
I'll choose a personal highlight of quarantine, as it's more relevant! The first livestream show I did in my kitchen, with a DIY backdrop I'd fashioned out of my bed sheets and my makeup and hair all done to stay inside the house. I performed over livestream with my friend July Jones who was isolating the other side of the city, and we put on such a great show for 1,500 fans online that it felt like I could hear them all cheering and clapping. It was really special.
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Quaranteen by Adam Ali
