Introducing Abby to my series! Abby and I connected online after I found a video of her singing on YouTube and I saw the potential in her. She is a very positive and excitable young girl and only be aged 14 I am extremely excited to watch her grow over time. In this interview she talks about her first paid gig to how she stays true to herself.
Hi! So could you introduce yourself, how old you are, where are you from and what area of the music industry are you aspiring to be in?
Hey! I’m Abby Warner and I’m 14 from Yorkshire. At the moment I’m keeping my options open! I really enjoy the typical kind of ‘singer-songwriter’ thing of writing, recording and performing but I’m also trying to learn more about music production.
What is your biggest achievement?
I think my biggest achievement was getting my first paid gig. I’d been busking and doing open mic nights for a while and then last summer I got a 45 minute paid slot at an acoustic session my local pub was holding. I loved every second of it and I’m so excited to perform more when it’s safe!
Performing is a big deal for anyone, do you get nervous before performing and how do you overcome it?
I just have a lot of energy all of the time and I definitely get nervous before performing but usually it’s more excitement. I just remind myself that I’m performing because I love it and I know what I’m doing so I just need to go out and play like I do in front of my bedroom wall!
What is your best piece of work that you are particularly proud of and why?
I think my best piece of work is my new single Hide and Seek. I’ve had the idea for this song for a couple of years now and I just never really knew what to do with it. I’ve gone through so many different verses without anything really working. Then last summer I picked up the song again and just wrote something that stuck. I really took my time with this song and delved deeper into the production element, more than I have before with my previous tracks. I worked on every line to get it just right and I’m really proud of how it turned out!
If you could change anything in the industry what would it be?
To have more women in the industry! Whether it’s producers, songwriters or managers I feel like the music industry is sadly still dominated by men. Less than 3% of producers are women and 56% of the most popular songs have no female songwriters. I don’t want the next wave of female songwriters or producers to just stop because of fear that they might not get work or things like that, I think it’s important to keep inspiring whoever is next so that we don’t end up with even less women in the industry!
Do you think social media such as TikTok, Spotify etc is changing the industry, if so how?
Oh 100%. Social media has seriously changed how we consume content and things like Spotify have revolutionised how we listen to music. I mean that has its pros and cons. It’s definitely good in a sense that it’s so easy to get your music out there, you don’t need a label or anything just a YouTube channel now. But that does mean that there’s a lot of competition and also with digital music distribution on things like Spotify, it’s definitely a lot harder to make money than if you sold albums yourself.
Who is your biggest influence or inspiration?
There’s a lot of people that inspire me and influence my music but I’d say my biggest inspiration is Ed Sheeran. I love his writing style and acoustic vibe and try and carry that kind of thing into my music. I mean his story is just so inspiring, how he went from gigging every night with no money and no one knowing him to now being one of the biggest artists in the world is incredible.
Do you feel any social pressure from the industry? Do you feel like you have to be a certain way or promote yourself in a certain way?
To be honest, not really! But I feel like that’s just me, there’s definitely certain pressures but whether it’s in the industry or not, I’ve always had a strong idea of what I want to do and who I want to be. I guess you have to remember that everyone likes different things. So just because your song doesn’t appeal to a certain group of people, you’ll find other listeners by just creating what you want too.
What’s next for you?
Well right now I’m working on my first ever ep! I’m just writing loads of songs at the moment and hoping to get more music out there in 2021!
Thank you for answering some questions! I wish you all the best for the future, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you!
"I’ve always had a strong idea of what I want to do and who I want to be"
Abby's Links:
YouTube - https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/jbmu
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