Photo by Sofi Adams
UK phenom Blithe has shared her new anthemic pop ballad “Do Something,” available to stream now on all DSPs worldwide via AWAL. The song is about meeting someone for the first time and having immediate chemistry, and the thrill of uncertainty that comes with it.
“The day we wrote ‘Do Something’ was the first session I ever had with Mark Nilan and Rollo,” Blithe says on the track. “We hit it off immediately and as soon as Rollo sat down at the piano and started playing, the song came together in a matter of hours. I wanted to write something sexy and fun and from experiences that I’ve had. I think there’s beauty in the potential of what could be, before it inevitably goes south.”
What’s your story as Blithe?
It’s cliche but I’m a small town girl who moved to the big city. I always knew what I wanted to do since I was very young so I took myself to London when I was 16. The first few years was a lot of sofa surfing, broken promises and fuck loads of partying. I worked a string of club and temp jobs before I put my first single out independently and within a few hours of its release, I was being played in all the Apple stores and got “discovered” by my A&R Siara in LA. I flew out a few weeks later and signed my first big music deal. Since then I’ve continued to have ups and downs, signed more deals and now everything feels like it’s coming together. I have the most incredible team and the best is still yet to come!
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Rihanna has always been and will always be God. I admire that her creativity and her vision goes so far past just her music career. She’s a business woman and a style icon breaking records and changing the game in so many fields as well as consistently being one of the best selling artists we’ve ever seen. She was relevant when I was a kid and she’s still relevant. Riri will never die.
What’s the record or artist that made you realize you wanted to be an artist?
It’s a close call between Britney, The Spice Girls and the “Barbie Girl” by AQUA cassette I had when I was a toddler. My mum said I took that cassette tape everywhere with me and still now, it’s my ringtone for when my sister calls me.
When I was a kid, I used to learn the routines and film myself singing and dancing along to my favourite songs and before I learned how to play an instrument, I’d write over the instrumentals they’d include on the CDs.
Tell us about “Do Something” and how it came about.
I wrote ‘Do Something’ on one of my first writing trips to LA. I walked into my first session with Rollo and Mark Nilan and we had a chat about the kind of song I wanted to make and Rollo sat down at the piano and the first thing he played was pretty much what became Do Something. I started singing along and furiously writing down lyrics about that feeling of seeing someone and knowing instantly that you want them and they want you and all of that build up of sexual tension and “what ifs” that you feel in those situations. I got in the booth with the lyrics I’d scribbled, and a rough idea of a melody. I winged it and those takes became the original demo that we stuck with for two and a half years before I re-recorded it in London. I always knew there was a place for that song and that it was something I wanted to release.
What inspires your visuals & aesthetic?
It’s anything that I find cool. I have a big “Blithe visuals” book that I always refer back to whenever I’m doing shoots and visuals. I creatively directed my photoshoot for this upcoming EP and all of the single covers and I had really specific references that I’d been printing, ripping out of magazines and collecting in my book months and months. Even down to hair and makeup references I’ll save on instagram, they all eventually get added to a moodboard in my book. Everyone on my team knows I love to create a really detailed, tailormade moodboard for every person on a shoot so they can see into my brain and make it come to life- whether that’s for my glam team or sometimes down to lighting refs for the assistants.
I’m heavily inspired by movies, pop culture and especially big fashion houses and their campaigns from over the decades. I’ll find an image from a 90’s Vogue cover on the internet and it will send me down a rabbit hole and before you know it, I’ve started planning my next shoot.
Where are some things you really want to accomplish as an artist?
The limit does not exist. I wanna be part of the EGOT crew. I want to break records and I’d like to be the first to do something. I’m not sure what that something is yet but it better be something epic.
Favorite lyric you ever wrote?
It’s probably from a song I never even ended up releasing. I tweet those lyrics from time to time. I always liked “Drinks are free, talk is cheap”. I wrote that years ago about my meaningless nights out when I was broke. Not super deep but it sums up the situation pretty well.
Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up?
Hell yeah. weirdly, it was only after I entered into the music industry properly. When I was younger and had nothing at all, I was overflowing with hope but the further you get and more success you seem to have, you start running out of excuses and people to blame for things not aligning the way you wanted them to. That was a really hard pill for me to swallow at first until I took full responsibility and realised that I’m the best version of myself because of the knock backs. I’ve really had to dig deep at times and stop myself from throwing my phone away, changing my name and booking a one way ticket to a remote island in the middle of nowhere.
Where do you think the next game changer will be in the music industry?
WOMEN! Women producers, songwriters, creatives and bosses. It’s so baffling that for so many years, women have been locked out of certain areas of the music industry. Out of the hundreds of producers I’ve worked with, only 3 of them were female- one of them I worked with last week and it was an incredible session. Women are ready to take their place alongside the men and the world is ready for it. It’s so long overdue.
