A biography for Freya Ridingshasn’t been written yet.
“That's the best thing about being with an indie label, it feels like a family. If it's a major label, they put so much pressure on every single.”
“I do get star-struck, especially if they're icons like Florence Welch. I met her briefly at a studio and I did not act cool.”
“I find an apple before singing really, really helps... It's like there's something in the pectin in the apple that helps get rid of vocal clicks.”
“I'm obsessed with American talk shows.”
“I love the acoustic sets. Growing up, me and my dad would always watch those because we loved seeing the songs stripped back.”
“I never went out to make the music that people would like. I mean, I tried, because every teenager tries to do that. But in my heart, I'd always come from gigs where I played upbeat guitar covers and I'd start writing sad songs on the piano.”
“I really want to do a cover of Joan Armatrading.”
“Growing up, I promised myself that if I was every lucky enough to have a hit and also a hit that I had written myself, I would never get tired of performing it. I would always be grateful for that.”
“I heard that your subconscious is on the right side. I always shut my right eye when I play, or both eyes. I feel like you go to a deeper place in your subconscious, and you tell the stories that are more deeply within you.”
“Being signed to a major label was never an option because I knew having the time to find out who you are without pressure from other people is so important.”
“Going to school, sort of not realising that caring about things was going to make me stand out and make me weird, and I think also being a redhead and being tall, bigger than the other kids... Anything that makes you different at school makes you a target.”
“You know the way you tell your life story to a friend? I just told mine to a piano.”
“I'm obsessed with Beyonce. She's just effervescent, I love her.”
“All of my music teachers gave up on me one by one because I couldn't read music.”
“At school I was really heavily dyslexic, so I really struggled academically with reading and writing.”
“I was quite a different child, I felt isolated. In time, that level of being with yourself crystallises who you are, and you can see what other people are without being blinded by what they want from you.”
“I think, definitely, I was hugely influenced by - obviously like Adele and Florence the Machine. They were my complete idols growing up. But also, there were a lot of influences from my dad, like singer-songwriters of the '70s like Carole King and James Taylor.”
“Inspiring girls to write their stories and play their own instruments is something I'm passionate about, as it's not championed.”
“I followed my gut and my subconscious told me the kind of music I wanted to create. But it wasn't easy.”
“I wasn't cool at all when I was younger; no one wanted anything from me.”