to the stage with brand new EP Before I Change My Mind, Again

By Amy Stanborough

Her brand new podcast The Moore The Merrier launched on Mon 5 June, and with her comeback EP Before I Change My Mind, Again released on Thurs 15 June, there is no stopping Brighton born singer and songwriter Lily Moore. As we spoke, she was sitting beside the river in Amsterdam on tour with her friend and fellow singer, Grace Carter.

The first question that was important for me to ask was, “How are you really?” Which is how Moore introduces her first podcast guest Gabriel Howell. She explains to me, “after lockdown I was really sick of people saying they were good when I knew they weren’t,” and so it was only after the gloom of the pandemic that she found herself and her closest friends say that actually, they were far from okay. “Hence the “how are you really?” question,” Moore adds. Moore herself is really good - tired - “but that sort of tired you feel when you have actually done something,” she reassures. Sticking with her podcast first, before we go on to discuss her new music, I ask if mental health was intentionally an important topic of conversation to The Moore The Merrier. She ponders, before deciding “accidentally, yeah it is.” Having heard the first episode, my obsession was how laid back the conversation between Moore and Howell was, as though I was a friend in the room with them. I loved their relatable humour and occasional sarcasm as they ranted and raved about the world. Moore stated, “I never want to be a wellness podcast because I am not perfect, no one is.” But it is agreed that perhaps the best form of wellness can be as simple as chatting with your mates. Moore herself suffers from anxiety disorder and loves that she gets to be a representative of that, considering she spent her younger years searching for a role model which allowed her to know, “I could still do it.”

The fact that guests were so open on Moore’s show about their own mental health, emotions and vulnerabilities, was the biggest shock for the host. “I didn’t necessarily want people to feel like they have to talk about [mental health] but the fact that they do talk about it on the podcast and feel safe is amazing.” Moore continues, “I knew all of my friends were talented and amazing, but I felt flattered that they would share such personal things.”

Amongst some other guests joining Moore in future episodes include Harriet Rose, Cate Canning, and another talented singer and friend, Charlie Oriain. These are just the select few that Moore beams about. “Harriet Rose is a DJ, presenter, lesbian ICON” Moore excites, and laughs that Canning is her second favourite Canadian singer-songwriter, behind Justin Beiber.

Moore also surprised herself, not sure if she was even capable of doing it; “I think I am a very different person when I feel under pressure.” But if 2023 has proved anything to this talented young lady, it’s that knowing you can do something is just the start of achieving anything you put your mind to. To just do it, before you can change your mind, hence the record title.

We spoke before the EP was released, though BN1 magazine was entitled to a first listen of the six track record. Before I Change My Mind, Again begins with the song Hard Days Love. It’s beautiful piano, rhythmic drum beats, and Moore’s massive vocals singing the heartfelt lyrics burst into the gap where her pause in music had been. Asking Moore about how she felt about the then upcoming release she says, “I am nervous to tell you the truth, but also it has been a long time coming.” Moore tells me a bit more about the title choice, how she tends to want everything to be perfect. With this EP she decided to “put something out into the world and see what happens, before I decided it was a stupid idea.”

I wonder if social media adds pressure to musicians, not just comparing their accomplishments and a so-called lifestyle they should be presenting online, but how there is more to keep up with too. “When I started doing music five years ago, you just had to update your Facebook and post one photo on Instagram. Now it’s like, you have to do your TikTok, and your Facebook, your Twitter, BeReal, Snapchat, and the list goes on.” Social media means that music and events and people are amplified to seem much bigger than they are, creating an element of not wanting to get lost amongst that midst. However, Moore says she enjoys how this ability to represent and create your own persona via social media creates a level playing field. “I have come back to releasing music again and not signed to a major label. It feels like chances are in your hands and that big ‘moment’ could happen to anyone.”

So what was it that drew Moore back to music? She was signed when she was eighteen years young, before COVID turned all of our lives upside down. Moore reminisces, “it took losing everything to want to do music again, and it took getting to a point of nearly not doing it again to realise how much I wanted to.” The EP was written out of a period of sadness and loneliness; when that second lockdown loomed over the nation and we all experienced a very strange Christmas, which was when all of the songs were written. Though it was a time of so much anxiety and heartache, we agree that Moore could create something beautiful and positive from the darkness. Something all listeners could sing along to and understand, truly on an emotional level.

Sound-wise, Moore considers that “I feel like parts of the record are quite new for me, but the other half, I wanted to go back a little bit and think about what I loved when I first started, which was soul music.” Describing this musical influence further, she said, “I wanted to take bits from big soul singers that I heard when I was growing up and put in a lot of modern twists. Like two of the songs [on the EP] have break beats and strings, big instrumentations, but I mainly just wanted to write songs that were all about my voice again.”

Beautiful Lie, the second song on the record definitely exposes the massive and incredibly talented vocals of Moore. It is a song all about the false hope you maybe hand yourself when you have big dreams. “It was all the things that I really thought were going to come true, but didn’t.” This is not just relevant to Moore, or even musicians, but all young people in the current state of economy and society. “People told us that these were going to be the most amazing years of our lives,” Moore reflects about moving to London when she was nineteen. But then, “suddenly no one could go outside, and when we could go outside, it was too expensive to even buy a pint.” She admits, “I just thought it would be a lot easier than what it was.” Beautiful Lie however remains the anthem for those who feel frustrated, let down or disappointed in particular systems.

When Moore moved to London with what she describes as her backpack of dreams, she instantly felt the loneliness. So, to resolve her problem of finding new friends her age without having been to uni, she founded her very own club nights. These were initially named More Moore on Portobello Road, before they later became the Girl Gang Series. “It was just me and other artists who would get up and play. It was like an open mic night, just a bit more curated and wasn’t full of wankers,” she states proudly. The Girl Gang Series was later born because she wanted a space just for women: “I felt like, growing up in Brighton, if we wanted a night out and not get hit on, we would go to gay bars and I think that is such a shame.” Instead, she created a space for women to feel safe, creative; a place to “let our hair down without worrying.”

Since moving to London, I wonder if Moore’s relationship to her hometown, Brighton, has changed at all and she tells me that she misses the beach more than anything. She seems quite capable of adapting between the two cities, referring to them both as her home: “it is always good to have more than one home.”

Speaking of coming home, Moore will be playing The Rossi Bar in Brighton on Saturday 9 September, which she is extremely excited for. “A hometown show is always really special. Especially when my mum tells all of her mates, and the room is half people I know,” she laughs. Moore hopes that on the Music Venues Trust tour, which is taking place at UK Grassroot venues, her newly released EP will be understood, and listeners will relate to her strong emotions. From there, “to tour them means I get to say I did that, and then hopefully it will be onto the album;” a healing process for that chapter in all of our lives. “There is more fun to come,” Moore concludes and I imagine her sitting on the other end of the line, looking down an Amsterdam canal, a big grin on face.

Lily Moore will also head to Gloucestershire on 1st July to play Barn On The Farm. She will join the likes of Dylan, Bleachers and more. Lily has racked up 60 million+ combined streams, and 3.5 million views on YouTube. Listen to Before I Change My Mind, Again on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services. Listen to episodes of The Moore The Merrier podcast on Spotify.

A game of Sing, Write, Tour to finish.

Out of your music influences, Aretha Franklin, Cleo Sol, and Michael Kiwanuka, which artist would you most like to collaborate and sing on a song with, which would you like to write a song with, and which would you like to go on tour with?

Sing with Cleo Sol, Write with Aretha Franklin, Tour with Michael Kiwunuka.