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Chart-topping singer-songwriter Skye Newman joined Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1 to discuss her debut single ‘Hairdresser’ and follow-up release ‘Family Matters’.
The first UK female solo artist to reach the Top 20 with her debut single and follow-up since Ella Henderson in 2014, the South Londoner opened up on the impact her debut singles have had on her life, growing up around South-East London, what ‘Hairdresser’ and ‘Family Matters’ are really about, how she got into music, writing for other artists and what’s to come.
On her journey over the past 3 months...
“It's been surreal to say the least. It's literally been mental. I can't believe how my life's just changed in the past, really probably three months. It's been a long time coming. I've worked for it behind closed doors for a long time, so it's kind of good to have the outcome now.”
On the unexpected success of ‘Hairdresser'...
“I didn't expect it to go the way it did. I expected some love on it because obviously I'd had a good reaction on TikTok previously and it sometimes goes over that way when it comes to streams as well. Sometimes it doesn't connect, so it might not have, but I didn't expect it to go far…especially now Family Matters as well. It's kind of all just gone and yeah, it's mental. That's all I keep saying. It's just insane. I just keep literally counting my lucky stars and just thinking I'm so grateful for my life right now.”
On ‘Hairdresser’ and what the song’s really about...
RJ: [Bless you, man. Now talk to me about the song Hairdresser. I know on first, listen, people may think you're singing about a boy, but I know it's actually about one of your close friends, right?]
SN: “Yeah, I had that comment so many times. I think it was nice for me to start with not just coming and talking about a man, because I feel like that's what every woman kind of does and it's not really about them. So I didn't really want to come off starting with that because I just thought they're useless anyway. Sorry to any men. I've got some great men in my life, but mostly useless. So that's my view on that.”
RJ: [Yeah. So you did write this about your friend. Did you sort it out? Are you friends]
SN: “Again? We have. It was kind of written from a perspective of also the girls, women in my life as well that had kind of had their own struggles with women. Women can be stressed just as much as men, but obviously we're just better. Sorry, you need to let it out. Even if it was something that I moved past, it was emotions that would just sit in and better putting them out there and being able to move on than holding it and be putting up anger.
On where she grew up...
“I'm from Southeast London, many different areas ranging from New Eltham, Bexley Heath, Sidcup. There's a lot of places. Gravesend, Seven Oaks. I've lived everywhere. Kent and Southeast London. I think that's something that most Council Estate people will understand. You get moved along, you get just Yeah - more kids coming along. I was the last, but it was constantly just a run around basically. So I don't know where I say I'd represent because it's a bit of everywhere”
On her Primary School Teacher Reaching Out...
“I had a show when I was I think six, and it was a little glee group thing that my school done when I was a kid. Oh, actually, funnily enough, my teacher who run it has commented on my TikTok and asked comes one of my shows from primary school. need to get that sorted. But her name was Ms. Chapman and she literally just loved my voice and she just always pushed for it and she gave me a solo True Colours by Cindy Lauper
On her Aunt being her mentor...
My auntie was a singer songwriter and that's where it all kind of really started from there… I started going to the studio with my auntie and watching her write and that's then where my love for writing comes from because I've always been a storyteller. I've always liked to write poems and anything that I can get my words out in a way that was healthy. I didn't necessarily like talking about things. That's what I did. It was just amazing watching her do that and it really, really pushed me to want to pursue a career in it. I give a lot of credit to her. She's not with us anymore, but I give a lot of credit to her. She'd done a lot of it and she worked with me and she just showed me the whole world of it.”
On getting a passion for music...
I sung the solo and the whole room just went silent and I was a bit like, oh, when went quiet ... They was all so kind when I came off stage and it was just, I felt like I had comments just being, oh my God, you can actually sing. That's the moment that I've really felt love for being on a stage.
… it was just that reaction of people looking at me and really listening to what I had to say. I know that it wasn't my own words but I felt like people was listening to me and coming from a house that's so loud and chaotic, I felt at home.
On waiting for her time to release music...
“I was always very aware of how the industry can affect a young mind. When you're a teenager, I feel like you're taking in everything and you are so critical of yourself anyway. So then putting yourself out to the world and having so many people say harsh things about you because there's going to be good, but there's also going to be bad and the bigger you get the more hate there is. So I wanted to just wait and build up my line of music and make sure that I was secure in what I wanted and secure in my sound and also it's changed a lot. So how I sounded and what I wanted five years ago to now is very different. So I didn't want to come out also in a line of music that I was then going to be unhappy with.
On working in music...
"I've come from a life of chaos and mess, so it's having stability. It gives me stability that I never really had.”
On people relating to her lyrics...
“I think it's put me at ease reading so many comments, knowing that, I'm not the only one that goes through this. I knew that anyway, but it's actually having that hard evidence in front of you that it's not just me and that no matter how crazy anything that you've gone through has been, it's usually happened to someone else and you're never alone an issue. Even if you feel like it or even if you haven't actually got the people around you that there's strangers in the world that you have that you wouldn't even know. And that's the one good thing I would take from social media,
But incredible obviously for the sake of it's helping people and I've had so many messages saying like it's healed me and they don't understand that them saying that is healing me. Because It's knowing that I've used something that I've been through and whatever pain and anything that I've felt, it's now gone into something to help people and I couldn't ask for more than that. I really, really, that's the main thing in my job is just to help people and if it was something I'd always said, if I weren't going to be a singer, I wanted to be a doctor.
It’s anything to just to give back to people is my main aim because a lot of that gets lost now. So it's trying to have emotion. It’s alright to feel emotion.”
On whether her family would be surprised by the lyrics to ‘Family Matters’...
“My whole family understands the same feelings, so it's like we're all kind of in it together. As much as we're all a nightmare, it works because we all understand. We've all had our own hell in each of our own ways and we've dealt with it in different ways, but we've all kind of had the same feeling nonetheless.”
On writing music for other people...
“I’ve had the up and down with this because I would love to, because again, I love to share music, so to share my music with other people and watch someone else find success in that would be incredible. But it's also hard because like I say, they are so close and personal to me, my feelings and do you know what I mean? It's like, I dunno if I could really allow that to be given to somebody else because mainly everything I write is very, very personal and it's all about my story. So I suppose it just depends. I suppose if I meet someone and they have a similar story to me and they connect and it's something that they find peace in, then I definitely would. Like I said, that's what music's for is to share”
On more music incoming...
I've been asked for an album since before Hairdresser was even out and I was like, well, one song's not even out yet! I can't really do that for you, but it’s on the way. It takes a lot longer than people think and even for me, it took a lot longer than I even thought, but we got there in the end and it's happening. It's slowly. We're getting there. You'll get them in time. Patience.
The first UK female solo artist to reach the Top 20 with her debut single and follow-up since Ella Henderson in 2014, the South Londoner opened up on the impact her debut singles have had on her life, growing up around South-East London, what ‘Hairdresser’ and ‘Family Matters’ are really about, how she got into music, writing for other artists and what’s to come.
On her journey over the past 3 months...
“It's been surreal to say the least. It's literally been mental. I can't believe how my life's just changed in the past, really probably three months. It's been a long time coming. I've worked for it behind closed doors for a long time, so it's kind of good to have the outcome now.”
On the unexpected success of ‘Hairdresser'...
“I didn't expect it to go the way it did. I expected some love on it because obviously I'd had a good reaction on TikTok previously and it sometimes goes over that way when it comes to streams as well. Sometimes it doesn't connect, so it might not have, but I didn't expect it to go far…especially now Family Matters as well. It's kind of all just gone and yeah, it's mental. That's all I keep saying. It's just insane. I just keep literally counting my lucky stars and just thinking I'm so grateful for my life right now.”
On ‘Hairdresser’ and what the song’s really about...
RJ: [Bless you, man. Now talk to me about the song Hairdresser. I know on first, listen, people may think you're singing about a boy, but I know it's actually about one of your close friends, right?]
SN: “Yeah, I had that comment so many times. I think it was nice for me to start with not just coming and talking about a man, because I feel like that's what every woman kind of does and it's not really about them. So I didn't really want to come off starting with that because I just thought they're useless anyway. Sorry to any men. I've got some great men in my life, but mostly useless. So that's my view on that.”
RJ: [Yeah. So you did write this about your friend. Did you sort it out? Are you friends]
SN: “Again? We have. It was kind of written from a perspective of also the girls, women in my life as well that had kind of had their own struggles with women. Women can be stressed just as much as men, but obviously we're just better. Sorry, you need to let it out. Even if it was something that I moved past, it was emotions that would just sit in and better putting them out there and being able to move on than holding it and be putting up anger.
On where she grew up...
“I'm from Southeast London, many different areas ranging from New Eltham, Bexley Heath, Sidcup. There's a lot of places. Gravesend, Seven Oaks. I've lived everywhere. Kent and Southeast London. I think that's something that most Council Estate people will understand. You get moved along, you get just Yeah - more kids coming along. I was the last, but it was constantly just a run around basically. So I don't know where I say I'd represent because it's a bit of everywhere”
On her Primary School Teacher Reaching Out...
“I had a show when I was I think six, and it was a little glee group thing that my school done when I was a kid. Oh, actually, funnily enough, my teacher who run it has commented on my TikTok and asked comes one of my shows from primary school. need to get that sorted. But her name was Ms. Chapman and she literally just loved my voice and she just always pushed for it and she gave me a solo True Colours by Cindy Lauper
On her Aunt being her mentor...
My auntie was a singer songwriter and that's where it all kind of really started from there… I started going to the studio with my auntie and watching her write and that's then where my love for writing comes from because I've always been a storyteller. I've always liked to write poems and anything that I can get my words out in a way that was healthy. I didn't necessarily like talking about things. That's what I did. It was just amazing watching her do that and it really, really pushed me to want to pursue a career in it. I give a lot of credit to her. She's not with us anymore, but I give a lot of credit to her. She'd done a lot of it and she worked with me and she just showed me the whole world of it.”
On getting a passion for music...
I sung the solo and the whole room just went silent and I was a bit like, oh, when went quiet ... They was all so kind when I came off stage and it was just, I felt like I had comments just being, oh my God, you can actually sing. That's the moment that I've really felt love for being on a stage.
… it was just that reaction of people looking at me and really listening to what I had to say. I know that it wasn't my own words but I felt like people was listening to me and coming from a house that's so loud and chaotic, I felt at home.
On waiting for her time to release music...
“I was always very aware of how the industry can affect a young mind. When you're a teenager, I feel like you're taking in everything and you are so critical of yourself anyway. So then putting yourself out to the world and having so many people say harsh things about you because there's going to be good, but there's also going to be bad and the bigger you get the more hate there is. So I wanted to just wait and build up my line of music and make sure that I was secure in what I wanted and secure in my sound and also it's changed a lot. So how I sounded and what I wanted five years ago to now is very different. So I didn't want to come out also in a line of music that I was then going to be unhappy with.
On working in music...
"I've come from a life of chaos and mess, so it's having stability. It gives me stability that I never really had.”
On people relating to her lyrics...
“I think it's put me at ease reading so many comments, knowing that, I'm not the only one that goes through this. I knew that anyway, but it's actually having that hard evidence in front of you that it's not just me and that no matter how crazy anything that you've gone through has been, it's usually happened to someone else and you're never alone an issue. Even if you feel like it or even if you haven't actually got the people around you that there's strangers in the world that you have that you wouldn't even know. And that's the one good thing I would take from social media,
But incredible obviously for the sake of it's helping people and I've had so many messages saying like it's healed me and they don't understand that them saying that is healing me. Because It's knowing that I've used something that I've been through and whatever pain and anything that I've felt, it's now gone into something to help people and I couldn't ask for more than that. I really, really, that's the main thing in my job is just to help people and if it was something I'd always said, if I weren't going to be a singer, I wanted to be a doctor.
It’s anything to just to give back to people is my main aim because a lot of that gets lost now. So it's trying to have emotion. It’s alright to feel emotion.”
On whether her family would be surprised by the lyrics to ‘Family Matters’...
“My whole family understands the same feelings, so it's like we're all kind of in it together. As much as we're all a nightmare, it works because we all understand. We've all had our own hell in each of our own ways and we've dealt with it in different ways, but we've all kind of had the same feeling nonetheless.”
On writing music for other people...
“I’ve had the up and down with this because I would love to, because again, I love to share music, so to share my music with other people and watch someone else find success in that would be incredible. But it's also hard because like I say, they are so close and personal to me, my feelings and do you know what I mean? It's like, I dunno if I could really allow that to be given to somebody else because mainly everything I write is very, very personal and it's all about my story. So I suppose it just depends. I suppose if I meet someone and they have a similar story to me and they connect and it's something that they find peace in, then I definitely would. Like I said, that's what music's for is to share”
On more music incoming...
I've been asked for an album since before Hairdresser was even out and I was like, well, one song's not even out yet! I can't really do that for you, but it’s on the way. It takes a lot longer than people think and even for me, it took a lot longer than I even thought, but we got there in the end and it's happening. It's slowly. We're getting there. You'll get them in time. Patience.