creating a safe space that's the most important thing for me I've had so many experiences with a lot of Studios feeling like I have to do something when I'm here so creating a space where we don't feel like we have to create maybe we just have a coffee today as a human you want to always be the best person or do things perfectly or do things right but what is right you
know and I feel like having some Grace with myself and being like it's all right it's fine you'll figure it out music is a gift but few artists share with such a universal generosity as Cleo Soul it's timeless music from and for the soul for those of us who listen the experience is profound and counted only with the wish that the world knew up until now Cleo has chosen to speak almost entirely through her
music after all not every story needs to be told but in the organic fashion in which she moves the Stars aligned and here we are talking life with a student of it maybe today we'll find you and the music will move you and you too will want the world to know Cleo Soul this is so amazing I've been in a lot of recording studios as you can imagine and um not all of them are that calming sometimes they can be quite
high frequency places to go into yeah I know what you mean like me and Flo speak about it like sometimes we go to some studios and they feel like airports that's the only thing I can cuz you're passing by aren't you it's a transaction yeah it's like come in and give us your creative give us some money and you leave with some creative yeah but then you sort of leave your creative there as
well sometimes which is like I don't know it's weird and this place doesn't have any sense of time playing a dominant role in here yeah it's it eats up time and it's beautiful but I'm a mom too so I'm like right don't want to look at my clock I want to turn my phone off or have it in the side of the room but at the same time yeah when it comes to the second time I need to go pick up my son that is the challenge
right is is is knowing how to listen to your creative instincts and feed your spirit but also know that what's also feeding your spirit is leaving and going and being a part of this other part of your life yeah and that's so fulfilling as well I'm thankful for the ears for listening because you don't know if people want to hear that you don't know if people want to hear your struggles
being a parent and also becoming a mom like having an understanding from others which I never had before like a love for parents a love for people who show up for their kids is is different you know yeah you captured that so uh perfectly on mother and that that feeling continues through your music um but I I just want to say thank you for taking the time to meet with with me today thank you I appreciate it it's a
like a it's a big deal to talk because it has to be true you know so it draws me to want to talk to you but I but I only want to sort of have a conversation about whatever it is you want to talk about because you've said everything to us through your music Ah that's good to hear cuz that that was the goal that was honestly the goal it was like you have your life and you you have this gift you
don't know if it's a something that people want to hear you don't know your stories are things that people want to hear but you do it anyway um and people are listening and it's nice it's a nice people send me nice messages and sometimes I can't read them I have to like it's so much it can be quite heavy um and I'm like whoa like you listen to my music through that and that's I'm like okay that's what God has
given me this gift for and I just pray every day I wake up I'm like I just pray you use me for the day that's the most important uh thing yeah it's clear to you understand the importance of Letting Go and allowing yourself to be a vessel yeah it's the most important thing I've I've done the like go to Studio yeah I know what I'm doing and nothing comes out and then you're like oh I'm really
like like wow like what happens like yeah I can sing I know I can sing but there's more to it than just having a nice voice there's there's the stories there's the intention not overdoing it not I don't like the to perfect thing I don't know what it is I know it's God so I'm like I try and keep my vessel clear and clean and try not to let too much distractions get in the way that's really tough we
live in a world that's just constantly distracting yeah all the time every day every second you wake up yeah yeah it's it's being present and being in the moment I think is one of the greatest and most um fulfilling disciplines you can apply to your life but it's very hard to get there and in all credit to everybody all of us around the world it is constant constant process yeah and
that's an understanding we all have as well do you know what I mean like I feel like that's we're all like how do you get focused how do we do it and share these kind of some people got the gems do you know what I mean and it's like getting those gems and giving your gems to somebody else this is one of the things I love about getting to know you through your music um and understanding the
relationships that you've developed through making your music with flow with your friends with the with the group of people that you create with that you live a life in process yeah and I mean if let's take it back to Rose in the dark you know one love is a beautiful opening statement it says that we're all in this together but really the first line to me that like smacks Me Right Between the Eyes in a beautiful way is
why don't you just let go it's like the first thing you say when you came back and made an album yeah and I feel like you were telling yourself that even though I take that personally yeah it's definitely me talking to myself just put everything aside all the rubbish um and when that album was made I was in a I was in a studio flat living with Flo we were living together really trying to
figure it out though like super rough fun but not having a focus and there's no pathway like there's no you can have people who do music but it's not the way you might want to do it or you might there might be people who inspire you but it's like that doesn't feel like that's what I'm supposed to do so just having a person to bounce back on and also he is he's a real reflection and a mirror so we're both
like every day we face each other we have these conversations and then we're like well we can't lie on our music now we might as well tell the truth you know so it's like no he's like you can say it better or I'm like that's let's come again you know like Lally like and he's like true like we we like face each other like that which is a beautiful I guess understanding and relationship and it just keeps gr which
is really um nice but that's the rose in the that was the start of like the keep it 100 you know it's the most beautiful place to start for any human being is to ask yourself to let go because then you open yourself up I think to everything that is going to to to to roll out before you yeah the highs and the lows right but it's like understand control is a is a myth yes 100% I love that um
when I when it dawned on me that that was that was a conversation with self yeah um and it really kind of brought home to it to me and everyone who listens I think that you understood the importance of Med manifesting Your Truth through music from the jump that time yeah and because you'd been through and you talked about this a little bit and we have to get stuck in the past but I think it'd be good to just at least from
my perspective understand the lessons you learned from starting and stopping yeah and then coming back with flow and realizing that no if if we're going to do this honesty and Truth are the key principles yeah definitely I think I went from college I was 15 16 and I met a producer um Da Vinci great guy he was doing like Grime at the time um and we just started working straight away and
it was my foot in the door for the music industry not necessarily what I wanted to do in terms of the type of music The Sound but I was like look I'm a singer I can get my writing in I've got a cool relationship with a producer were you in a hurry I think I was scared that I was going to lose any opportunity that came my way so I sort of said yes to everything and it was like I didn't I
don't think I knew my worth so I didn't know first of all I didn't know why I was doing it I just knew I had a nice voice and if I was to speak to my younger self now I'd be like figure out what you want to say how you want to say it maybe live a few years before you start writing I don't I think I was a slow developer in terms of like you meet some 18 19 year olds now and they are
locked in they they are on point my little brother and sister are like grown adults but they're 21 and 16 but me I was definitely like I'm in college I like music and um I just took the opportunity which I think is is part of the plan because I think if I didn't there's so many people that I met that had got to flow through all of these relationships but yeah I I would tell myself find out what you want to talk
about why do you want to do music like why do you want to do music the why is so crucial I'd say to every artist like I feel like a lot of artists have it figured out right now because there's so much music I guess that moment when you realized that you needed to figure out your why and you decided to just sort of not release music I don't know if you're still creating problem or maybe not but
you you just kind of walked away I sort of was like what am I doing you know and I think building a relationship with God was like the foundation to the why so it's like you had this gift and it's a tiny quiet voice figure it out write about what you're going through write about was in a bit of a dark space because I was like this was supposed to be the thing you know the lights camera
action and it and it wasn't um because I wasn't being true to myself you just got to be transparent be your authentic self and that's what I've created your path for I think you know I did end up getting so Flo actually got me a computer and it was a I had Garage Band on it and that's when I was like okay let's have some fun let's I made beats with my voice and like layered it with my voice and then first of all it was
just a bunch of melodies for a long time and then it was like let me start talking about about stuff you know and then yeah the honesty came out and that was quite hard cuz I I didn't grow up with too much uh transparency with the EM motion so it was just like just get on with it stay strong keep it pushing so there wasn't that the conversations didn't really happen there wasn't time do you know what I mean my mom was a
single mom so it's like just get on with it do you know what I mean so how many siblings how many brothers and sisters so there's eight of us yeah on my dad's side though so um I'd see we'd see everyone every Wednesday and then back to m mom's house for the rest of the week and music played a big role in your in big role big role just everyone like all my brothers and sisters are talented
dad talented mom dad can play like a 100 instrument no he can play like five or six instruments mom plays like three instruments music was just always playing so it wasn't like oh what's that playing it was just like there was just always a hum of music do you remember like what what songs or what albums or what artists really take you back there do you know what my dad used to rinse
Bob Marley and the Fiji I feel like oh my God it's a great music always like always yeah cuz the score is perfect I mean it's sort of perfect that album yeah it's not you know I didn't really register cuz I must have been about five or four at the time when I got older I was like ah respect was it always just fun to get you out there or did you feel a responsibility of like well if I can sing and everyone
loves music should I go out there and do something with this would this help no I felt like my role in the family was different to my role as me being a musician weirdly enough so you know you have family Dynamics so like I'm sort of the middle older child but I was at the time like a middle child so it was like I was sort of to myself but then in the house we were loud and we were Rowdy and
it was fun but we all play our sibling roles um so I wasn't really like I'm the singer I wasn't like that but then outside I would do when I was like a teenager I would do talent shows in my area but I wouldn't really like mix the family funny enough I don't know why yeah but that was I have a thing sometimes where I'm a bit of a recluse but at the same time I like to be on stage so is it escapism do you think a
little bit maybe yeah I feel like it's a part of myself maybe that's not my role in the family like still to this day when I'm with my family when I'm with my mom or any family it's not about like I'm here this is what I'm doing it's sort of like how are you guys let's chat how's everyone feeling we you know we we level with each other like honestly and truly and it's not about sort of like
maybe what we do you know even though it's part of it uh the stories are definitely woven into to the music how important was meeting Flo toward and Flo toward getting you to that place where you could be unafraid with your subject matter and with your songs so important like the most life-changing thing I think we both had been through so much stuff when we met each other we were just sort of like we no one's backing us
no one was waiting for music no one was there was no nothing it wasn't there was I had like one team me member at the time who wasn't answering my emails and I love her to this day like we still communicate but at the time it just you know it fades out and there's nothing going on and I wasn't really doing much and he had come back from America it didn't work out there and we met and he
was like the first thing he said I was like I don't want autotune on my voice we linked up through our managers who we don't have now but that's why I'm saying it's a blessing in disguise and he was like I don't use autotune and I was like good like whoa like whoa this is great this is I he was like you don't need auto tune and I was like I know but this is the thing I battle with with people
you know I love that that's a that's such a powerful observation for you um and an important turning point because it's like it it really speaks to the time as well which was everyone was leaning into technology everyone was leaning into shortcuts everyone was leaning into Perfection everyone was leaning into these into these spaces where efficiency is a key ingredient yeah and just just to make a state
simple statement like I don't use autotune to me it says I take my time yeah I trust the artist and the and the natural voice I capture in the room and the moment the the moment is so important that live when you go to a show there's a moment and there might be a little bum not or there might be a little crisp or you know but that's the moment sometimes that's the moment where when I'm watching a show I cry and I
connect cuz I'm like oh they they feel it they feel what they're singing about so then I feel it you know no I'm definitely crying for like yeah like a lot of the takes I'm not joking probably like 95 or 96% of the takes flows like sing and I'm like I can't sing I can't sing but now I listen to it I'm like wow it's captured and I'm grateful but the Gold album was like it was a a long time coming um and
it was one it was like what are we doing this for um and it ended up being every song was the relationship with God and giving thanks and um the relationship that was built and is vulnerable it's like a that's one that's like I didn't know if I ever wanted to release that album cuz it was like so like heart opening came out literally 2 weeks after heaven was that part of the reason why it came out
so quickly was because you came to that conclusion within that two weeks to release the album um is to be fair it was kind of off the cuff so it was like I wanted to put music out and Heaven Was A a mix of stuff we had um which I loved which I had we had comped together and then he and then gold was a a finished product um but I was like we can't just leave Heaven Heaven's not to be left
Heaven's to be loved and and and given um because otherwise we call them hard drive Classics they just stay in the studio forever how many hard drive Classics so many hard drive Classics Drive Classics so many hard drive Classics but like we were just like this we need to it needs to live beyond us and that's I can't listen to the music until it's out so I don't listen sometimes Flo will be like you got to
listen to the song just about to mix it I'm like it's fine it's fine that's trust yeah but I but as I'm like as long as my vocals as long as like as long as I'm on key and I've said the my right words you know we've got we've got cuz we we're so intimate when we record it's literally like this it's literally like I'll have the mic here or I'll have the mic here so it's like no we don't like that one
let's do another one we don't like mess around with like millions of takes it's it's a performance most of the time we do the whole song and then we'll layer the stuff over it and it's more about we spoke about this the other day sometimes we don't know when we've got it but we're like it sounds all right and then we listen to it like oh we had it we just didn't know you know how would you
know you're not even listening to it you had the I think that's important for sing as you know that's like as long as I sound cool you know and I said what I needed to say and the intention was there and it wasn't forced cuz I think when for me personally if I do like 30 or 40 takes it's gone the the feeling the words have gone I'm like now I'm just reading lines off a paper well it
suggests that you're searching for something resembling Perfection yeah which is it's kind of in contrast to what we're talking about which is the idea of capturing the emotion yeah I love that you that you cried during your singing it sounds like an almost sadistic thing to say like I love that you're crying when you're singing it's like it's so Raw it's so raw and it's it I really feel it when I'm singing I
really feel it so I really believe it's healing because I'm like it's making me cry and I don't want to cry cuz I'm trying to get a mess vocal cuz when I cry go key so I'm like fighting but I think it's meant to be is there a song that you've recorded in here that was particularly I I know they all are or or one or two that were really touching for you that you really felt experience
emotion in a different way yeah I think the songs from gold I think lost angel in your own home it's about being safe um trusting um I feel like I'm going to have a little moment but like my my cousin passed away last year and they played lost Angel but I could I didn't end up going cuz I was doing the salt gig um but for it to be used he actually had messaged this to me before he passed away he had messaged that was his
favorite song of the album but so when I hear it I think of him but in a beautiful way you know I just know it's bigger than me and I think that's why I get emotional sometimes cuz I'm like it's overwhelming you know I know that it's like I'm just being used as a vessel I worry sometimes that that music is because we have so much of it in our life and we hear it everywhere we go and it's constantly
omnipresent that sometimes we actually don't take the time to acknowledge how good it is for us yeah like we tune it out sometimes yeah and and we do a good job of trying of trying to kind of like compartmentalize it and sell it and do all these things which is important when I listen to music I listen to like I listen to Bob Mary a lot um it's healing people refer to your music as healing
and and you've been referred to as a Healer through music and yeah I wanted to know your thoughts on that because I don't think how it can be received any other way but with gratitude but equally but equally it's one of those things that like if you go too deep into it the sense of responsibility you might feel for healing other people can be a lot yeah and I'm a human exactly I'm I'm merely a human and I want to say that in
a way that we're all the same and we all got our we all have our faults I think what I'm trying to say is that I know it's God so I try and I do genuinely try and show up for that and use my stories and try and literally try and use the vessel because and and not wrong myself for you know if I have a bad day and not feel bad about it like I'm not even going to lie like I've had such a mad
night you know what it's like with kids my boy's three and a half he's like wait he woke up at 1200 yeah he's on his time and then he went to sleep at like 3: I was like please I need some sleep and then I W up fine so I was like give thanks you know that I work up fine and I feel I feel good and I feel calm and and thank you as well for like thank you for the whole team as well for being so
gracious as well so your relationship with God and and the way that you that you um describe faith in music is that is that it's it's you have to work at it you have to work at it I think so it's relationship it's a relationship Rel you can't expect it to to to be there for you have to give something in order to receive there's a reciprocation that goes on here yeah conversation yeah and you and I I've gotten I think I've
gotten better at understand understanding the conversation and it's more of a feeling that's the the only thing I can explain it it's not like a yes or no I don't hear a voice or anything it's more just like a feeling am I doing the right thing songs like in your own home and don't let me for speak to an environment that wasn't always as calm as the one you're trying to create now yeah 100% and being a parent and
creating an album like mother when I listen to that now it it sounds to me like a someone who's discovered motherhood but needs to acknowledge and address some of the failings or areas in life as a as a child that you experience in to be the you can be is that what thatb kind of represents yeah definitely and I think um both my parents we're all humans so becoming a parent my parents
were like 25 26 when they became parents you have to understand they wanted to be musicians they didn't know what they were doing they were in love it was you know fast love you know just like they had a child they didn't end up staying together so um yeah it was up and down I think when I had made that album I was it was so fresh being a mother and what I would do differently and what I feel
like my Dad should have done differently now I've come to a state of like I was saying earlier like Grace and understanding that I have an understanding how hard to be a parent is you have the experience I had the experience so I just I want to give them love if anything I want I have so much love for parents because it's like it's not easy and just like respect to everyone trying and just showing up in
the way that they know like to be honest with you there wasn't like I was saying there's not there wasn't a lot of communication in my home like in terms of you know what's going on parents going through things my mom's mom passed away my mom's dad passed away my dad you know passing away in the family friends the communication is just like that person's Gone to Heaven there's not conversation about death about grieving
just anything emotions if you're having a bad day most of the time when a parents wild like going nuts at a child it's usually not the child's fault they're probably dealing with something and having that understanding now are they were just young people trying to figure it out you know yeah and feeling that album out through that what was the time frame I know you said it was really
fast after becoming a mother that you began to make that record yeah it was like within two weeks wow yeah it was like I just didn't know what I was doing I was like I've had a baby now and he's not doing much he like sitting there so there is a recording which is an amazing recording I I look hella like stressed and like what the hell am I doing they just gave me a baby so so now I'm a parent like but
that's what happened with ma he was literally there he was on the sofa and I was singing the vocals and you made the decision after you became a parent to start making this music yeah I think the whole of the pregnancy I was really feeling creative um but not really actualizing it um always listening and making music but not creating something of substance sometimes and just I think
it's important to live life like as a creative it's important to live life fill life out that's how I personally grow so then when it came to mother I was like oh I'm a whole different person now even like 1 hour after I become a mom I'm a whole different person now cuz now it's not about me did you feel when you when you began to sing the songs that they did did it feel different the
way you were approaching your music as well yeah and I think what people don't tell you is when you become a parent your relationships of every single other person changes as well so that's that was overnight my family the relationships changed my friends um and then you start to think time is so important so why am I meeting you I know that sounds mad but I don't have time to spare because I have a child who needs
me so it has to we have to give something to each other when we're meeting each other and I had to sort of set new boundaries in place um that was interesting and it was a lot with family have to set boundaries in place you know when you do have a a small child and You Begin just when you start a family um those who have families understand yes and so and so they allow you to move in
that space But yeah there there is some letting go there's a lot of letting go yeah it's pretty it can be pretty tough it can be quite harrowing at times actually to know that the relationships that have we've held so close to you are just changing in front of your very eyes yeah and there's nothing you can do about it as well you can't like hold it on to it CU it's not the it will never be the same as it was it can it can
change become something new or not and and I think that's okay as well I wasn't in the beginning I was like what the heck is going going on and then now I'm probably at a place which I think I was speaking to a lot of people who had kids and they were like it's going to change for you yeah and I didn't understand it though cuz I didn't even have the baby it's just like had a big belly like that's why it's so amazing
when they listen to mother again just another example of you being in the room with flow and just exercising truth and honesty and being as present as possible because you really captured that that sensation of trying to that feeling of unconditional love from the second that it begin but also like I said acknowledging that I've got to let go some old some old trauma some old thinking yeah I had to
go through a lot of therapy and a lot of figuring stuff out when I became a parent and I feel like mother was your version of that yeah probably didn't know at the time probably now listening to it I'm like wow it was very very deep very deep and um I'm grateful so grateful for it there was like conversations in the house like the whole family were in the house while we were recording mother
it was around Christmas time and I had my son in January so it was like around that time that's when everyone's hanging out this is this is crazy that you're like literally making this album most you parents are just finding out where their support system is and trying to figure out who's going to help me when I'm really tired and and where's where's my mom or my brother or my brother and
sister-in-law who's going to be here yeah and you're like where's the mic was like where's the M got to say to say I was like I got I got so much to say yes I've had a child he need he's been listening to all this like we've been talking having these conversations now it's important to get it out so it's out you get a sense that now that rise is is growing and is developing you know real
identity and starting to speak and figure out funny who he is right it's amazing when it starts to happen he doesn't like me singing yet oh my gosh but do you do you sort of recognize that experience even as an infant stayed with him that there was an absorbing of what you were doing and creating with him right next to you that you see that he was quiet for long time he was quiet for a long time and I saw myself in him a
lot because still to this day I can be uh I wouldn't say I'm an introvert I just say I'm to myself and then I only speak if I feel it's necessary I don't feel like I need to insert myself in any conversation unless I feel it's necessary or what I've got to say is important or not or I just feel like I have something to contribute and I see that in him when now but now he's really
come out of his show and I think at home he's just so comfortable and in him and he feels safe which I love that but he would just look at us and you know and and then sometimes just cry if the music was playing and now he's more just like if he sees a handheld he like la la la gra la la farts really so he's I just like I just love it I just like the confidence I just like the silliness and it brings
light it doesn't make the music so serious as well it it seems to me that it's been really instrumental that building a family with flow has been really instrumental in enabling you to create space and privacy yeah which are two things you obviously really value yes because even just being in here feels really special oh I just wanted kind of like a whether that was by Design or it's just inherently who
you are that that we don't need to be everywhere we don't need to do everything we don't need to tour like everyone else tours we don't need to leave this room if we don't want to we can just do it our way yeah I think creating a safe space I think both of us had so many experiences like we were saying about a lot of Studios feeling like airports and sometimes you feel like I have to do something when I'm
here not feeling that pressure so creating a space where we don't feel like we have to create maybe we just have a coffee today and we warm into it and then maybe tomorrow we try something it's not like we have to do this we have to because I feel like that Force thing that's when you're creating from another place so yeah creating a place where it feels like the intention is the tools
are here oh yeah but we don't necessarily need to make something in the second Flo actually taught me that to slow down and to just never on the first day think you're going to create something I always think I'm going to create something on the first day cuz I'm an Aries so I'm like fine I got this like I got up early I done my workout I'm ready to go and then I'm like I got no words I got nothing to say I got to
go cuz I'm like I don't like to hang out in the studio for too long yeah cuz I feel like I don't know I'm I'm I'm a mover second day I'm like okay let me stay put let me stay here and then we stop you know whatever you can share with us about the proc process of how this these songs kind of begin to take shape because as you say everything is here I mean when I walk in here and I
see the instruments lined up the way they are and the way that all these instruments are M and just how everything is just so beautifully arranged I I I would be like Oh I'm just going to go to the drums I'm just going to start and I wonder how it is for the two of you and how these how you create a song like I don't know let's start with like um reason or airplane or heaven or any of these beautiful songs
like how do they begin it's hard to explain like you know you just you make the music flow a lot of the time starts with a music chord sometimes you can play for a long time and I don't feel anything and then like I might be like yo that one there and that's when we start building off uh the feeling it's always the feeling you know um your relationship with groov and dynamic is obviously is is very sort of
instinctive and and you you move through things you have no problem creating bring putting soul and song structure over Groove but then sometimes I hear a song like playing and I'm like okay this feels like it was like a campfire situation where it's like the guitar gets played and it's like it just feels very natural so I just love to just talk to you a little bit about that song
because I think it's one of those moments that really for me is like it's a very special song there that was that's a really special song to me as well actually that was I think Flo had a voice note on his phone of a guitar I think it might have been Jack playing I was like what that and then we went upstairs and just started writing that was a really quick writing song um and that's when I'm like I don't know where
that comes from cuz it was like put the vocal down wow really really quick and then it was making me cry um yeah always crying and it wasn't it wasn't something it I think it was like 20 minutes or 30 minutes um yeah and that was definitely that's when I'm like I don't know where that stuff comes from but it's from God I believe is that challenging for you at times to let the music go no I think
that's I think sometimes I don't ever want anyone to have any expectations of me because it's me being an artist and I think a lot of artists feel that that they feel like they just want to have fun and sometimes that has to be the hard drive classic but a lot of the time it just it should be okay to just put stuff out and and move on and that can be part of your like when you look at like Stevie Wonder
and a lot of the great they got hundreds of work and things out and that's okay they just move on to the next and there will be the classics there but not to hold yourself I don't want to hold myself in the past I want to keep creating and I know that there's so many stories in me that need to be told so every day we keep showing up and we keep writing and hopefully more projects come
you know time and time again but sort of letting it go and that's when I'm like when it's released I'm like I can breathe and move on now you know it's not just sitting there project so I'm so glad you said that because I feel like um we can as fans as an industry as people who invest in the Arts we can with good intentions misunderstand the intentions of the artist yeah and I
think artists really really respond to your music and the way you respond to theirs yeah true artists understand what it is that you're trying to achieve and they respond to it they hear it differently they speak a different language yeah and sort of I I I just wanted kind of what what's important to you and where do you think we could do better in terms of helping to to support and understand the artistic Spirit
rather than marginalize it or commodify it or control it yeah I think for me honestly per personally I I see a lot of artists they struggle with um they get put in a box but I genuinely feel like I'm embraced and I feel like whoa this is like very special and so I want to give thanks for that first but also embrace it and not feel like I genuinely feel like I'm embraced for who I am which is really
beautiful and what I talk about and it's so raw and authentic and I feel like how come people are embracing that you know but maybe people need their story to be told too so I appreciate that but I know that a lot of artists feel like they don't want to be put in a box and that's a scary place to be put in because we're ever changing and we're ever growing and I'm not the same person as I was I'm 34
when I was 24 you know what I mean and you changed so much every year to embrace that change so I wouldn't I wouldn't ask anyone to do anything different just accept the things and it's a sensitive Journey yes isn't it yes it's definitely it's vulnerable and it can be scary but I think it's important to it's like the music you go into to anything you you don't know what the outcome's going to be but you just
say just let me let the intention be good it feels right hopefully we hope for the best you know and then we prepare anyway but try not to think about all the the negative stuff that could happen yeah because otherwise how do you make music that holds people accountable and that's the other thing that you've you've one of the other things you've done is that at times you've written songs and and
collaborated in environments that I don't know if I'm allowed to or not allowed to talk about that you know um from a sort of mysterious remarkable creative exercise point of thank you what's amazing about about that that project in that Collective of creative people and and your role is that that's your safe place to be able to to fight too yeah and have fun though yeah just
to have fun so like I can keep the slow chill music music for K soul and Sal is like that's like you know we have so many sides I can do my my jungle yeah it's important I think as people just not just don't box ourselves have fun and I feel like I have such a freedom through that Avenue um and embracing other people meeting so many cool musicians who also feel I just want to have fun I want to say important
things I want to talk about what's going on in the world I W to I want to love I want to embrace people um and change things and try and change you know things that might need to be changed in the way that we can but with self-expectation not expectation from others that's the that's the crucial difference right I think so yeah cuz you're just going to get frustrated yeah how can you want someone to change who
might not be ready to change or want to change even you're just going to get frustrated in yourself do you like to collaborate in the room with people or do you prefer to do it that way it just depends like I feel like it has to be the right when we meet each other that's what it is so I can be I'm a fan of a lot of most artists I'm fans of I like people's writing I'm inspired by a lot
of artists but I do feel like it's important to have that connection when you meet each other cuz it might be a different thing when you actually meet each other so it's always like I'm sort of always like hey hey you know like what's the connection like and how how can we feel each other out I stay really true to the music and then if we align if I align with other artists that's
great and if not that's also great as well cuz I'm always I'm a fan first I'm a fan from the sidelines I go to performances all the time who do you love everyone I love chronics that's like right now that's who I love but honestly I've said to Flo that's so far it's my favorite stuff you've done like above everything like it's my fav right now they might have someone beat it but that's my favorite person um and I'm a
fan of all the girl artists cuz I'm a girl so it's like just seeing all the girl you know Cesar yeah who loves you I love Cesar I love her um all of them all the girls um Shaka Khan I saw her um tiny desk oh my God Erica sorry sorry no no no we can keep talking about music all day I mean I these are these are artists that you know these are these are iconic voices and say it is that now
and I think when I spoke to her in New York and she she was like I don't know I just I mean when I'm feeling down I'll just listen to Cleo soul and I saw this clip and I was like this is so nice we follow each other and like we've sent each other like a little DM hey hey hey but she's just very true to it um there's a few girls that are F and but some I don't but I'm a fan of music so
whenever anybody's in town I'm like I'm going to see them I'm just like lowy put my hood on at the back you know just like taking in the music what's it like um not being around when you are around because what tends to happen and it's kind of like this this sort of brilliant contradiction is that by not being around very much when you do show up it's a bigger deal than if you're around
all the time no but you'd be surprised it's not people are like I don't know if it's a London thing but people are just like hey like people are mad cool most of the time I see most people when I'm out with my family people are just cool they're just like sometimes a little tap on the shoulder hi just wanted to say love the music and I'm always like I love just talking to people anyway so it's always cool like going to
a gig yeah sometimes but I don't feel I never feel I always feel safe people will definitely want me to ask because this is the first opportunity I've had to do so um what your feeling is about performing live I watched the the footage of the Roy hor show and it was amazing it looked like you're coming off a 2ear run and then you know you realize you've done like five shows so um and
and I don't and I I say that in full knowledge that as you say you know you're balancing this part of what you love in your family which is also very important to you has there been sort of a conversation that's been had with you and Flo or even just within yourself about what it is to perform live what you're willing to do not willing to do or is it just a case of time it's a case of both it's a casee of wherever we go
the family goes and it needs to be set up so that everyone feels safe and it's aligned so literally working around the family and I think I want to do a few shows you want to do shows but touring is different to shows yeah so I want to do a few shows maybe in a few cities but I don't want to do a million I don't want to do a tour like I want to do maybe one city and then hopeing people
will come to me I'm hoping for the best what is performing for someone who does it so rarely it's it's a rare opportunity for me to get the perspective of what performing is life when you do so few because most people I talk to have done hundreds or thousands of shows yeah I feel like I've done thousands and I'll tell you why I've done like local talent shows empty pubs empty bars the best training now like
when I look back it I'm like it's the best training because you're performing people who don't give a about you so you have to care about yourself and not walk off because of Pride like no one's watching me no that's carry on the performance go do your full set have some pride in yourself and then go and be like okay I've done that and I feel good you know what there was one person there they weren't even looking
at me they were talking on the phone I'm saying this is from the age of about 12 I was doing like local local community shows until even when I was about up to like 21 like seriously shows of nobody there most of the time and um I feel like that was the best training for me so now I'm like I get super nervous beforehand but I always pray um and we have a family member called Leon who
comes and prays over us makes me cry every time I'm seriously just a cry baby and then um I I just pray that I get used and that the nerves are okay it's just adrenaline Go on the stage and I feel instantly calm and that's my favorite part performing actually not the recording so interesting yeah it's my favorite part seeing people that's like oh wow we're singing the songs together shows real sort of um a real s
of restraint to stop yourself from indulging in the thing that you love doing the most all the time yeah but then looking forward to it like Christmas like it's just like I'm going to look forward to this and make this really special and it's going to be something that only the people in the room are going to remember and yeah people record and all of that good stuff but we're going this is going to be a
feeling that we can all resonate and look back on and look forward to the next one hopefully I was amazing watching you come out at the Royal Albert Hall Show when I was watching the Youtube footage of it because I wasn't obviously here um and watching just the reaction from the crowd yeah and there is something to be said about like less is more in that environment and it feels
like a special occasion for everybody else but that being said do you see actually see yourself going out and doing shows in the in in the in the near future yeah definitely next year I want to do some shows great so that's that's something I'm working towards it's going to be wild for everybody wildly emotional because we have all these albums that we've grown to love and really really inside out I mean and I
don't really know people's yes I see messages but I don't really know people's favorites so I'm like I hope I do this sish Justice I'm a fan myself like so when I see artists I don't want them like I want them to enjoy doing their favorite song but I want you to sing my favorite song that's why I'm coming to see you so I think it's really important to have that relationship with people who listen to the music to see
what do you want to hear you know what I mean and I think that I always wanted the artist to take my you know I want to feel important too you know and I want to want you to perform that song cuz you know I love that song I went to see Jill Scott this year she done golden at the end and that was a song I was waiting for and I was like I hope she performs it when she done it I was like she was
she was I'm doing this for you guys and I was like yes you know so that was good that was yeah I always want to do things for meet people halfway do my favor and your favor too you know how does London feel right now for people who don't live here and I feel that you're such an important voice considering your family heritage and the Jamaican side of things you're such an important voice it feels
very London to me like the music you make is seems like it comes from this beautiful Multicultural experience people trying to get through so what's London feel like to you and and does it inspire you creatively I think the rush the hustle and the bustle um it's it's there's so many things to do in London and I think um being around my family and friends that's the most important thing here for me is my family and
friends everybody's close so I have that sort of support that unit that Network that's the most important thing for me it does get a lot though it can be a lot in terms of it when the busyness of it all and that's when Jamaica is like to check out yeah it's calling me old friends is a really important song for me when I listen to it because it's like the celebration of the end of something
it's it's it's it's lamenting it but also in a way of like I'm free now I have space and time to go and apply my energy somewhere else more importantly that's going to give me something back yeah what's important to you in terms of what are the key attributes to to Friendship to create that loyalty do you think loyalty yeah I think loyalty is like up there that's probably my number one thing
honesty um sometimes I see it as a blessing in the curse that I'm really good at reading people so sometimes just like I just don't even want to see someone cuz I'm like I just I like honesty so I'm like just say what you feel mean what you say and then we can go from there and create new boundaries if we need to and I think that's very important one of the most important things in relationships is I'm not who I
was before so the things you used to be able to say get away with maybe you might not be able to do that now you know and don't get offended by that but just don't leave it unspoken don't leave it unspoken that's the hard part for me um and I think uh fun just like just being I've always said just like I can be my just joke self and just like be silly and not be like huh you're weird you know just
like be wacky and be silly and be fine and like be child have the childish Spirit about you I feel like all my brothers and sisters we're like that we're just goofy when we each other and I feel like that's very important for me I just love that and that's like it makes me truly happy you know just not to life is serious being an adult is so serious and sometimes it's like you just
want to have fun it's incredible you've got to this point in your life and and you're able to acknowledge that and you're able to exercise it too and live in it because like I said I often times you hear music from people who who want to create a sense of Truth and honesty and it feels like it was ready made and I and I really feel like we've gotten to know you over the course of your albums that's the human aspect
isn't it that's just like you as a human you want to always be the best person or do things perfectly or do things right but what is right you know and I think feel like yeah having some Grace with myself and being like it's all right it's fine you'll figure it out or you know whatever else um are there some songs that you feel you can't listen to cuz they're too intense for you I can't
really listen to mother to be honest with you you when I per still to this day when I perform of I cry and build me up and I find I love you to be very I love oh my god there see the slow ones I can't sing the slow ones it's so deep and then for me to sing it I have to sing from that place yeah it's not you can't just sing it you can't just be like la I love you I've heard every word you said except I love you it's just
like and then you called I love you which is just such a bold statement it says when I'm going to press play on this it's like here comes the love song and it's like that kind of love song no it's not it's not it's like um Maxwell's Pretty Wings isn't that sort of you think it's a nice love song it's about departure and the beautiful thing about music is you can be singing the song and
not really know how deep it is I feel like and Bob Miley does that a lot he's got like Who the Cap fits there's just so many songs that you're like No Woman No Cry you're singing it and you're like this is so deep you know what he's talking about and to me that's the beauty of music music Stevie Wonder does it all the time Marvin Gay the layers will never truly understand yeah the
depth of it and it's healing when you're singing it yeah sometimes you have to dance to get the message and sometimes you have to cry to feel happy and all these things that kind of seem to contradict each other you do are you making new music I am I want to play you something too yeah I am I'm always making I'm always making new music to put it out that's another story this stuff I do want to put out um so
building it in the process of building it so um yeah I want to I don't know how we can play it to you yeah we play it now yeah hey amazing oh my God this is epic it's called fear when you fly I'm so excited can I put up to my ear yes [Music] thanks if you see me know that I not broken and even though my head may be low I will not [Music] lose thank you so much thank if you notice that my smile heart