Quotes from Freya Ridings

Songwriting really anchored me.

I'm on a group chat with my dad which he named 'Dearest Daughter'. It's so sweet because I don't think he really understands that a group chat normally has more than two people but I love chatting with him in it anyway.

I'm obsessed with Beyonce. She's just effervescent, I love her.

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 love the acoustic sets. Growing up, me and my dad would always watch those because we loved seeing the songs stripped back.

At school I was really heavily dyslexic, so I really struggled academically with reading and writing.

When I first started, I'd play to a few people. My mum would invite everyone she knew and the venue was filled.

I followed my gut and my subconscious told me the kind of music I wanted to create. But it wasn't easy.

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.

I realised, however, that you can't sing when you're playing the violin - or at least I can't - and as that aspect of performing is important to me I shifted to the piano.

You know the way you tell your life story to a friend? I just told mine to a piano.