In Conversation With #271 - Izzy S.O
West Midlands born artist Izzy S.O recently shared her gorgeous sophomore EP ‘Silly Me’ - a truly impressive coming of age record.
Silly Me is rich in life lessons. Created as Izzy navigated her way through the early years of adulthood, it represents an empowering journey which has led her to be the confident and talented artist you see today, who is bursting with potential. Sharing more, she explained: The EP sums up my emotions from leaving school at 16 to now - it’s been a whirlwind but I finally feel like life is making a bit more sense. That’s why it was important to me that the last single of the EP was Growing Pains. Growing pains was the lesson out of all the emotion and chaos, it’s finally facing myself without any attachments or distractions.
She took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Izzy - how are you? So your EP is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
I actually feel relieved mainly - I feel like I’ve been waiting patiently for most of this year to be able to release it. Also, now that it’s out and I can no longer change anything I can listen to the EP and enjoy it without the perfectionist part of my brain questioning it.
It is called ‘Silly Me’ - what is the meaning behind that?
‘Silly Me’ has so many meanings, that’s why I picked it as the title. It means a different thing to me depending on which day I look at it. In its literal sense it’s ‘Silly Me’ for not always being real and for sometimes losing myself trying to please other people but it’s also the complete opposite it’s the underlying knowing that I’ve actually been really strong over the past few years and handled quite tough situations with a sense of humour. It’s also in those moments having dealt with people who would probably much rather shift the narrative to be ‘Silly Me’ instead of taking responsibility for themselves. Also it’s a reminder to not take yourself or life too seriously, even the most overwhelming situations will come out of the chaos eventually and you will be ok.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
It was recorded at Strongroom in Shoreditch with Dustin Dooley(producer). Dustin is also one of my best friends and getting to work in his studio with him is one of my favourite things to do. Last year at the start of the year whilst we were finishing the EP I was feeling quite lost and I would often just show up at the studio and just sit on the sofa whilst Dustin worked, it’s not a specific EP moment but I think that sums up well the safety that space brought for me at the time.
Also ‘Growing Pains’ felt like quite a big moment - it wasn’t even meant to be on the EP but I’d written it in April and I just felt like it was an essential part to the narrative of the whole EP. The first day in the studio with Dustin for this song we wrote the middle eight and I remember writing it on a piece of cardboard because Dustin didn’t have any paper, it was the first time me and Dustin had written together since the first EP and it was so cool to see how we’d both grown since writing the first one and also how we had such a shorthand because of knowing each other so well.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
Growing up, figuring out who you are, dealing with change and the fear that can come with that. Sitting with yourself and learning to like yourself without any outside attachments or distractions. Overcoming existential dread and finding a peace within that.
If the EP could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
This is a hard question, my initial thought was Lady Bird written and directed by Greta Gerwig - I love that film and I think it incapsulates the fear and excitement of growing up and how we can sometimes get it so wrong but that’s ok, that’s part of it. I also love that film for its human connections - there’s a scene when the main character accidentally walks in on her boyfriend being intimate with another boy and they fall out for an amount of time and then they have this conversation and he breaks down to her and she instantly doesn’t care about the pain she was in and just loves him and cares for him human to human - I think that’s just such a nice example of human nature. It’s one of my favourite film scenes.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP - if so, which one and why?
‘Silence surrounding me, fragments of the person I want to be. It all hits harder when you’re not around.’
Now the EP is out there - what next?
Looking to just keep it all moving from here - Dustin and I are already working on the next EP with an aim to release the first single early next year. I’m really excited about this next lot of songs, I feel like with every EP we’re figuring out the sound even more and the live show is starting to grow in line with that too. So yeah, releasing more music and hopefully a lot more gigs.
