Start Listening To: Mara Liddle

Mara Liddle talks digital-age insecurity, emotional growth and why ‘rivers’ is her most honest release yet.

Mara Liddle writes pop music that feels pulled straight from her notes app, capturing the mess, clarity and contradictions of growing up online. Blending glossy alt-pop instincts with diaristic honesty, her latest single ‘rivers’ marks a shift towards something more stripped back, where vulnerability sits front and centre without losing the sense of who she is.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

Hi! I’m Mara Liddle, I’m a pop artist from Stoke on Trent in the West Midlands. My music is digital-diary alternative pop music inspired by artists like Charli XCX, pinkpatheress, Lily Allen, and I tend to write about life growing up in the digital age, and navigating relationships.

‘rivers’ feels like a more vulnerable turn for you, what made you want to strip things back a bit on this track?

I feel like I have a tendency to mask what I’m really trying to say behind a fun, dancey beat. I wanted rivers to be more lyrically driven, and for the sound to really capture that feeling of vulnerability and exposure. This song was a really sort of meditative, journal entry type of song, and I guess I just felt like it would be wrong to dress it up in upbeat, club vibes.

You’ve said the song comes from anxious attachment and comparison, at what point did that feeling turn into something you wanted to write about?

It is something I’ve written about in my music before, but not with this project. When I first decided to make my own music during lockdown, I was making sort of lo-fi, sad acoustic music with no intention of ever sharing it with anyone, and pretty much all of that was about my insecurities within relationships. ‘Rivers’ is similar to those songs thematically, but I do find it interesting to see how different it is in substance. I think the songs I was writing back then were more about me being desperate for attention and doubting everything within my relationship, where ‘rivers’ is more about me I guess taking accountability for the way I’m feeling, instead of blaming other people for it. It’s kind of nice to look at the song and see how much I’ve progressed not just as an artist, but also in my own emotional maturity.

There’s a lot of honesty in the lyrics without it feeling overly heavy, how do you find that balance?

It is a bit of a tightrope act sometimes, and again, I think it comes from the development of emotional maturity. Sometimes listening to your songs back can be a bit like looking at a photograph of yourself, and you sort of see a different version of yourself. You pose, you do your hair and makeup for it, dress up nice. Writing songs can be a bit like that sometimes, you have to pose yourself in a certain way so that the photograph or song captures you in a specific way. I don’t know if that makes any sense.

You wrote this as part of a challenge to write 100 songs in three months, how did that process change the way you approach songwriting and why did you start that challenge?

I think it was Taylor Swift who said that she writes 100 songs before she writes a hit? I may be wrong. But I remember hearing that and thinking, ok, I’ll write 100 songs then. I was writing every day, some days I would write like five songs. When you’re writing all the time, you don’t really have time to be a perfectionist and overthink things, so you just get the raw form of the songs, and the lyrics become like a diary-entry reflection of whatever is on your mind as you’re writing it. So there’s songs about what was bothering me, what I felt excited about, jealousy and comparison. It was really kind of cathartic actually, it just all came out.

Out of all those songs, what was it about ‘rivers’ that made it stand out to you?

I think it was the vulnerability and honesty of it, and the journey that you go on throughout the song. It really feels like a little piece of me within a song. When we started developing it, I really wanted to make sure we kept some pop elements within it, but to strip it back, so it’s kind of like “hey guys, it’s still me but without all the dressing up”. I guess it feels like a really good introduction to the new Mara Liddle era.

Your earlier releases lean more upbeat, did it feel like a risk to step into something more intimate and exposed?

Definitely, 100%. It’s always scary to do something different, because you don’t know how people are going to receive it, but sometimes you just have to do what feels right for you. And this definitely does.

Your music often touches on relationships in the digital age, how much do you think social media shapes the kinds of insecurities you’re writing about?

Oh, a lot, especially with some of these new songs. It’s so easy to compare yourself to other people, and so easy to forget that what you see online isn’t reflective of reality. People pick and choose what they show of their lives, you can show a version of yourself that is so different to the real life you. Yes, social media is a great tool for connecting with people, but, not to sound all deep, it’s also so easy to lose your connection with yourself.

You’ve been steadily building a live following across the UK, how do songs like ‘rivers’ translate in a live setting compared to your more upbeat tracks?

People have been so responsive to them, you know. I was a bit nervous introducing quieter songs into my set, but I’ve found that it really makes people stop and listen. It’s nice to be able to share that side of myself with people. I love performing live, and I always find the most important part of gigs is building a connection with your audience, and songs like ‘rivers’ just introduce a new way for me to do this.

You’ve had support from BBC Introducing and local scenes, how important has that grassroots support been for you?

I will always rave about my local scene. I’m from a small city called Stoke on Trent, and we have a handful of really great music venues that are all so supportive. It’s so easy for new artists to book a first gig, and to start gaining a following, all of the other artists are so incredible and so supportive. I’ve done a few gigs in London, too, and I absolutely adore playing there. I've met some incredible people through the London scene, and it just feels like the people there love music, no matter who the artist is, or what they’re doing, people just want to see live music. I love it and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

With ‘rivers’ showing a different side of your sound, where do you see things heading next, more in this direction or something else entirely?

I think it’s something else entirely. This 100 songs project has allowed me so much experimentation within my music, and it’s been really fun to explore different sounds, while still making music that sounds like me. Honestly, I’m so excited to share with everyone what we’ve been working on!

What do you love right now?

The sun! Spring! Colourful flowers, going for walks. I forget how much I love the sun until it starts shining.

What do you hate right now?

I’ve just recovered from a cold and I absolutely HATE being ill. Maybe that’s a bit of a self-centred take but I’m still a bit sniffly and feeling sorry for myself.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Just one?! I’m going to pick ‘An Awesome Wave’ by Alt-J, because it’s an album that makes me think of my family. We used to have it on in the car all the time and it reminds me of being on holiday in Wales driving around the coast and all singing together. It was also one of the first ever gigs I went to, at The o2 Academy in Liverpool back in 2013. Honorable mention to Richard Hawley’s ‘Lady’s Bridge’ though, because that’s one of my favourite albums of all time.

When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?

I just hope it moves them in some way, especially with ‘rivers’. Maybe they see a piece of themselves in it, or it reminds them of someone they know. I hope my music can make people smile.