Lucy Crisp is a truly inspiring local musician, who lives in Alfreton, studied at Confetti, and has overcome a number of challenges to pursue her musical career. She tells us more about her music ahead of her performance at the BBC Introducing showcase on 31 January...
How are you feeling ahead of your performance at the BBC Introducing gig at Metronome at the end of this month?
I'm really excited to be performing for BBC Introducing, as cheesy as it sounds, it has been a dream of mine that has come true. I remember going to all of the BBC Introducing gigs back in uni and hoping one day I’d have the opportunity to do the same. I think this gig is just so special, because of the good reputation it has for artists and how it's a night where anybody who is anybody can find new artists that are to their taste.
It also feels quite nostalgic for me as well because studying underneath the realms of Metronome, as a Confetti student, is where it all started for me in terms of my music career. Both myself and Dean Jackson met for the first time when he paid a visit to the venue before the pandemic so it really does feel like a full circle moment to be performing for Dean.
What should people expect from your set?
Anyone who comes down will hear the whole EP and there are a few surprises in store for the set. I do recommend bringing some tissues for where the set gets emotional and also your voice so we can have a fun sing along together! Expect me to be my funny but true self.
Could you tell us about some other live shows you have played recently?
Towards the end of last year, I played festivals such as OxJam, DH Lawrence and Hockley Hustle. I really enjoyed performing at different venues across those weekends, and also everyone getting involved in my set in some way or another. I also had my EP launch party at the Old Bus Depot back in November and it was a truly special night that celebrated people like myself who had cystic fibrosis.
One of my favourite moments was when we performed a call and response with the crowd partway through my song, I Deserve Better. I didn't expect such a loud response but the crowd was so phenomenal and you could hear the emotions in their chants of "I deserve better, you deserve better, we deserve better." It really felt like we were all in a space where we could all be vulnerable about our feelings and it’s one of the things I love about music because music brings everybody together. When you witness a moment where everyone is united and singing together to a song you wrote in your bedroom, you know your music is meaningful to someone.
You live in Alfreton and studied at Confetti, what is it like being part of Nottingham’s music scene and how has this shaped you as an artist?
Everybody knows everyone in the Nottingham scene and it feels like a little community. When I first arrived at Confetti, I was quite scared to break out of my shell and get myself involved with the scene because I didn’t have any confidence in who I was or networking with other musicians alike. But there’s so many opportunities for you to get involved in around Nottingham and they would always make you aware of them.
It wasn't until I joined the 4th Circle of Light project, however, that I felt confident with who I was as an artist. Spending four weeks over the summer with different artists of different genres allowed me to really connect with the Nottingham scene more and step out of my comfort zone for the first time. Everything that I’ve involved myself in has been worth it - the train journeys, the late night drives… I’ll always consider Nottingham a home for me. It’s a city that allowed me to grow and nurture my sound, while also making some good friends and memories along the way.
For anyone who hasn’t heard your music yet, how would you describe your sound?
It’s within the electronic pop spectrum, some argue it’s a mixture of indie/dance pop but you never not hear a synth in any of my songs I produce/co-produce. With the EP, I envisioned a revolution of eighties stylistic themes into modern mainstream pop. Some people say I sound a mixture of Foxes, Muna, Ellie Goulding and Holly Humberstone but I just write what I'm feeling in a specific moment of time of my life and how it makes me feel. Song-writing allows me that freedom in a way that talking to someone about it doesn't as such.
How important is it for an up-and-coming artist to receive support from BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Nottingham?
Despite the changing ways to get your name out there in 2024, I think it's still really important for any artist to get any radio support. BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Nottingham have been big supporters of my music since the start of my career in 2020. Anyone who has associated themselves with BBC Introducing will know that they are a powerhouse for launching artists of different genres in the UK and without BBC Introducing, we wouldn't have the amazing artists and bands that represent the UK nationally and internationally.
I also feel it is extremely difficult, not just only as an independent artist, but also being a disabled woman, to get your voice heard among everybody else - not only in the industry but in society generally. Having BBC Introducing's support as an up-and-coming artist is truly valuable and nothing that money can buy. Their support of my music makes me feel like I’m being listened to and accepted for who I am, and I'm so thankful for all they've done to support my career so far.
As you mentioned earlier in this interview, you have cystic fibrosis and have had to overcome a lot to pursue your music career. Could you tell us about what you have had to overcome and how you managed to do so?
Throughout my life, I've always faced challenges with my health due to having cystic fibrosis (or CF). At birth, I spent six months in hospital due to the complications I had, and had a fifty/fifty life expectancy. So going into music as a career, experiencing adversity was never new to me, but even now, everyday is definitely not the same and you also never know what to expect the next day.
Back in 2021, I tested positive twice for COVID and my lungs never really recovered. Because of the build up of mucus that was already of my lungs, COVID made this ten times worse and it led to me being hospitalised in April 2022. There was one point where I had doubts that I’d never be able to sing again as my lung function was weak and it felt hard to breathe.
During that hospitalisation and for some months after, my mental health was at its worst and I felt like I was losing the battle a lot of the time. I had to push a lot of singles back and I felt my disability was pulling me back from pursuing what I really wanted. Looking back, I always find that the worst experiences bring out the best songs, and being able to write about those experiences and putting them into an EP really allowed me to express how I was truly feeling without any judgement.
Your EP 65 Roses is out now. Could you tell us more about the EP – what inspired it, and how do the title of the EP and the songs themselves link to your experience with cystic fibrosis?
65 Roses is a play on words of cystic fibrosis. I used to say 65 roses when I was younger as it was an easier way for me to remember the name of my condition and I always wanted to have this as an EP title, because in my eyes the EP is an introduction to the world of who I was and being personal about what I go through is something that was important to me when writing this EP.
The songs are written over a two-year period, and even though it's a small eighteen minute insight into what I go through daily, it opens people's eyes that life isn’t exactly normal for me and there's a lot that goes off behind the scenes apart from having to take seventy tablets and use different inhalers each day.
I've been judged for my disability by someone who I trusted very well and that's how I Deserve Better came about. Locked Down was about how I felt isolated from society when the pandemic went off, and when I wrote Call Me and I Miss You I was going through hard times where I didn't think I'd see the light at the end of the tunnel. The only song that is different is One Summer’s Day and that was a song that brings hopefulness that people with CF can be accepted and loved like any other person.
What is it like being so candid and honest about your health within your music? Is it difficult or do you find it helps you?
I think it's a way for me to deal with what goes on behind-the-scenes and takes my mind off the reality of living with cystic fibrosis altogether. I think it's also really hard to open up about things on a day to day basis, but I hope that singing about my experiences will allow others to feel they’re not on their own and allow them to feel comfortably vulnerable in terms of how they're feeling. No one should be made to feel like they can't speak about their struggles on a daily basis.
What’s coming up for you this year following the BBC Introducing gig?
I’m currently in the writing stages of my second EP and I’ve already got a title for it. It’s been fun branching out my sound a lot more and working with different collaborators on this project so far but I’m also taking the responsibility to be more confident in my own productions too. I'm hoping to release the first single later on this year, but in the meantime I hope to be doing more live shows and meeting more of my fans over the next year.
Lucy Crisp will perform at Metronome on 31 January, you can get free tickets here
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