We speak to Freya Ridings about songwriting, empowerment and Nottingham memories

The first thing Freya Ridings tells me is how excited she is for her upcoming live shows. The tour is going to be “massive” — “It’s going to be great!” she enthuses. Her new studio album, Mother of Pearl was released in May and she is in the thick of touring it across the UK and Europe, including a date at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall on 24 September. 

The talk soon turns to her tracks Wicker Woman and Euphoria.

“The more tribal, feisty ones? They’re actually some of my favourites, as well,” says Freya. “Especially as part of the festivals and the live shows, those songs really, really work. We’re going to start playing Euphoria more because we only started playing it recently on the last tour, so this is going to be the first time [we’ll] properly ‘give it some’ with a drummer -  so it’s going to be fun.”

There are songs on Mother of Pearl which are very empowering, too. 

“I needed resilience for making this album, because I found it really hard. I changed labels, publishers, management… As many big, big things that you could change happened during this album,” she says. “And I was completely lost and I was adrift. I had these songs and I really believed in them, but trying to find other people who also believed in them, felt really difficult. And I hired some of my own social media teams, I made my own videos from scratch. I rebuilt myself brick by brick and I got signed to a new label, who really championed me and believed in me and it didn’t happen overnight.” 

This difficult time even had Freya considering giving up music as a career. 

“I thought, ‘This is so much harder than I thought it was going to be,’ but, if anything, it reminded me of why I love it in the first place, because I love the fight. I love having to fight for the music and also fight for the fans to get the best possible art.”

Freya’s art clearly means everything to her. 

“It’s really easy for people to be like, ‘Oh, just don’t bother’... But I do bother and this is my face, my name, my soul, my songs. It’s all of me so why wouldn’t I give it everything I have,” she says. “I want to bring this theme of resilience and empowerment to as many people as I possibly can.” 

“I was really low, I wrote these songs almost as spells, like manifestations to bring myself back from the brink,” she continues. “There’s a death and rebirth to it, because I did kind of emotionally die while making this album. And then I came back and remembered who I was and remembered who I was before people tried to take it from me.” 

Freya explains how writing the songs in her 20s to early 30s made her realise her own power and who she really was, not needing to ask for permission from “people in boardrooms” any more. Of course, the process of releasing music can still feel nerve-wracking and very exposing. 

“I have a lot more confidence in myself than I did, even though it is always a very vulnerable thing to do to put out large chunks of your soul via songs into the world, but the fans they always catch me, so I feel like it’s a trust fall but they always catch me,” she shares.

Freya has described one of the other album tracks, Dancing in the Kitchen, as one of her “most honest” songs to date, and this one has become a firm favourite with her fans. 

“It actually felt like the biggest win ever… There’s something about believing in a song in the shadows for years, for four or five years, and then for you to finally share it with people and get that connection. It was very vulnerable and I thought that no-one was going to have felt the same,” she says.

“Writing songs is easy. But to actually put a nugget of truth that is scary in there is a different thing and, I think, for me, that song was such a secret to me…that I overcame such difficult times in my teenage years… The story of my life is a lot more personal and I didn’t think anyone would want to hear it, because it’s not a ‘typical’ love song.”

Freya greatly values the importance and example of other empowered women, particularly in terms of how they inspire future generations. 

“There are women standing their ground and I am in awe of all of them. Raye, Olivia Dean, Lola Young (I adore her). I feel like it’s important that we have these role models of women standing their ground otherwise it can ripple into every area of life,” she says.

It works the other way, too: Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Taylor Swift are counted among Freya’s fans.

“It’s so cool. I still haven’t met Taylor Swift. That’s on my bucket list. But she did repost… I did a cover of her song in the Radio 1 Live Lounge and she reposted it,” says Freya. “I was sat around the kitchen table and my jaw actually dropped to the floor. I was stunned. I grew up as such a big fan.” 

Freya then shares the story of how she met Florence Welch.

“We played a festival in Germany called Tempelhof [Sounds]; we were the only two women on the bill and it was in this massive airport hangar. This huge old airport and the women’s toilets were really far away on the other side, it was a five-minute-plus walk,” she explains. “And, anyway, I was walking towards it and she was coming out and I was going in, and she just ran towards me with her arms open and it was honestly like something out of a dream! I was like, ‘This is one of the best moments of my life.’”

Freya has fond memories of playing venues in Nottingham, including Rescue Rooms, previously. 

“I am so excited! I think, at this point, touring this album actually means everything to me, because I think there are such theatrical and cinematic elements to it, that I think it’s really going to come alive on stage. I am just so excited to come back to Nottingham to play. I remember the earliest days of playing Rescue Rooms and the smaller venues in Nottingham. And my friends who are from Nottingham being like, ‘This is crazy!’ … And now to be playing such a big venue there, it’s so crazy. It’s so cool and I never take it for granted.”

She adds, “I don’t know when I’ll do a tour this big again, I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got. And make it the most incredible show I possibly can.”

We close by talking about how it feels to be sharing a new - and very personal - body of work.

“There’s a part of me that’s so, so proud of this album and this tour. It’s been amazing seeing the fans’ reactions, but you do feel a bit vulnerable,” says Freya. “I said to my mum, ‘It’s like climbing cringe mountain. If you release any kind of art into the world, you’re a bit embarrassed… there is a bit where you’re like a tortoise without a shell. Genuinely, terrifying. But it means you care and it means you tried. And I do love doing that. 

“I think part of that vulnerability, why people want to come and see me live on stage is because it is me, live on a piano, really singing and really playing… It’s real. It’s very real."

@freyaridings

Freya Ridings performs at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall on 24 September 2026