Bow Anderson: The heart of an artist

Being a great musician is not just about skill, knowledge or even experience. There is an intangible quality; elusive and revered. Those with it will always stand apart. Those with will never settle for derivative compromised out. Those with will be considered great.

In Bow Anderson, there is a clear promise. She possesses all the raw materials, and her first release gave an insight into how she wants to use them.

Her gifts are evident but what is also beginning to emerge is an artist with the heart to push herself to greatness. Anderson's role models are, without doubt, the stars of yesterday. She knows a voice when she hears one ¬– not just someone can sing, but someone with a real voice.

Often times the greats would forge their character in the face of loss or adversity. As a girl, Anderson was aiming for a career in competitive trampolining before suffering a freak accident resulting in a serious long-term injury. The shock of losing a dream, followed by the pain and suffering was informative, but with a new-found love for music at her side, she became equipped with a greater strength.

"It was like therapy," she tells The Weekender. "I was 12 or 13 years old when I had that injury, so music definitely became a way of helping me. I didn't really know how to deal with all these emotions that I felt, but just sitting down at piano and singing and playing was just a way to cope with it and made me feel like I could escape. I just fell in love with music."

"I kind of fell in love with music, I think, because it was a way of coping with my feelings at the time.

"That's why I like Aretha Franklin, for example. Everything she sang was from her soul; you could, you just believed every word of it. And I think there's just something really special about that.

"I think your life experience is a roller coaster," she adds. "Everyone has a different story. But you just take that happiness, or that sadness, or that pain, or whatever it is, and you put it into your song and into your performance. It's a pretty cool thing to be able to."

After considering how she would cope with losing her musical talents, in a manner similar to her previous loss, the singer recoils in despair.

"Trying to imagine life without music…" Anderson ponders. "It's all I've ever known. The idea of not knowing how to sing a melody or appreciate a song is just so alien to me. I'm always singing and, so, if you were to tell me not to sing for a day, it would be a bit of a challenge.

"I would be distraught if I lost my voice or something like that. I'd really struggle. Music to me is such a coping mechanism and it's like a relief. It's with me when I'm stressed, or anxious, or sad, or even happy.

"It's therapy and not being able to do that would be such a challenge – I couldn't imagine it."

Bow Anderson

Shortly around the time of her accident, Anderson remembers being inspired by Dream Girls when it was released in 2006. The raw, captivating performances from the likes of Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce proved informative and sparked a love affair with the classics of Motown.

However, the prerequisite was that her idols always had to have a real story to tell through their work.

"That was kind of my first introduction to like soul music," she recalls. "From there, I basically went back and listened to likes of Aretha Franklin and all the classics. Before long I just loved for anyone with a voice - anyone that had soul, had something that you could believe in, or someone with a story to tell. I was sold."

That search for a truth in the music she would love has been informative. Anderson is pulling on threads from multiple styles in an attempt to create something refreshing, while still indulging in her comfort genres.

Her recent EP New Wave has been well-received and is a medley in of itself. Pop, dance, hip-hop and soul are well-catered for. But the singer is determined to make her mark in her own time, without following trends or buckling under commercial influences.

Were she to lend herself to a project that she could not give her heart to, it would be a betrayal of the very reason that she fell in love of music.

She says: "I don't want to just do something that everyone's doing, and I don't want to just write a pop song and hope that it does well. I want to do something a little bit more edgy and really put my name on it.

"With streaming now being so important, a lot of it is just like a machine and you're churning out songs as quick as possible, and they all have similar structures and sound quite samey. And, obviously, obviously I respect artists that are doing that, but, for me, I just wanted to do something a little bit different. I just kind of went with my gut and cracked on.

"I just try to like keep it real and I would never sing something that I don't mean or can't relate to because I think people would know – they could tell straight away. That's important to me.

"I would hate to do something that doesn't feel like me. I'm very lucky, the sound that we've created – me and my team – is a hundred percent me. And I'm sure in years to come, once my music is released and I start new music, it'll probably change gradually, because people change.

"But, yeah, it definitely feels right. And it feels like it's me. I don't feel like from writing music that is alien to me; it feels real to me. And that's so important to me."

With New Wave she has been able to reach hundreds of thousands of people across the world. It is very likely her work has served others in the same way the classics of Motown served Anderson.

The singer reflects: "The response has been really good so far; the streams are doing well, and people seem to be enjoying it. I get really nice messages and it's quite overwhelming sometimes. I'll get people messaging, to say they've been going through depression and this has really helped them.

"It's quite overwhelming to hear that because I just think: 'Wow, I've helped someone through my music' which is always what I have wanted. I want my music to help people and make people feel better or less alone or, you know, just feel."

Anderson has dabbled in a range of different stylings with her work, with more upbeat positive tracks such as New Wave (the single) contrasting with the likes of Black Heart with its raw and magnetic vibes.

The artist won't be picking or choosing which way to go in the future and is aiming to keep that variety for future tracks.

She said: "I think I'll keep trying to blend songs to be a bit of both styles so that, overall, it all makes sense together. It's great having the singles, but people also love something like Black Heart because it's a different side to me as an artist.

"I'm just excited to see what else we can come up with next."

Bow Anderson. Picture by Jelle Deruiter

"I'm still working on new stuff constantly," Anderson continues. "We actually put some live strings on three of my new tracks and it sounds incredible. There's something about live strings on a track… it's really emotional and quite overwhelming. I'm really excited for those tracks to be finished and ready to release."

"The plan is to step into an album next – but probably not until the end of this year or the start of next year. That's the plan, but the plan always changes. So, we shall see."

Perhaps one of the reasons that Anderson is where she is now is that she fully committed to her efforts to make it. At a young age she packed and left for London and continued to grind and make a name for herself.

It is, for sure, not a career for those with a casual interest.

"It definitely is an obsession," she adds. "I think you have to be a little bit obsessed. Obviously, it's a balance, but if you want it that badly then you've got to kind of be a little bit obsessed with it. But a healthy obsession,

"It's not the kind of job where you go to work from nine until five, and then leave and forget about it. It's a constant thought process. You are always thinking: 'What else can we do?' or 'How can we make this better?' or you're thinking about what the video will be like.

"It's good and bad, I guess, and you have to be able to switch off. But I wouldn't change it. I love doing it all the time."

Anderson continues: "If you want to give yourself the best chance then London is the place to be. If I just kept gigging in Edinburgh, doing pubs and things like that, then the chances of being picked up would have been slim.

"I love my home, I love Scotland, but it's important to open your eyes to what is out there. There's so much out there to experience – especially in this industry. You need to get out there and meet new people."

That is not to say it has been plain sailing for Anderson; she has had her fair share of doors slammed in her face. The difference for her, she feels, is that was fortunate enough to stumble upon people who will put her wishes first – those who soften the blow of cheeky rejections.

Anderson recalls: "I was once told: 'Oh, you sound a bit like, I don't know, Amy Winehouse, but not as good or you're this or you're that' but you just need to take it with a pinch of salt because not everyone's going to like you at the end of the day.

"Being an artist is such a personal, vulnerable thing and you're letting someone hear that. And if they don't like it then it can be really hurtful, but you have just got to be like: 'Yeah, that's cool, fine' and just crack on. Otherwise, you'll never get anywhere."

She adds: "I've got a team of people around me who are really, really good people. They work hard; they're all humble, and they believe so much in my project, which is just amazing. We're definitely a little team, like a little unit.

"Before I got my team and my people, I had been to auditions and I was told no and that I wasn't good enough: 'You're not this; you're not that like… Oh, maybe next time'.

"But, in this industry, you've got to take on the chin and have the confidence to know you are good enough. It's important to take the feedback of what people say and stuff, I guess, but you've got to believe in yourself, no matter how many rejections you get. Because if you don't believe in yourself, how are you going to make other people believe?

"You need to have a tough skin for it. For me, I think having that injury, but when I was younger, that definitely made me grow up fast and it made me tough enough. And it made me realise that if you want something then you have to go for it.

"I have a really, really good team of people around me that I'm really grateful for, because I wouldn't be where I am without them. For anyone that are trying to get into this kind of industry, you have to believe in yourself and you just have to try and ignore the people that tell you that you're not good enough."

LISTEN: Bow Anderson – New Wave on Spotify