Birdy: ‘It took me years to write my latest heartbreak album due to writer’s block’

Singer Birdy has said it took her four years to finish her latest “heartbreak album” because she had writer’s block and needed space to “deal with” her emotions.

The 24-year-old singer, who shot to fame with her cover of Bon Iver’s Skinny Love almost a decade ago, hasn’t released material since the album Beautiful Lies in 2016.

She told the Standard she needed time out to mend a broken heart - which came to inspire her fourth album Young Heart which is out at the end of the month.

Birdy - whose real name is Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde - said: “I tried to go straight into the next record but I realised I needed some time to live a bit. It was good for me to do that. This record is a heartbreak album and I also just needed some space to deal with that and feel myself again. I think that is why it took such a long time.”

She continued: “At the beginning, I had so much writer’s block around it. I was scared to write the songs. I was stopping myself from doing it. But now I am happy that it [the album] is that personal. I feel really connected to it, and I don’t get bored singing the songs.”

Tonight, Birdy is performing a global livestream event, live from Wilton’s Music Hall in London. It is her first live-streamed performance.

She will be accompanied by a brand new band that includes eight string players, a clarinet player and a French horn player.

Birdy said not having an audience meant there was “less pressure” and said she had revelled in the opportunity to make the set “cinematic.”

She said: “You don’t get the same buzz as having a live audience. But there is less pressure in the way. There is no one watching - well not in the venue. It will be like it is when we rehearse.

“It is such a relief to be back again. This has been quite exciting because it has given me the chance to be really cinematic. We have a full band and a string section and it is nice to be playing again. It has been so long.”

Young Heart is out 30th April.

For Birdy’s livestream performance - click here to book tickets

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