Delilah Interview

She wrote her first song at 12, signed to Island records at 17 and now aged 21, Delilah (born Paloma Stoecker), has already toured the world with Chase and Status. Having been brought up surrounded by musicians, her mother and late stepfather were involved in independent record labels and her father a club in Camden, her musical influences are far reaching and helped shape her unique style of dark, sparse, soulful pop. Before her performance at M Fest we spoke to her about the album, how far she has come and living on a bus with 18 men.

How did you decide on the album name?

‘From The Roots Up’ came from a mixture of things really. I changed my name to Delilah, it was my great grandmothers name, when I was investigating the real meaning to it, it was someone who up roots and I sort of took that and played with it. ‘From The Roots Up’ just kind of symbolised the beginning of something and growth, it made sense.

It was three years in the making; did you know straight away it was finished?

You do, you mess around with it and then suddenly it’s done and your like ‘oh wait it’s all done now that’s great.’ It didn’t all come together too easily, it took a long time going back and forth but when we put that last little note in and mixed it all down it was a moment of insane cheers.

What themes do the songs cover?

I guess it’s about life. I would sum it up like that. I know it’s a very broad statement but it’s about life and falling in love and falling out of love, falling back in love again, relationships, whether it be with your friends or family, yourself, all of that.

All songs are written or co-written by you, did you consider songs by other writers?

It wasn’t even something we thought about, it was just something that I’ve always done. I signed as a writer and I continued to do that while we were making the album. I started writing a lot of these songs for myself, I wasn’t writing for an album. It was just me going through stuff and needing to express it. I was always going to write the album because it’s an album about my life.

How was it supporting Prince in Australia?

Amazing, people keep asking me how it was and I don’t know because it was so nuts and amazing and surreal that I haven’t even digested it yet. I think it’s one of those things that will take at least a few months to settle in and then I’ll go ‘wow I did that.’

He personally asked you to support him?

It was nuts, I thought that maybe I had winged it and I’ve got a really great team so someone had done their job really well, then when I heard it was a personal request and he called me up and wanted to chat. I don’t know how you’re meant to feel, it was surreal and to this moment I cant believe it happened.

You spent two years supporting Chase and Status, how was it touring with 18 men?

Hard, definitely hard. I mean it was good fun, I became one of the boys in a sense. I had a lot of fun, but yeah, your mum can’t really teach you how to feel comfortable living on a bus with that many men. It’s not something mothers teach their daughters so I had to adjust and I had to learn and I think it’s done me some good. My band are all guys now, I’ve actually got a female sound engineer which helps. You spend a lot of time on the road with guys and you listen to all their rubbish so you’ve got to get used to it some way and I think I got the best introduction possible.

Have you had any ‘wow’ moments yet?

I think I’m someone who’s got such high aspirations and no expectations. That’s kind of how I sum myself up so often I’m thinking about something else when I’m in it and someone will have to shake me and be like “P your in it, look around you there’s like 90,000 people watching you on stage”. Sometimes you can forget, you can be so busy trying to make sure tomorrow goes right that you can forget about today. I’ve got good friends and family who help me enjoy it for what it is because I am living my dream and it’s really really exciting.

You took Delilah as your stage name, do you have two personas for the different names?

I don’t think so because I’m very involved with everything I’m doing, there’s no sort of alter ego. Maybe Delilah is slightly nicer than Paloma but no they’re kind of one and the same. I don’t really switch off between each because I’m always writing, I’m always involved with every aspect, producing, artwork, how the lights are going to look on the stage and the tour, everything, every little minuscule point I’m involved in, I don’t think I have a second to separate the two people. I’m Delilah and Paloma all at the same time.

As a child were you a natural performer?

I was when I was little but then I went through this weird stage when I was a teenager. I didn’t want anybody to look at me and I didn’t want to perform and I wanted everybody to leave me alone. When I was little I would make tickets and charge relatives to come in and make them sit in certain chairs and stand on the table and give them a show. I did that lots when I was little and then wanted to be left alone in my grumpy teenage years so I wasn’t the performer type then. I was involved in school plays but I was never given the lead role, I would always be like cook 2 or something and I could never be bothered to be cook 2, if I wasn’t going to be Nancy I didn’t want to be in it.

As a young female artist is being a role model for young girls something you’re comfortable with?

I think it’s not necessarily a bad thing, if it helps you be a better person because you think people are going to be watching you there’s nothing wrong with that. Obviously everybody is human and perfection isn’t something I’m trying to achieve. As long as people don’t want their kids to turn out perfect then they shouldn’t be too disappointed with any of the mistakes that I may make. I’ve got younger siblings and I’ve got people that I’m responsible for, my actions have impacted them, so I’m used to being looked up to. I’m used to being responsible for my actions and having younger people maybe influenced by what I do but that’s just something I think comes with being a more responsible adult. As far as being a role model for the world it’s not really my aim, I’m a singer songwriter but yeah I think I try and be a good person.

Published in Yorkshire Evening Post